Bathroom Makeover: Part 1 Sliding Doors

Sometime during the last 52 years, someone decided to add a 3 panel sliding glass door assembly to this tub.

In addition to being very difficult to clean (especially the lower track) it is just not really very functional. In particular, bathing a pre-schooler is not easy. I can't sit on the tub edge and wash her hair, which is a bit of a pain.

Now, finding a tutorial online was rather easy, if the doors we were trying to remove were only a 2 panel type. For a 2 panel door, you would just lift up on each door to remove it from the track.

However, this is a 3 panel door assembly. If you have this type of system, then you may have to do what we did:
1. Push all three doors together in the middle.
2. Get inside the tub and unhook the plastic guides from the bottom of the inside door.
3. With one person holding the doors in place, the second person will lift the whole top rail off of the assembly. The doors are now dangling from the top rail and not attached to the bottom. My husband figured this part out - Thanks hubby!
4. Rotate the top rail to give you more room, and then the 3 doors can be slid out the end of the top rail.

Next, I used a utility knife to cut through the caulking... Once I had done both sides, I wiggled a putty knife behind the side rail to loosen any adhesive. In this case, they had used double sided tape instead of glue.
I did this to both sides and they just popped right off. As you can see they had to add a white tile to the top of the existing tile to account for the height difference between the existing tile and the side rail.

Finally, the bottom rail was removed using the same technique as the sides. Many of the tutorials I looked at had a huge mess under that rail, but I was extremely lucky that they had really caulked the heck out of it, so very little moisture made its way underneath.

If your desire is to use a razor blade to remove caulk, then I urge you to please be careful. As they say, move slow to go fast. The enamel on the tub WILL scratch if you are not careful.

You will still have a little bit of residue left, so I used Lift Off and an old prepaid visa card to get the remaining caulk off. I did not bother using the caulk remover on the tile sides because we will have to replace it all anyway (stay tuned for the next part of this makeover for that).

I installed a tension rod and a shower curtain over the tub, then turned my attention to the frilly pink window dressing. Gone!

So much more light is flooding in now.

I added a plant and a chalk board - still has the same writing as when I used it here.

Before and After.

So what is next on the list? Well, the vanity needs to be cleaned up. I has stunning Mid Century lines and angles that are just perfect. I am doing very little to them as they are already perfection.

I even like the retro plastic laminate counter top with the gold flecks in it and the vintage medicine cabinet. The lighting is really blah, however. I think we can do better.

Functionally, this bathroom really needs a fan, so that will likely come next...
And, I really think this toilet needs a Mid Century inspired Squatty Potty, don't you think?

Right??

The final item is the tile. Although this photo implies that the tile is in good condition, it really isn't. There are several that are cracked, and worse the grout is yellow throughout. At some point someone tried painting it white, so it is flaking off like crazy.

See the rest of the house here.

Stay tuned for the next part of this transformation!