Sunday, March 29, 2009

Brutally Honest Bathroom Pictures

I realized just now that that title is a little strange.... This post is about CLEANING the children's bathroom.

So, what happens when you buy a house in which the bathrooms were just painted with a lovely fresh coat of LATEX? A bathroom with no FAN? And in which the window is stuck SHUT?

And in which 3 teenagers take daily, long, steamy showers?

You guessed it: MILDEW

And by the time I was aware of it, it was pretty bad. Today was the day, I decided, to remedy the situation.

First, I got that window open. It took one special tool: my husband's bicep.

Here's a side-by-side before/after shot. The nastiness actually scrubbed off pretty easily, as long as you don't mind paint chips and bleach water dribbling on you from overhead, all while extending your aching arm and perching on your tiptoes. Humph.

And the paint? I had to scrape away at it too. Now I have a vaguely two-toned bathroom.

Sometimes, oh joy, I had mildew and peeling paint together.

Helga Housekeeper, at your service.

3 comments:

Tammy said...

Helga.... are you for hire?

:)

Alynn Deatsch said...

I am absolutely, totally and completely sympathetic! Yuck, yuck, yuck. Ridding the house of the vicious stuff is so hard! Try Kilz - mildew resistant primer underneath, and then if you use a semi-gloss paint, perhaps it will prevent the mildew and mold from returning. I AM so sorry you have to tackle such.

Scooter said...

Feeling your pain and commiserating your plight. Will you need to do the whole thing over, or just repaint? Agree with the previous poster ... Kilz is good, or there's another brand name that works as well (is in Bin?). Good luck.