One Room Challenge Week 2 : Removing Glass Shower Doors

Last week I shared that we’ll be doing a makeover of the upstairs bathroom in our farmhouse for the One Room Challenge. We got busy right away, but I ended up doing something first that wasn’t even a part of the plan. Isn’t that always the way it is? A project starts small and then snowballs…

It all started after posting about what I was thinking of doing on Instagram Stories and mentioning that I really disliked the awkward layout of our bathtub with it’s outdated sliding glass doors. A few readers said “it’s a shame you couldn’t do something about that bathtub”. Well…that got me thinking…and googling…and we all know what that leads to. I started to think that maybe if we swapped out the glass doors for a shower curtain it would freshen up the tub and make it feel like it fits better in the room.

I was up in the middle of the night nursing the baby, watching videos on how to remove glass doors. By the time Garrett was up in the morning, I had it all planned out, ha! He was skeptical but I kept saying “It’s only a few screws and a bit of caulk”.

Turns out I WAS RIGHT, ha! I used the power drill to unscrew the sides from the wall and the top from the sides. Meanwhile Garrett sliced the caulk with a knife to loosen it off the wall.

Then it was one heavy lift up and he had the doors right off. The sides were removed easily after that and the bottom popped right off.

I’ve always said how hard it is to keep that glass door and track system clean with our hard water. As soon as it was up and I saw the black mold and build up, I could see why. I’ll save you the gross pictures of what we found underneath but let’s just say I couldn’t wait to get in there with bathroom cleaner.

The hardest part has been getting the caulk off the tub
. We started by using razor blades to very carefully slice most of it off the wall. Then we tried using plastic-friendly scrubbers to get more residue off. Garrett even got a little pint sized helper in there with him. Lastly we’ve tried to use isopropyl alcohol to soften it up and scrape it off with an old credit card. We’re still working on it, but it’s getting there! He also used a little bit of new caulk to fill in the small screw holes and you can hardly see them now.

In the meantime, I gave the whole tub a good cleaning and we hung up a new shower curtain and rod. At first we had it inside the tub surround but it felt really low and closed off. Then we moved it up higher on the wall and it was instantly better. I remember reading about this trick on Young House Love and it worked out great. I had bought an extra long fabric shower liner and it just touches the floor perfectly.

I’ve just hung up the fabric liner for now and I’m on the hunt for a nice fabric shower curtain to go with the new wallpaper too.

Speaking of wallpaper, I’ve ordered what I’m going to use. At first I was going to go with the newer removable wallpapers, but after going into my local decorating store they convinced me to try traditional wallpaper. They said there is more room for mistakes and it’s easier to move it around if you need to.

 

I was also able to find a great design that I’ve fallen in love with – Strawberry Fields from Swedish company Boråstapeter’s In Bloom Wallpaper Collection.

 

It also comes in black, which I loved just as much, but I was worried it would be too dark for this space. The softer grey colours still showcase the beautiful botanical patterns and will keep the room light and airy. It should be here in a couple of weeks and I can hardly wait to get started. I’ve never wallpapered anything before, so if you have any tips please leave them in the comments below!

Be sure to stop by every week for the next six weeks to get an update on the progress. Check out the One Room Challenge blog to see all the other participants as well.

ONE ROOM CHALLENGE – FARMHOUSE BATHROOM