This is my latest home improvement project.I’m afraid it’s going to take much more time than I expected. My house was built after World War II and has bathroom issues. As in, homeowners had different expectations in the late 1940s. The first-floor bathroom was only intended to have a bathtub. The basement bathroom was added at some time, and to use it in the winter you have to like stepping out of the shower and  into a 50-degree temperature. At some point, a shower was added upstairs. The window sills weren’t designed to be subjected to a spray of water, and in the six years I’ve lived there had started to peel. After spending one shower picking away at chunks of paint, I decided to scrape it off and repaint. Foolishly, I thought all the paint would come off that easily. No chance. I now scrape and scrape and scrape, as time permits, and I am stunned at how tightly the paint now clings to the wood. It doesn’t want to budge. I also have nicked the tiles a couple times, revealing their true color, a charming turquoise. That also will mean a trip to the paint store to find out what kind of paint sticks to tiles. Actually, what I need to do is recaulk the tile where it touches the bathtub because it’s gotten discolored. Terribly discolored, like there is some massive mildew behind it, waiting to emerge and strip the skin from my bones. That’s the trouble with home repair. You start out with one thing, and it always develops into something much larger. I can’t use the first-floor shower because it’s covered with newspapers designed to capture every chip of paint that I unloosen. Which means I’m downstairs in the 50-degree temperatures. Something else I should have thought about before I started flaking the paint that morning in the shower.

This is my latest home improvement project.I’m afraid it’s going to take much more time than I expected.

My house was built after World War II and has bathroom issues. As in, homeowners had different expectations in the late 1940s.

The first-floor bathroom was only intended to have a bathtub. The basement bathroom was added at some time, and to use it in the winter you have to like stepping out of the shower and  into a 50-degree temperature.

At some point, a shower was added upstairs. The window sills weren’t designed to be subjected to a spray of water, and in the six years I’ve lived there had started to peel.

After spending one shower picking away at chunks of paint, I decided to scrape it off and repaint.

Foolishly, I thought all the paint would come off that easily.

No chance. I now scrape and scrape and scrape, as time permits, and I am stunned at how tightly the paint now clings to the wood. It doesn’t want to budge.

I also have nicked the tiles a couple times, revealing their true color, a charming turquoise. That also will mean a trip to the paint store to find out what kind of paint sticks to tiles.

Actually, what I need to do is recaulk the tile where it touches the bathtub because it’s gotten discolored. Terribly discolored, like there is some massive mildew behind it, waiting to emerge and strip the skin from my bones.

That’s the trouble with home repair. You start out with one thing, and it always develops into something much larger.

I can’t use the first-floor shower because it’s covered with newspapers designed to capture every chip of paint that I unloosen. Which means I’m downstairs in the 50-degree temperatures. Something else I should have thought about before I started flaking the paint that morning in the shower.