by jphilo | Jan 20, 2011 | Daily Life
Hiram and I must be gluttons for punishment, diving into another bathroom remodeling project. We managed to finish the last one – adding a shower to the upstairs bathroom tub which required tearing out old tile and putting in new plumbing, new sheetrock, new tile, and new plumbing – the day before the kids came to celebrate Christmas.
That project was step one of our present project, turning the bathroom next to the kitchen into a laundry room. Last Saturday, Hiram moved on to step two. He tore out the old shower stall. It nearly killed him to pitch the shower door (which he thought was in perfectly good condition), and he couldn’t bear to throw out the top quality shower head (if anyone needs one, contact me please), but everything else was good riddance to bad rubbish.
As with any remodeling project, there’s good news and bad news. The good news is two-fold. The new stackable washer and dryer, which Lowes has patiently stored for two months and is willing to keep for a month or two more, will fit nicely in the old shower stall space. So we don’t have to tear out the closet beside it or the lowered ceiling above it to make room. And since the space used to house a shower, the drains and pipes are already there. Hiram will just move them a wee bit, put in a new electrical outlet, beautify the floor and sheetrock, and we’re in the first floor laundry business.
Now for the bad news. Um, the bad news. Well, the bad news is that there isn’t any bad news. The project looks like it will be less work and less expensive than anticipated, which is bad news for gluttons for punishment. Because gluttons for punishment don’t want nice. They want punishment. So either we need bad news, or Hiram and I can’t call ourselves gluttons for punishment. Instead we’ll need to take a trip to a warm place next January instead of launching another remodeling project.
Which sounds like good news to me. Best case scenario? We find a hotel that gives discount rates to couples who bring their own deluxe shower head. Wouldn’t that be good news for a couple ex-gluttons for punishment?
by jphilo | Sep 29, 2010 | Daily Life
We live in an old house. It was old in 1991 when we moved here, and it hasn’t gotten any younger. It’s aged fairly gracefully, thanks to both it’s good bones and the many facelifts we’ve given it.
But this fall’s facelift – adding a shower head to the tub in the upstairs bathroom – breaks new ground. This is the first remodel of a room we remodeled. Granted, this transformation won’t be as dramatic as the first one. What could compete with trading out flaking, blue plastic bathtub paneling secured with masking tape for ceramic tile and real grout? Or yanking out blue shag carpeting (turned green from urine dribbles around the toilet) and replacing it with clean vinyl flooring?
Still, we are removing lovely ceramic tile we hoped would remain much longer. And we’re swapping the medicine cabinet put in when the kids were little, the cabinet they wore out during their growing up years. The stained tiles, evidence of Anne’s childhood painting, ink and dye experiments, are gone. The cabinet where they stored their toothpaste and retainers, their acne medications and smelly soaps is gone.
Our children are gone, too, along with twenty years in this old house. And we’re not getting any younger, no matter how fit and trim we stay. So we’re moving on, too. Putting a shower in the upstairs bathroom. Ripping the shower out of the downstairs bathroom off the kitchen. Moving the laundry room out of the basement and into the kitchen bathroom. Getting ready to be old in this house or to improve it’s chances of selling in case the opportunity arises to move closer to wherever our kids settle someday.
That’s what makes this remodeling different. The improvements include the possibility of pulling up roots instead of putting them down. Of leaving memories behind instead of creating new ones. Of growing old instead of growing up.
Its a new way of thinking, this second time around. Sure hope I’m up to the challenge.
by jphilo | Jan 31, 2008 | Daily Life
The bathroom tile project is done, thanks to my industrious, and for a while, very stressed husband. The plumbing’s fixed, the tiles on, the grout’s been applied, and every remaining crevice has been caulked.
And, though you all know I would never have dreamed of whining about the situation one little bit, I am much happier now that all my necessary beauty stuff is back in our bathroom. I didn’t realize how much stuff it takes to create beauty like mine until I had to haul it out and then haul it in again.
But I digress. The picture above shows what a good job Hiram did. You can find the comparison shot at the January 31 entry. The tiles look a little pink, but in reality they are “biscuit” which is decorator talk for “off white.”
Through the whole remodeling process I learned two things. FIrst, I learned to be grateful for a master bathroom off the master bedroom. The convenience is a true gift. Second, when I moved from the kitchen bathroom to the upstairs bathroom after Anne went back to college, I discovered the upstairs bathroom needs a lot of work. The sink drains slow, the knobs on the tub are shot, the wall paper border looks tired, etc. In short, it needs remodeling.
I won’t mention that to Hiram quite yet. Using the upstairs bathroom for a month was inconvenient. Living with a cranky husband is torture. I can’t handle that right now. I’m having a hard enough time dealing with winter and cold and snow. But Hiram might want to brush up on his Shakespeare quotations in the next few weeks. You know the one I mean?
Beware the Ides of March.
by jphilo | Jan 1, 2008 | Daily Life
The remodeling started yesterday when my husband announced he planned to tear out all the shower tile in our master bathroom. For about three months we’ve been aware of a little moisture problem that needed to be investigated. And since New Year’s Eve is always the best time to initiate home improvement projects – you can get a twenty-four hour jump on the New Year’s resolution thing that way – Hiram got busy with the crow bar.
This morning, with the convenient bathroom out of commission, I was reminded of how much I hate camping. It took me three trips, maybe four, to move everything into the kitchen bathroom so I could complete my toilette. And just when I was ready to step into the shower, I remembered the rest of the stuff I needed. I had to get dressed again and haul another armload from one bathroom to the other. After the shower and two more trips to the master bathroom, I was ready for the day.
And that’s when I remembered why I hate camping. It is so darn inefficient. You spend all your time moving from one place to another, packing everything you need. Then at the pivotal moment, you realize you forgot the most essential necessity and have to figure out a way to retrieve it or come up with a way to do without it. After a weekend away from it all, you go home exhausted and covered with bug bites.
Most years when June and July roll around, somebody talks me into a camp-out by describing how much fun camping is. But 2008 is going to be different. Even though I’m now fifty-one and need one of those pill keepers to remember to take my vitamins, thanks to our January bathroom remodeling project, I will not forget how much I hate camping and all its inefficiencies.
Even though I’ve found some good in our present bathroom situation, next New Year’s Eve I’m hiding the crow bar. This winter camping business is for the birds.
