Tom's bathroom redecorating: January 2002

I'm not normally the sort of person to document my bathroom. However, I took a bunch of photos with my digital camera before I remodeled, so I could have a reference at the hardware store. It seemed reasonable to complete the documentation, with photos taken after I was done, so here they are.

At the New Years Eve for 2002, I went with my friend Dave Hershberger (among others) to see the movie Amélie.  Aside from being the most cheerful (but generally non-sappy) movie you're ever likely to see, it's also got some fabulous camera work and sets.  Here is the inspiration for my bathroom project, Amélie's bedroom (seen here in the brochure accompanying the soundtrack album):

This bedroom seethes with bold creativity, and demonstrates that its gorgeous inhabitant leads an interesting life among the stylistic cognoscenti.  My own style was not yet up to this standard.   Some portions of my house tire with the decor imposed upon it by the previous owners.   Those folks had impeccable kitchen design skills, and knew how to use oak trim in the living room.   But the Home Sweet Home stenciled on the staircase and the country kitchen motif in the bathroom just weren't the sort of thing I looked forward to returning home to.  Amélie's bedroom inspired me.   I didn't seek to copy her style--like the pig-holding-umbrella lamp aside her bed, or her paintings.  I did, however, seek to copy her boldness in decorating.   On New Years' day 2002, I chose the room in my house in most desperate need of stylistic enhancement--my bathroom--and resolved to make it a more festive.  Fortunately, Dave happened to be in town from Pittsburgh and was quite willing to help with the design and implementation.  It always helps to have someone else with whom to confer on  major redecorating projects, and when he can contribute his own brain and muscle to the cause, so much the better.  We spent about an hour searching through the cherubs and ghastly Edwardian designs that saturate the Home Depot wallpaper selection before finally discovering the Cirque du Soleil book. I knew I had found my designer.  One month later, my bathroom is a new place.  These photos document the change:
Here's the old door corner, showcasing the blue floral pattern wallpaper, matching border around the window, and the dingy, faded, mildewed pink and white striped curtain glued under the wallpaper (and hence, unwashable!).	Amélie's bedroom was red; I decided a bathroom should be a soothing, aquatic blue.  Here's the new door corner, featuring new Cirque du Soleil wallpaper, window curtain made of matching fabric, and the same old door and fan.
Here's the old sink and toilet zone, with the white board and floral wallpaper border and board.	Here's the new version of the same, showing the light-colored trim separating the wood-paneled lower wall with the wallpaper upper wall.
Here's the old light and shower curtain.  The light was a frilly textured frosted glass.  This was the only shower curtain I found that wasn't a solid color and wasn't a frilly feminine pattern.  I ran into the same difficulty buying bed linens; I guess marketers don't realize that men sometimes buy this stuff and might want something more interesting than a solid color!	Here's the new light and shower curtain.  Since the new paint and wallpaper are considerably darker, I added a multi-bulb fixture.  The glass follows much simpler lines, and the curved supports make it look much more like a 3-headed Dr. Seuss creation than the previous light.  I also switched from brass to chrome to match everything else.  The fabric cost $40 a yard, which I understand is extremely high, so this is most likely one of the most expensive shower curtains in town. Dave did all the sewing on this project (with far greater skill than I ever could have).
Here's the old west wall, with the curtain pleasantly raised. Since it's on the second floor, I almost never lowered the curtain myself because I have no great modesty about my upper half.  Certain female visitors, on the other hand, would always lower the curtain when showering, and its ghastly faded mildewed state was readily visible to them.	Here's the new look of the same area.  The most amazing thing about the the windows in GHI houses is that the frames--the plaster walls with gradual corners surrounding the windows--seem to have a layer of steel inside.  When Dave and I were trying to figure out ways to hold the curtain to one side of the window, we thought of attaching a steel plate to one side, and sewing a magnet into the curtain.  When we were going to install the steel plate, he discovered that the inside wall of the window casing is already a good support for magnets!  Dave chipped some chunks off some excessively strong porcelain hard-drive magnets he had obtained years ago while working at Hewlett-Packard in Boise.  He sewed pouches into which we put the magnet shards.  The curtain is infinitely adjustable with no hardware or any other visible support!  I intend to coat the shards in tool dip so they don't tear through the curtain.  I also am looking into re-doing all my window curtains with this new magnetic technology.
Here's a close-up of the new wallpaper	and a close-up of the expensive fabric.

Now I have a bathroom that's even cooler than Amélie's (her bathroom wasn't as fabulous as her bedroom).  Perhaps I'll attack my bedroom as soon as I've painted over the Home Sweet Home stencil.