Bathroom Trim: Painting Around the Toilet

February 2013

A couple weeks after we finished the fireplace I started working on a list of things to do before September.  One of the rooms that needed the most work was our bathroom.  This was remodeled in 2006 by the previous owner and since moving in we hadn't done much to it. To start, it looks like a lovely bathroom, while not my style I appreciate that they made some good updates.   However, living with it for close to three years had really changed my opinion.  It was not my taste and many of the materials chosen have not held up very well to the daily abuse a single bathroom gets.

Back in 2010, we changed out the double hung vinyl window to a vinyl casement with frosted glass.  The main need for the change was this window opened directly to our patio and if the window was open, it was not discreet (this is a polite way to put it).  The new window opens towards the side yard and allows people to be on the patio and not looking directly in.  Also, the frosted glass allows us to avoid having to hang a curtain in a damp location. When we installed this window we did not patch or paint any of the wood trim that was mangled putting this in. I have carefully tried to cover this up with flowers or other bathroom accessories but it was pretty embarrassing.

Using a house guest due in two weeks to spur me on, I decided to patch and repair the window trim and then paint all the trim a fresh coat of semi-gloss white.   Over the course of several nights I came home and patched and sanded.  I figured this was the best time since Josh was away on a business trip so the bathroom got a lot less use then it would.  This had been the hold up for years.  Between two showers, numerous bathroom trips there never seemed to be a time for get in there and allow paint to dry.  

It ended up taking three coats of paint, which I applied mostly on my hands and knees.  I got up close and personal with our toilet and got to remind myself why this was the most poorly designed bathrooms I know.  There is literally about 18 inches of space around each item in the room which creates these wonderful thin slivers of useless space where hair can hide in nice balls and where I now needed to wedge myself to paint. There was a moment when I had to rest my cheek on the side of the toliet as I reached to get the back corner.  It was graphic (no picture, thank goodness).  The good news the bathroom is about 32 sqft so it didn't take long to do a coat, the bad news I got paint all over myself.

Josh came home to freshly painted trim and a cleaned up window and was dutifully impressed.  I was proud. 

But, the rest of the room now looked all the more worn for the new glossy trim.  We both agreed we really needed to paint the walls and clean up the grout as soon as possible.  I made an appointment for a tile cleaner and figured we would start there.