Summer Projects: Bathroom floor

In case you were wondering, buying an older home equals a lot of work. Unless you have the time and money to renovate the entire project at once, it means years of slow progress with improvements. Probably largely due to the fact that I've been watching some serious HGTV recently, I went ahead and made a list of a few of the projects we need to tackle on our 1950s fixer-upper this summer. Since Paddy had to work late and I needed to stay busy, I got a jump start on the first little project yesterday. I know it's ridiculous to call something a summer project when there is snow on the ground, but I'm being hopeful.

Neither Schmoops nor I are terribly handy, but we are learning the best we can as we go. You can see prior remodel progress in the house here and the bathroom here. Slowly but surely, we're bringing this house up to speed. 

Yesterday, I decided to tackle a small task: recoloring the grout in the bathroom. The tiles on the bathroom floor are in great shape, and the grout was pretty sound, too, though despite my best cleaning efforts, it was stained and unsightly. (Sorry about the weird lighting in the pictures-- I didn't edit anything so that it would be pretty true to how ugly it is, but it makes for some fairly inconsistent shots since I'm a crappy photographer.)

(It turns out it looks pretty gross up close like this, and I'm a little embarrassed to post the picture. It's amazing how you get so used to seeing something that you don't recognize how bad it looks.)

For just a little over $10, I got a bottle of white grout refresher from the local hardware store. Application was easy. All I needed was a clean floor and a toothbrush to work the product into the seams. 

Here you can see the work mid-way through the process. It's pretty clear where I've applied the product versus the old grout. 

Application went really quickly; I did nearly the entire floor while Mr. Baggins napped and Bug ate her lunch. 

Clean up was the longest part of the process. After waiting 30-60 minutes, I misted the floor with water per the instructions and scrubbed the excess product off the tiles. This was not terribly difficult, but took quite a bit of time. 

The results are not perfect, though I'm sure my own inexperience contributed. In addition, I think it would have looked quite a bit better if I was working with a floor that wasn't solid white in every direction. Overall, I am thrilled with how it turned out.

I feel like the bathroom looks much more crisp and clean.  Project #1? Check!