Prepping to Paint (or, What Lurks Beneath)

I didn’t get the bathroom painted today – a chest cold was holding me back (boo!) – but I did get some work done prepping to paint.

I cleared off the counter. Then I took the mirror and shelves off the wall. I had forgotten that this was under the mirror:

The previous owners didn’t take down the medicine cabinet before painting. They just painted around it.

There’s one more story about this little square of wall.  The medicine cabinet that was there was this ugly, white plastic-framed, clunky thing. When I removed it several years ago (replacing it with the mirror you’ve seen in the pics of this bathroom), not only did I see the wallpaper there, but I found something else.

No, it wasn’t a treasure map. No, it wasn’t a million dollars.

It was leftover Taco Bell.

No, I’m not kidding.

When I took down the medicine cabinet, stuck to the back of it was a Taco Bell wrapper that still had food in it. It was nasty. I didn’t open the wrapper (ew), but there was definitely still food in it.

Did I mention that, when I took the medicine cabinet down, we’d been living in the house for seven years?

That’s right. You do the math. Yuck.

The good news is that the Taco Bell lurking behind the cabinet is long gone, though certainly not forgotten. What was still there were the anchors from the medicine cabinet. I removed them and spackled those holes and others in the room.

As I was in there tonight, I realized how little light is in this room.

After painting the room a lighter color, I’ll reevaluate the lighting situation and see if we can add another sconce.

Tomorrow, we paint! What do you have planned for this weekend?