Now...let's talk "vintage" for a minute. When I think of vintage I think of gleaming hardwoods, thick trim, crown molding, wood doors, brass handles--I could go on and on. After looking at a million apartments with Phil, I have determined that to some people vintage is another word for dirty, broken, cracked and dingy.
While our new apartment has all of the things I mentioned when I think of vintage, it also had its share of the dirty, dingy etc. We were lucky enough to find a place that had a brand new kitchen with white cabinets and faux granite black counters. When we were much younger--sans kids, we had a vintage apartment in Evanston and THAT was a vintage kitchen. It had an antique sink, no dishwasher, about a square foot of counter tops and no cupboards. Seriously...we had two built in glass cabinets that divided that room from the dining space and that is where we kept our food and cooking stuff. Such simpler times! Now with three children we have stuff. As much as Phil and I try to keep clutter out of our life, we still need a lot of stuff to care for the kids. So what is the dingy in the new place? The bathroom! It has beautiful (I think beautiful, Phil hates it) light green tile around the entire room, the small little white floor tiles that I love, a newer sink and toilet. Then there is the bath tub. WOW. It isn't claw foot. For some reason I think I could deal with the lack of finish if it was. It is a tall beast of a tub with all original fixtures. It also was dingy, dirty and stained. We asked the management company to re-enamel around the rim where someone had let the water drip and it rusted. They did but then it just brought home exactly how not clean the tub was.
This is where my pinterest obsession comes into play. I had pinned a few of the household cleaners that I am sure everyone has. Time to put them to the test. I first made the one with warm vinegar and dish soap. Hated it. Not even going to link back to it. You can find it if you want. It didn't clean any of the soap scum and it was sooooo hard to rinse off because of the dish soap. It was time for drastic measures. For me that means turning to the dreaded Martha Stewart. Hey, if anyone knows about old tubs it is probably her right? (Just joking Martha) One of my friends had pinned this "tub scrub" and said she had used it and it had worked. Took notorious bath tub crayon off her tub. (photo borrowed from Martha's page)
It was time to roll up my sleeves and start scrubbing. I will be honest that I didn't expect anything to clean this tub so I didn't bring my camera to the apartment while I cleaned. MAN I should have! I did half the tub to compare the results. It was so shocking that I called in Phil and Bailey and made them look at it. The baking soda and water tub scrub (Phil forgot to go to Whole Foods to get the essential oils so I left that out of the mix) worked wonders. I used a cleaning brush, a sponge and a paint scraper kind of tool very lightly to not ruin the rest of the finish and we now own a really, really white and clean tub! This is not for the quick clean. It took time and an entire box of baking soda. I bought the generic so for 56 cents it was more than worth it! I am so happy. Thank you Martha ;-)
Remember to follow me on Pinterest at pinterst.com/torrycorbett/
No comments:
Post a Comment