Jan 5, 2010

It Ain't Pretty

OK- a few random thoughts, then some photos.

We bought a snowblower yesterday. **cracking up** it probably won't snow for the rest of the winter! NOT.

Cold and snow- hmmmmmmm- 2 feet since 12/8. OK already, I get that I'm living in Maine. Can we have a break for awhile?

I met my neighbors, really great people. V. is our local bus driver for the kids. R. works in trucking, and he's plowed us out twice. Go R!! V. has lived next door for the past 20 years. She has known all of the owners and filled us in a little. There's been a chimney fire here. great. The pipes burst. even better. The last use of the house was a group home for 6 teenaged boys, all deemed unadoptable. How sad. And how cool. The person who ran the house really loved it, and made some great progress with the boys. How in the world are people so cruel to these children, all of whom were abused in some way? Sad, very sad.

Which leads me to the next part- and be forewarned.... the bathrooms. You guessed it. We have three full baths upstairs, and one half-bath on the first floor. Nothing in this house has been updated recently- I mean, the place was owned by the State- do I have to say anything else? And the place was filthy. Apparently the boys were responsible for keeping the house clean, as part of their life skills and becoming independent. See where I'm going with this?? yeah.



This is the half bath downstairs. The shower is made of metal- like a camp shower. Just removing the dark shower curtain made a huge difference. The sink leaked, but is fixed now.


Anyway, when we moved in, the tubs and sinks and toilets (I thought) were given a good scrub. But we soon figured out that the blue bathroom had no seat, and the sink leaked. It also has a funky smell, so we just closed the door. The yellow bathroom, which we all use upstairs, has a fairly new toilet and faucet, but that's about it. I mean, you gotta love yellow formica countertops. And silvery blue wallpaper.



What's with the shape of the vanities- they're all the same.

We finally got a new toilet seat for the blue bathroom, which just sat for a week or two. So I decided I was going to change it out. I noticed that it was really grungy around the screw/clip that holds the seat on the bowl. It looked like putty. I thought "Did they putty this thing on- how pathetic." That would have been a good thing, 'casue it wasn't putty. You guessed it, it was dried urine caked on, layers and layers, of god-knows how many years. It was utterly revolting, and coming from me- and it takes a lot to gross me out- that's saying a lot. I actually had to use a scraper on it. And the pieces that I scraped into the toilet- yep, it reconstituted. UGH.

So then I decided that I'd better go check the yellow bathroom. And it was the same. Awful. Evidently the house wasn't cleaned after it emptied out. I'm posting the pictures here- you have been warned!!



Grunginess under the wallpaper. Disgusting corners in the linoleum.
rusting baseboards.

ta daaaaa!
So, I bought stock in bleach this week. I have never used so much in my life, and I've only made a tiny dent. A. Tiny. Dent.

hugs- Lee

12 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh my Lee, you've got some work ahead of you!!! But think of all the potential in this great place :) It'll give you lots to post about, that's for sure!

Good Luck!

:) T

Lori said...

oh Lee, i know you probably didn't mean for this to be funny...but i am cracking up...about the pee thing...i live with three boys like you...and those guys {mine anyway} pee all over the place...mine don't even lift the lid most of the time...i can't tell you how many times i have gone to the br in the middle of the night and sat on a seat full of someone's pee...yuk!!!

ps: i just saw the note you left for me...have you investigated if there are any bloggers near you that you could be crafting buddies with...i actually found someone a little while ago who lives right down the road from me...unfortunately she is much younger...and is a jewelry maker...

Unknown said...

Holy Cow! You have a lot of work ahead of you, but is it foolish/naive of me to say I CAN'T WAIT to see how that place transforms when you get your hands on it? We have so much to do in our place, too---- *sigh* it does feel overwhelming.

Anyway, please keep us updated with pictures. One day you won't even believe it when you look back!

Tam said...

ONLY boys in this house too and that is a constant battle here! Infact I had my boys sitting down until the OLDER ONE went to KINDERGARTEN this year and informed me that he is a boy and boys do NOT sit to pee! O well it was nice while it lasted. I was OUTED...LOL LOVED this post!

Good LUCK but you are going to have a GRAND HOME when you put your style in those bathrooms!

All things nice... said...

It will be all worth it in the end, when you add all your own touches and have the place just the way you want it. Good on you.

All things nice...

Lynnae said...

Oh! At this moment I am loving the fact that I just have three daughters......
You do have some work ahead of you. Well, if it means anything, the windowsill in that bathroom looked pretty nice.

Lynne's Somewhat Invented Life said...

You will love this, when we bougth this house--33 years ago--we put yellow formica on the hall bath and yellow vinol. We thought it would be cheery s there is no window in that bath. Now it's cheezy and old.

Your disgusting toilet putty was pretty funny if it wasn't your toilet putty.

And we had one of those metal showers in the upstairs bathroom of the house I grew up in. VERY NOISY, pinging and banging and sounding like you were showering in a metal factory. Fun. Not.

Glad you have swell neighbors. Hang in there, spring is a comin'.

Karen said...

Lee,
You have my sympathy! UGH!! Hang in there it will soon be "your" house and be cute and clean!

cinnibonbon said...

Ohhh not good...BUT ..man oh man your pad is LARGE!!! Sounds like fun times are abound out in MAine...woot woot. Girl,,, you'll have this cracked in no time!!!

The Other Side of Me said...

Okay, you are scaring me! LOL. It is always a surprise at how some people can live. I am sure that you and Chris will have that place ship shape in no time. Besides, cleaning will keep you warm this winter!

Love,
T

karlascottage.typepad.com said...

Hey, this looks very familiar!! My house was very much like this when we bought it. It was a labor of love to even get it clean enough to fix up. Good luck!!!

vera said...

Hang in there! It'll be done!

Except I cringed and scrolled really fast through the photos, so I imagine it is scarier in real life.

Good luck!