Here you go, arcy:

Here is a link that might be useful: Mineral magnet toilet cleaner

This post was edited by Tibbrix on Fri, Jun 13, 14 at 18:26

Beautifully told! Thank you for sharing it. The house I was born in in 1955 was sold 30 years ago. I've been searching for "home" ever since, so I know how she feels. I'm glad you kept some of Grandma in your home.

Pal, in 1970 I looked at a new house that I loved. The only drawback was a big black area on the tub where it had been chipped during installation. I signed the contract on the house and told them I wanted the tub replaced before I moved in, in 2 weeks.

They told me they would repair it. I said, "no, I want a brand new tub." The realtor and contractor looked at each other and nodded in my direction. Of course the first thing I did was look at the tube on moving day. It was a new tub. They had done what I asked.

After living there several years (I came to know the realtor well), he told me it was a patched tub. I was furious, feeling that I had been betrayed. He asked if I could tell the difference. I could not.

I recently just wanted to ride by that house and see it once again. The owners, a female couple, still had legal possession. I asked if I could see. One lady welcomed me and told me her partner had died recently.

I asked if I could see how the house had changed. She told me not much. I asked her if I could look around. When I saw the tub, looking no different I wondered if it had been replaced. I asked if she had done anything to the bathrooms, like replacing appliances. She told me no. The house looked perfectly clean. They were impeccable housekeepers. I marveled at how much the house, save the covered patio, looked just like I had left it. The stove was new, the flooring was new and otherwise, I think even the paint colors were the same wheat color that is always my favorite go-to color. So painted tubs are fine if done well.

My fiberglass shower/tub combo was avocado when I bought the house, and it was also a mess - cracked and filthy. I followed the directions on the Rust-O-Leum kit to a t, used three kits for the whole thing, and it came out great. Cost me $100. Key is the prep and using the foam rubber rollers and brushes for the corners.

Acrylic is the key word. Painted cast iron is ruined peeling cast iron.

I think you guys are missing the message and intent of eedeevee's post. Why not start your own thread about tub and toilet cleaning? Jeeze! Rude!!!!!

I agree mayflowers! Such a warm and touching thread devolved immediately with a couple of negative posts.

Thank you edeevee for sharing your story and for welcoming the former owner's family member into the home you've both shared.

Aww, you guys, it's okay. I don't think they meant anything bad by it. Besides, I don't live in a bubble; I understand that keeping the green tub isn't for everyone. It was the right choice for us though. It's practical, it's economical, and it will always remind us of what the house started out as. Plus, I may be crazy but I think it's pretty too!

But, you know, even if those anti-green tub folks intentionally had it out for me, no one could ruin this day. Because that other day, the one where I was having trouble with a painting project and ended up meeting that lovely young woman, that day was also the day that my best friend of 40+ years was admitted to a hospital to figure out what kind of cancer she has. And today the doctors made their pronouncement ... no cancer at all!

Tub schmub, it's the people in life that are important, not the things

This post was edited by edeevee on Fri, Jun 13, 14 at 20:45

What a sweet story. I love that you dropped what you were doing to indulge the girl. You'll think of her every time you use that green bathtub.

Edeevee, I loved your story. I have to say you are a special lady indeed. Thanks for making my day!

What a wonderful story. You're such a kindhearted person to welcome the relative of a former owner into your house and help her relive her memories made there. Every now and then I read something on a forum and think, "This person would be a great neighbor." Your new neighbors are lucky to have you!

What a beautiful story. I felt as if I was there. My own grandmother has been gone for 20 years, but I sometimes still have dreams about going into her house only to discover that she no longer lives there. Grandmother's houses are magical to grandchildren. I'm so glad that young woman had the courage to introduce herself, and you had the grace to welcome her in. You're a wonderful writer!

Best story EVER - and you are so right on edeevee!! I agree with your thought - it's the people in life that are important, not the things And I love that tub.

Thank you for sharing your beautiful story. It made my day!

edeevee , what a dear, dear person you are. You know what is important in life by choosing to assume the good in others comments. You have a good heart.
I'm so happy your friend didn't have cancer.
Oh, and I would have kept the tub green too.

If your post had been the first few pages of a new book, I'd have kept reading. Loved it!
Marti

Oh my goodness - what a wonderful story! It was like a movie, it is so sweet that she loved her grandmother like that. You were so kind to allow her to have that time in your home - that is truly priceless!

Such a charming story!!

Your story was lovely (especially the part about your friend being cancer-free!!) and it really hit home for me. I spent a lot of time with my grandparents when I was young and remain very close with them. I have many memories of baking pies with my grandmother and bird-watching with my grandfather. They lived in a huge Victorian that they bought as condemned property when my mom was in elementary school. It took 3 years, but my grandfather restored it top to bottom. They sold it about 7 years ago because they needed a single level home and less maintenance. It was a sad, sad day.

Last year, I worked up the courage to ask the owner if I could have my bridal portraits taken in that house. She was so obliging and even told me I could cook my new husband's first meal there if I wanted!!! Of course, it looked totally different. The shag carpet that I lost so many little toys in was gone and the original hardwoods (in really bad shape) were painted a dark gray. My grandmother's custom barnyard red kitchen cupboards (with painted farm animals) were replaced with gray shaker cabinets and a copper backsplash. The current owner is an artist, so the wall was covered with wonderful pieces and the colors in the whole house were so harmonious. It wasn't my grandma's house anymore, but it was gorgeous and such a magical place to have my portraits taken. My grandparents were able to come with me and they were quite overwhelmed (in a good way, I think). My grandmother was very touched to see that they kept my mother's beautiful old armoire that they were forced to leave behind. Perhaps the most touching part was when the current owners explained to us that they had been longing for that house for years, just from seeing the outside. The woman heard a rumor that my grandparents were planning to sell and approached them before it was even on the market. My grandparents agreed on a price with them because they had a good feeling. What my grandparents didn't know was that the new owners' son had died in a car accident a month before and she said she needed the house as a project to help her with the grieving process. They now have custody of their grandson and it warms my heart to know that another child is growing up in that big, wonderful house that was restored with love and filled with so many beautiful memories.

This is the reason why I've gone to such great lengths to keep what little originality remains in our 1959 MCM/Ranch. I went so far as to number and carefully remove the original white oak strip hardwood flooring so it could go back exactly as it was when I rebuilt the structurally unsound formal living room. Aside from the flooring in there and one side bedroom there is no trace of anything one could see or touch from when it was new, and I didn't want to lose the last of it.

While taking out the kitchen that was in even worse condition it was interesting to see what was left from previous remodels. All four of them were obvious once everything was out - the visible (1979 and 2002) and a few bits and pieces of what was covered up (1970 and 1959). Some scraps were put in a small box just to show what the place looked like before us and the previous owners. We may also steal the shade of turquoise the kitchen walls were originally for our backsplash, it's quite nice actually.

I love this post!

Sundance, thank you for your wonderful story. How gracious of the owners to help you with your wish of having your bridal portraits taken there. You were a beautiful bride. It touches my heart that your DGM's home remains so special to you. I hope my own beloved grandchildren will have fond memories of Nana's house and the love and fun we shared here.

From time to time DH and I take a leisurely Sunday drive and go to my grandparents home. It was their summer cottage until my DGF retired then they moved there full time. I spent so many happy days there fishing with Grandpa and soaking up his vast knowledge of bird species and his beloved trees and flowers. He was enthralled with nature. My DGM always had yummy treats for me. How I loved a lunch of fried sunnies and her wonderful corn fritters.

Many beautiful stories! I cried with all remembering both of my grandparents homes and the memories brought back.

Sundance what another wonderful story. Glad you took the risk and that the new owners were so gracious. It's a lovely photo of you, filled with your memories. Thank you for posting it.

I love the surprise of the green tub when you pull back the curtain!

Lovely story edeevee! I enjoyed the way you wrote the story and the message.

Sundance, loved your story too. Beautiful picture.

I am so glad I read this thread (as I wipe my eyes...). For those of us lucky enough to have had special relationships with nearby grandparents, it's a chance to relive some very sweet memories.
As many don't really understand, updating is not always improving. Sometimes I just cringe when a poster bemoans their 15-year- old whatever has got to go because it's so dated!

Sundance, what a lovely bride you were and how special to have your portraits taken in your Grandparent's old home, even though it was quite different, and have them there with you.
I too have tears in my eyes. Homes hold so many memories within their walls, that even the changes can't take them away.

Wow, another beautiful story. Thanks for sharing it with us Sundance!

edeevee, you're quite a writer.
sundance, love your story too.
Thanks for sharing!

Edeevee, that was heart-warming. Sundance, happy that you had your special portrait taken at a place so special to you. One of my friends bought her first home from an old couple who were moving into assisted living. The husband was a blind man, but was an avid gardener who had a beautiful orchard that he tended to until the day the couple moved out. My friend is a warm person who loves people, especially old people. She would visit the couple in their assisted living place, take them fruits from the orchard. The wife died a few years later, and the first person the old man called to convey the news was my friend. He too died a couple of years after his wife's passing. My friend moved out of that house after a few years, but she has beautiful memories of her orchard and the old couple.

...and that is why the avocado green tub & surround are staying in my bathroom ;-) maybe even the avocado green and sky blue basins.

What beautiful, heart-touching experiences sweet ladies. Thank you!

I'm working on keeping as much of the original 1952 materials and "feeling" while rejuvenating and refreshing. Yes, I have caught the original owners' daughter, granddaughter, and great granddaughter driving slowly by, looking lovingly at the yard and quizzically at our progress on the house.

One of these days I'm going to flag one of them down, invite her in and ask to share stories over a cup of coffee.

HaHa, "The Ugly Duckling" remember grows into the swan. I call this house "Delta Dawn" ;-)

Thank you so much for the compliments and for sharing your own stories about the homes you love and loved. You really warmed my heart.

I love these stories. edeevee, I agree with MartinCA and felt like your first postf was the beginning of a good book.

Beautiful portrait Sundance. That was so sweet of the current owners to let you have your photo taken there.

What great stories edeevee and sundance. And the pictures that you showed us were so appropriate to your stories.

Sundance, you were a beautiful bride. For you and us, it's kinda cool that you showed us and told us about your grandparents house and what it meant to you and now you're here asking for advice about your own home.

These stories reminded me that I was brought up in the same house that my mother was raised in by her parents. I was always close to my grandmother and liked living in that house because it had been a part of her. My parents bought it from my grandparents when I was 7 and I lived there until I finished university at 23. I loved that house. I still remember my dad telling me that my grandmother had died and I went into the dining room crying because I knew that the last family dinner with her present had already happened.

The house is no longer there. My parents sold the house in the early '80's but in 1989 it was torn down and a McMansion built in it's place. I still remember the real leaded pane windows on either side of the fireplace and the old narrow-strip hardwood floors with the inlay borders.

Sundance, you were a beautiful bride! Great story!!

What a wonderful Sunday morning treat it was to read this thread! I've passed by it the past couple of days because the heading did not grab me, but oh, how the story did!

The tears started at "I put down the brush". That, to me, says you know what is important in life: keeping the green tub.

I still remember my beloved grandson, who was then about three, crying and holding tight onto our old green leather sofa as his dad and my DH carried it down to the basement to make way for a new one. He didn't want anything to change, even as he was too young to verbalize that thought.

I always wanted my grandchildren to feel as if my home was a haven for them, and for them to feel it was their home, too. We're building a small lakehouse right now and the design was altered to make sure they had enough space. My little eight year granddaughter asked me the other day if I would buy her a doll to keep at the new place. She was really acknowledging that it was her place, too.

I, too, hope they have only happy memories when they grow up.

And, Sundance, you were certainly a beautiful bride, and what a wonderful gift to your grandparents to show them how important they are in your life.

I started to paint part of my bathroom in a green. My son said "oh no, avocado green?" Told him it was called herbal green, but he wouldn't change his mind. And I couldn't get the comment out of my head. But thinking herbs of some type that match might make the tub more appealing. There is something I like about it.

Beautiful stories - thank you for sharing. Reminder that home is about so much more than the house!

edeevee, thank you for allowing that girl into your home. My sister and I had an opportunity to visit our grandparents' home a few years ago. We took a chance and rang the doorbell. The people who bought it 20+ years ago still live there, and he was happy to let us look. He even let us upstairs, saying his wife would kill him because it was such a mess!

They had done a lot of work, but kept much of the house the same. There was even a squeak in the upstairs hall that had been there when we were kids. We were so happy to see that "our" house was intact, and that another generation of kids had grown up there.

lovely,lovely story!

edeevee,
Thanks for sharing! A very nice story for this morning.

On the one hand, it's a great story and it's great that you kept it, because I am all for preservation, but on the other hand, I wouldn't care if the place I sold last year disappeared off the face of the earth, even though I live right around the corner from it, and I put my heart and soul into that renovation. I am perhaps mildly more attached to the house I grew up in, but once my father moves out of it--which may or may not happen before he dies (he is 90, and thinking about selling) I feel as if I won't have any attachment to it at all. My memories aren't based in inanimate objects. It may seem cold to be so detached, but I carry my memories with me all the time--they aren't stored in a building.

Pal, I think that may be a perspective that comes to some of us with age.

Then I must not be old enough yet, because places do hold memories for me still. Not that I don't carry them around with me, but being in the place where special memories took place brings them more to life, for me anyway. That and looking at old photos of captured moments of my life.

Pal, To each his own. My daughter is the same way but my son? Sloppily sentimental about places and things.

This is just an anectdotal guess but I wonder if it might be related to frequency of moves as a child? I moved 10 times in my first 18 years. My son moved 4 times before he was 7. My daughter was too young to remember those first moves. She was just 3 when we bought the house she grew up in.

It may be that when things change a lot at a young age you develop a way of compartmentalizing your memories -- like you said, "storing" them in the buildings where they were made?

I admit to being surprised that YOU don't attach emotion to homes since think so deeply about them and put so much obvious care into getting them just right.

Ah, well, it's complicated. When it's Mine I'm very attached, when I've let it go, that's it.

edeevee, you might have a point there. I was well into my tenth year, to my way of thinking that means I'd already had my 9th birthday, we moved away from my safe smallish home town where all my Mom's family and my bestest friends lived. A place where you could leave your doors and windows open even if you weren't home, day or night, and not worry about anything being missing when you came to. We moved to a much larger city, where people judged each other in ways I'd never heard of before. I thought the city was evil, therefore I held onto my past home like it was the only place worth holding onto.

The green tub looks good with or without the story, IMHO :)

What absolutely beautiful stories. I too passed by this thread because I just wasn't that interested in reading about a green tub -- but I'm so glad I opened it this morning. So very touching!

I'm in touch with the "girls" (now elderly) who grew up in my house in the 1940s. They have shared me with me a wealth of memories, and they are genuinely thrilled that I love "their" house. I have quite a few old photos from the time that they lived there, and they are very special to me. Actually, from the moment I walked into the house when it was on the market, I felt a very happy vibe. I now really believe that the house somehow absorbed a lot of laughter and love from the previous occupants. Or, at least, that's what I choose to believe.

WOW. I needed this. I "settled" on a house quickly when my dream house deal didn't work out several years back because the seller changed their mind. I have been so focused on disliking my current home layout and its dated look that I sort of gave up on it. Not even sort of, I really gave up on it.

My kids are going to remember this place and I sure hope their first memory is not what their mom thought of the floor color or kitchen cabinets : (