Almost every homeowner can identify rooms in their house where improvements can be made; unfortunately it is also often the case that the cash to complete the project is not always available. This is often the case when moving in to a new property.
Take my new flat for example, all my savings had gone into the deposit for the mortgage and the small amount I had left went on essentials such as moving costs, i.e. Solicitors fees, removal company and household insurance for the new place. A new bathroom was out of the question but something had to be done. It was a fairly small and basic bathroom when I moved in – it still is, but since then I have made some changes which didn’t cost the earth yet provided me with a workable solution.
The bath tub had those old fashioned hot and cold taps and a tap fitting shower hose that was left by the previous owner, so I replaced them with a shower mixer fitted by a plumber. The plumber first said that he wouldn’t be able to fix the mixer as the bathroom was not built for shower use – he was right, the walls were only tiled up to about 10 inches above the bath tub. So after a bit of thinking I decided to fix it just above the tiles. In that way, you could still take a shower on your knees or sitting down and the water wouldn’t spill outside the tub. This worked brilliantly.
The bathroom has a large window overlooking someone’s back garden and a blind. The window is obscured with some pretty patterns, but I was still not quite comfortable so I fitted a thin curtain. The blind did not look great as it had some mould marks towards the bottom which I could not remove. I found out that the blind was a lot longer than the window length, so instead of buying a new one I cut off the moulded part, trimmed and tucked the end with UHU glue – and it looks as good as new now!
My next project will probably be to make the walls a little more shower friendly so that you can take a shower standing up and more freely. I know that some manufactures make sandblasted glasses for that purpose, which you can fix with products like Unibond or No More Nails. That, to me, seems like a hassle free and aesthetic alternative to tiles! If it worked then I would like to fit a shower rail – then my project would be complete.
Tags: budget, household insurance