Bathroom Renovation - Day 8

BUYER'S REMORSE
So, the sheetrock guys just left and for the first time I can see how the “new” cabinet will fit in to the bathroom plan. I loved my old bathroom cabinet so much that I was almost willing to go another decade with an entirely non-functional bathroom, simply in order to hang onto it. Its replacement is going to be different. The nook it sits in had to change size because of the bathtub, so the cabinet size had to change as well.

I just have to talk about the old cabinet for a minute. It was amazing. It had been built to fit into its two-foot wide nook and it was deceivingly spacious. The cabinet interiors were both wider and deeper than you expected, and the shelves (which were not adjustable) just happened to sit at exactly the right intervals.

It had these little interior raised ledges where you could line up small bottles and jars way in the back of the cabinet but they’d still be in full view when you opened the cabinet door. This is where I kept all the expired bottles of Tylenol with codeine, the jar of Vicks Vap-O-Rub that I’ve kept with me since I was in grade school, and that bottle of Ipacac syrup that probably isn’t so necessary now that my kids have stopped eating silica gel.

In the bottom of the cabinet, we were able to keep the three big Rubbermaid tubs --tubs large enough to soak feet or to wash delicates or to house the gecko for short spurts during tank cleanings. All of the toiletries bags fit in there as well, including the structured green canvas travel bag that holds about 15 standing shampoo bottles. All the fish supplies (for the now-dead fish) were in there. Baskets full of floss, toothpaste, toothbrushes, thermometers. All the filters for the air purifiers, the nebulizer, the asthma meds, the hot water bottle.

I’m not sure why there was a conch shell in there. Or four white drain plugs (none of which fit the bathtub drain). But the half-gallon of olive oil was there in case we ever end up with lice again. And the cabinet itself had a handy four-inch ledge where I could set the olive oil, and comb, and shower caps while my kids readied themselves on the edge of the otherwise useless tub for a comb-through.

Tracey has taken me to bathroom showrooms and we’ve looked at door styles and finishes and drawer pulls for the new cabinet. There’s a lot to choose from. And, for the most part, they’re all fine.

Everyone keeps telling me this new cabinet – while it won’t have the space to hold most of what was in there before – will look really nice. “It’ll be pretty,” they say. I’m as much of a sucker for eye-candy as the next gal, but I’m still really missing my old, dull, unsexy bathroom cabinet. To me, it was perfect. I never cared what it looked like. It’s what was inside that counted.