Sometimes I go crazy and I demo stuff without really thinking too hard about what I’ll do after the demo dust clears. See, for some reason when I stopped and stared at all those crazy towel racks in our hall bathroom for the five hundredth time…
… I decided it was time to get the hammer and take a stand. Because who really needs that many towel bars? And who decided to put that one on the left so crazy off-centered below the window so it would protrude halfway out of the shower curtain? Especially when there’s room for a cute little hand towel ring on the un-tiled wall next to the sink near the doorway.
Can you tell that wonky half-under-the-window towel bar especially bugged me? Yeah I took it personally. So I took a minute to inspect the towel rods and decided that the ones in the shower weren’t that bad since they’d be hidden by a shower curtain 99.9% of the time (once we actually hung one). And I noticed that they all seemed to be adhered on top of the tile instead of inset in it (meaning if I could carefully chisel them off I might be able to save the tile under them for a completely seamless look). So I decided to say goodbye to that annoying off-centered bar under the window first. You know, since he was my least favorite towel bar in the history of the universe.
I very carefully chiseled it ever so softly with a flat head screwdriver and a hammer. Tap… tap…
… crap. The bar holders came off pretty easily. But they weren’t stuck on top of the tile like I hoped. They were inset. Boo. So I was left with two highly visible boo-boos that looked a little something like this:
Cue the nausea. John didn’t even know what I was up to (surprise). I was banking on a “look what I did – doesn’t it look better?” reveal. You know, as opposed to an “oops I ruined the original 60’s tile that we definitely planned to work with” reveal.
But as I stood there picturing baked potatoes (an insane anti nausea method that I honed during 100 straight days of morning sickness while prego with Clara) I assured myself that we could probably semi easily hunt down two replacement tiles and just Dremmel out those ruined ones for a pretty flawless repair. But the longer I stared at my mistake, the more I realized there was a much easier fix. At least for one of the holes. Let’s rewind a little. Look closely at the window. Do you notice anything odd about it?
Why was there trim around the sides and the top, but not along the bottom? If we added some simple white wood trim down there it would probably look a heackova lot more balanced and it would cover one of my two glaringly obvious tile gaffes. We had also been meaning to hang the shower rod up near the ceiling with another one of our favorite super long 95″ waffle shower curtains, which would end up draping right in front of the other tile hole (yes, “tile hole” is a technical term) and completely obscuring it whether it was open or closed (since we push it towards the window when open, so it would still hide my dirty little tile secret in the open position as well as the closed one). Although it’s not a forever solution like adding trim, it’s definitely a will-do-until-we-find-a-matching-tile-later solution.
So I sheepishly padded down the hall wearing my best oops-I-went-crazy expression (humming “Oops I Did It Again” for effect) and requested some help adding “a tiny bit of trim and re-hanging the shower rod at ceiling height” so I could string up our new 95″ curtain (we ordered it from amazon.com a while back but hadn’t hung it yet). John was the man. He was pretty quiet (a sure sign that he wasn’t exactly ecstatic) but he didn’t give me the stink eye or anything. Instead he got to work fixing my mess while I stood in the background holding the baby and flattering him with stupidity like “you look great in that hat” and “nobody hangs trim like you, babe.” I managed to even get a little smirk with that last one. As for what John specifically did, first he removed the tiny piece of faux trim that looked sort of like shoe molding under the windowsill by prying it out with a flat head screwdriver (a mini crowbar would also work).
Then he cut a piece of trim that we already had in our scrap pile by looking at other windows in the house and mimicking the shape (straight down on each side with a small 45 degree diagonal bottom corner cut which he made using a miter box). He attached it with small finish nails which he hammered in at an angle towards the sill, using a small metal nail punch (which drives the nails in while keeping the trim from getting dented by the hammer).
About twenty minutes and zero bucks later any evidence of my moment of madness was completely unidentifiable. And we were left with this (I even painted the new trim piece with leftover trim paint that I found in the basement thanks to the previous owners):
Oh yeah, and if you wonder why this next picture is so white, John took it. And he remembered to white balance first. See, sometimes when I’m going crazy and demoing something I forget to white balance before taking pics. I contend that this is an honest mistake. I mean in a state of demo mania, you can hardly be expected to remember how to use the complicated camera, can you? Anyway, the shower curtain and tile is pure white (along with the walls, the sink, the toilet, etc) so this shot’s coloring is the most true to life:
I know it seems like a stretch to act like my big tile “incident” was a good thing. And I might be in complete denial. But I think the window looks a lot better with that trim on the bottom, so that will definitely stay for life. And of course the whole “hide the other tile hole with a shower curtain” isn’t ideal, but once we hunt down a replacement tile it’ll be fixed for realsies. Best of all, our bathroom no longer has that crazy off centered towel bar that annoyed me from the hallway every single time I walked by. And I ask you, who the heck would want their hand towel grazing the toiler paper dispenser anyway?
I rest my case. Hooray crazy.
Psst- Wanna know what that silver nozzle next to the toilet tank is? Check this out.
Psssst- Clara is officially less than two months away from her first birthday. Crazytown. Which means we’re starting to think about how we’ll plan her cute little DIY b-day party. We’re spilling a few of our just-starting-out ideas (and sniffing around for not-your-first-birthday-rodeo advice) over on BabyCenter today, so feel free to drop in and sound off.
Sara @ House Bella says
Oops! But a good ending, even with the silent John.
Also, if you shoot in RAW, you can adjust the color balance to match across your pictures in post processing.
Jen @ Domesticated Nomad says
It must be the era of house because we are dealing with crazy towel bars too! What were people doing with all those towels, I wonder. I’d bet the one you took out was placed there to avoid the toilet paper. I’d bet this because in our bathroom they just centered it under the window which means if you use it, your wet towel hangs down almost to the toilet paper, and who wants that? I’m glad you did this though, because I’ve been wanting to do it too, but now I know I have to rethink.
Felicity @ Our Little Beehive says
I think it looks great! We have a similar issue under our window with the towel rack that someone put in recently. They mangled the tiles getting it in and it’s wider than the window so it’s a no-go with trim.
Interesting tip that my father in law taught us this summer – to make the angle of the bottom trim “match” the design of the trim and look professional (not that yours doesn’t look awesome, ’cause it does) you take a piece of scrap trim, hold it up perpendicular to the piece you’re cutting with the fat ends and skinny ends near each other, respectively and then draw a wavy line down the front of the good piece (it will make a little bit of an angle as it goes from fat to skinny). You cut along the line and viola a perfect angle for that trim. Wow, that would have been soooo much easier to show you….
jen says
It looks great! Where do y’all hide ‘spare trim’ in your pristinely beautiful house? What other fix-er-uppers do you hide on hand?
YoungHouseLove says
We just bought our wood scraps from the old house and John had lots of trim leftover from the bathroom project. We keep it in the attic and the basement. Not very organized. Haha.
xo,
s
Sarah@StyleandCentsability says
That is funny- I just did the same thing in my bathroom. Looks great.
We were also busy working on our chair rail
http://styleandcentsability.wordpress.com/
It was a very productive weekend!
Ann says
Did I miss in the entry about what you did with the OTHER oops? You covered one towel bar hole with the trim, but what about the other?
YoungHouseLove says
That info is actually in this post! We hung the shower curtain to hide the second tile hole for now, but plan to get a matching tile and fully fix it soon. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Amanda says
If you want a replacement tile, behind the toilet tank is a good spot to pick one up…
YoungHouseLove says
Love that idea!
xo,
s
Sadie says
What a big difference that made! Wow! Looks great. Do you think you’ll keep the vanity white or are you contemplating painting it?
YoungHouseLove says
We’re pretty sure we want to keep that white (to keep it from feeling too heavy) but you never know…
xo,
s
Shannon says
I love how I am not the only one to make a major oops moment. Great save!
http://www.compartmentlife.com
Belle says
I love this, so hilarious. I often put myself in similar situations at home ie ‘uhhhh….. hi honey. Just thought I’d paint the living room a deep french gray (previously white)/install a giant 7ft wall shelf/do something else we hadn’t discussed. Umm…. surprise?’.
I think it looks much better – in a way it’s good, even with the not-so-optimal tile behind the curtain, at least now you’re forced into just fixing that issue rather than putting off the hated towel rack AND not having hung the curtain. Win/Win!
Kitty says
Looks great and what a brilliant fix. I have a VERY clear picture of why those towel bars are the way they are.
#1–There was a busy mom with who was tired of doing a boatload of wash every day. She installed a towel bar for everybody to hang up the towels when done.
#2–Why the off centered bar? Because said Mom was tired of a puddle of water on the floor while child #2 stepped out to get his towel from under the window. Mom just installed that bar where the little guy could reach from the tub. Centered-shmentered…this was a fully functional decision!
YoungHouseLove says
Makes sense to me!
xo,
s
Laura B. says
Thanks so much for posting this! We’re moving in about a month and I was planning on putting the changing pad on the superlong bathroom counter (circa 1964) and was hoping I could Dremel off the toothbrush holder (those are so gross!) and soap holder to lower the odds of baby head injuries. Good to know I need to think twice. Like you, I was thinking they would be just on top of the other tiles and taking them off would just leave a whole tile underneath.
Since your tile is white, you can probably easily match it, but I’ve had to replace salmon pink 60s tile before and after looking for a match for months, I ended up just getting some paint made to match and painting white tiles. Not ideal, but close enough.
YoungHouseLove says
Two readers have shared really awesome tips about getting matching tiles! They recommended removing your toilet tank and taking a tile from behind the toilet- that way no one will see that it’s missing and it’ll match perfectly! So smart, right?
xo,
s
Handy Man, Crafty Woman says
Oh, I just love being able to hide a “boo boo” with some trim or something! :-) We’ve done stuff like that before.
BethanyB says
Wow. That would have driven me so crazy! At least you had the wisdom to tap it off. I would have gone ape on it and ripped it out. Go you. And, for the record, its nice to see the not so perfect renos every now and then. It shows you two are real, honest to god, people and DIYrs and not a couple of superhuman remodeling robots. Good Job!
Natalie says
haha wow, I can imagine myself doing the same thing! You’re lucky you’re married to such a handy ~ and forgiving ~ man :)
r8chel says
Yikes! That towel bar would have driven me crazy too!
Sophy says
I LOVE that Sherry does hardcore DIY stuff too! So many of these blogs it’s just the hubby doing all the heavy lifting. I think you should have more ‘Sneaky Sherry’ antics!
xox Guys!
Rachael Anne says
Well, I feel better because I did the same thing. I like our retro bath – it’s light blue tiles have oddly grown on me. However, it’s wonky towel rack above the toilet bugged me. So, one day, I did a lil’ tap tap of my own and we have the same ugly issue. I cannot find the tile and we’ve tried hiding it a few ways but sadly trim may look more odd than the spots. So, we’re thinking of “stealing” two tiles from behind the toilet tank to fix it.
Vilija says
Great fix by the way. As far as hanging a towel above the toilet paper… A terrible idea and yet something that has plagued me in my brand new house. Yes, this house was built in 2010 and someone purposely designed the master bath towel rack to be directly in line with the TP roll. I put up with it for a while but soggy TP is not the way to go. Apparently this gaffe is more common than one would think. Friends who chose the same builders had my warning and had to request the towel hooks be moved away from the TP. I thought anyone planning the layout of a new home would think of things like this, apparently not.
Cassie says
This post is very cute. I love that you thought of adding trim to the bottom of the window. It really makes a difference and fixes the booboo. But please, Sherry, explain the baked potato thing! :-)
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, well I had terrible morning sickness with Clara for three months straight and I learned that eating a baked potato (yes, for breakfast) was starchy and heavy and dry enough to settle my stomach in a way that saltines and other recommended morning sickness “tricks” never could (also dry wheat toast sometimes worked). So if I didn’t have a baked potato on hand but felt super sick I’d try to picture myself eating one, or just picture a bit heavy starchy baked potato in my head to calk my tummy. Sometimes it’ actually worked! Now when I get nervous nausea (you know, from wrecking tile or going on The Nate Show) I try to picture a big honking baked potato. So strange.
xo,
s
PAppel says
Question: Where did you get the curtain rod? It looks like it is ceiling mounted. Am I right or am I imagining things? This is the curtain rod I want for my bath so as not to ruin my tile job with holes and I have not had good results with tension mounted ones.
Thank you.
YoungHouseLove says
It’s a tension one from Home Depot (it’s easy to mount it super high or at standard height height since it’s flexible like that). We had the same one in our last bathroom for over three years and it didn’t fall down once. We just spin it until it’s really tight!
xo,
s
Lauren says
I’m definitely guilty of demo-ing without thinking it through.. we moved into our 90 year old house in June and we have a bathroom very similar to the one in this post.. except the tile on the walls is not as easy to work with as black and white. i was really hoping this mistake was going to lead into taking down the tiles on a plaster wall so i’d have encouragement/some clue as to go about this project haha … oh well.. maybe another day!!
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Lauren,
We completely demo’d all the tile out of our bathroom in the last house (it was in much worse shape) so you can read about that whole project here (there are a ton of links at the bottom of the post to take you back to other posts about each step): https://www.younghouselove.com/2010/01/tackling-the-bathroom-the-big-reveal/
Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Colleen P. says
I just realized something about our bathrooms that would be worth carefully checking. Our tile goes ALL the way around behind the vanity, they just stuck the vanity over the tile and caulked around it. It’s definitely worth looking into if you have several damaged tiles that need replacing.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh my gosh- genius! Great tip.
xo,
s
Barb says
I’ve loved your blog for a long time. Even as far back as when it had it’s “old” name. I can totally relate to the opening statement of this post.
Your simple fix turned out awesome. The window looks more balanced now and you don’t have a towel bar right infront of the toilet. If you can’t find a tile to match for the other hole, would it work as a temporary fix to attatch something for a tie back for the curtain?
YoungHouseLove says
Ooh that could totally work! Fortunately we’ve learned a foolproof way to match tile from two genius commenters – just steal a tile from behind the toilet. I love it!
xo,
s
Maryc says
Looks like your tile is the generic white glossy variety. Lowes has what looks identical for 26 cents. Hope I am right…. Good luck!
Lori says
Thank you for the laugh yesterday :) My husband and I remodeled the bathroom in our last house and we had to take out the same exact tile (from the 50’s) only it was pink! Ours even included the built in towel bars and boomerang countertop to match the pink tile. Ohhhhh…what memories!
I felt your pain from the little “flaw” left behind. As I smashed out our tile I went through the wall into the closet next to the shower. At least I am good with drywall mud! Good job on the covering up the little boo-boo….it looks fabulous!
Melissa says
Does John ever get to do crazy things without an okay first too? ’cause there have been a few rogue-Sherry posts now…
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, yes! He has been known to come in from outside covered in dirt and say something like “I dug up those four bushes that were half dead” before we ever even talked about it. Haha. I think he’s on a run and he’s playing landscape architect on me. We’re both crazy sometimes.
xo,
s
Annie says
“picturing baked potatoes.” I just laughed out loud. And then snorted. And then thought back to being preggers and wondered if it really would work…
Jennifer says
Have you checked out the April 2011 House Beautiful yet? The Kitchen of the Month (designed by the amazing Madeline Stuart) has your bathroom tile thing going on. P. 118. Tried to find an online link but it’s not posted anywhere … yet. Madeline’s site features a bathroom with a similar effect: http://www.madelinestuart.com/interiors.php?project=Pasadena&photo=6.
Great that you’ve chosen to work with what you got — everything old is (apparently) new again. LOVE it!
YoungHouseLove says
Ooh I’ll have to check it out! Mine isn’t here yet. Hope it’s not lost in the mail!
xo,
s
anonymous says
fyi – you can adjust the white balance on a photo after it has been taken without much trouble using photoshop.
YoungHouseLove says
True, true. I was just being lazy. Haha.
xo,
s
Jessica Z. says
I was so impressed by the difference in the photos when you white balanced that I have been obsessed with figuring it out ever since reading this post!
What I am wondering is if you have any special tools for custom white balancing or if you use a white piece of paper or something. Or do you use the pre-programmed settings? Is there a source you all used to figure out things like how to white balance? I’ve got the same camera as you guys do but am quite a novice and get nowhere near the quality pictures you do. However, I am determined to learn more. Thanks so much for indulging non-home related questions like this one!
YoungHouseLove says
Our camera is a DSLR (Nikon D3000) so it has a button for auto white balancing or you can pick the lighting (tungsten or incandescent for example) or you can “manually” white balance, which is always what we prefer to do. We scroll over to “white balance” and scroll down to “preset manual” and then click “override current setting” and then snap a photo of something white in the room (the white trim for example in here) and then the camera calibrates for us and we can stand back and take a pic of the room (so what’s white in real life stays white in the pic). Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Jessica Z. says
Thank you so much for letting me know how you do it! I’ve got the same camera, so this is *extremely* helpful. I figured out how to get to the pre-set white balance menu but wondered if you had a special method for custom settings, which of course you do!
Muchos gracias from a grateful and happy reader!
YoungHouseLove says
Sure! Glad to help!
xo,
s
Tj says
Good job looks like new again.