Nearing Completion

Dave's bathroom project is almost done. Yesterday, they finished all the tiling and painting the ceiling and walls. Today, they installed the vanity, recessed medicine chest and the over-the-commode cabinet. Tomorrow: finishing touches and the super-duper commode gets hooked up. I'm so glad we let them have the run of the house for 4 days while we were away. The changes are big and it is such an improvement. The thing I forgot to factor in is that the size of the project is not directly related to the size of the room. One feature especially took massive amounts of time: the recessed alcoves in the shower. And of course, in true Adams style, we didn't just have them put in one of those alcoves. There are four.

I'll quote my sister who endured a long renovation: It'll be great when it's done.

Sunny Sunday

Another day at the beach. Dave was up for early Mass. In the brief time he was away, the kids were fed and dressed in beachwear. It's a wonder I bothered packing any clothes. Pretty much all they needed were ever-damp swimsuits. In the short time we've been here, Annie and Zeke have become quite avid little swimmers and Mary Jo seems to be fascinated by the tidepools on the steps of the indoor pool. All of them get exhausted and sleep and eat very well. Twice a day at the pool, naptime for shopping, and a nice dinner out. It's been a very lovely weekend.

Awaiting us at home are some more improvements in Dave's bathroom. We hope the new tub/shower will be encased in new tile and that the floor tile and new commode will be installed as well. Just another day at the beach.

Taking It for Granite

We had a luxurious time of it today. Mass and then lolling around Chez Adams. Dave got out the graph paper and mapped out his tile plan for his bathroom. While naps were happening, he went to the Depot to procure tile, granite threshhold, grout, toilet paper holder, towel bars, and a door hook. When he plotted his design, I must admit, I got a little excited. This will be the last room to be redone in the house. I know that sense of doneness won't linger. He's already talking about repainting the living room.

Date Night: Italian Food and Italian Tile

We had a great dinner at a new-to-us restaurant with some long-time friends. The Marriage Encounter gathering didn't materialize, but a double date did. Then dessert was selecting wall tile at Home Depot. Both Dave and I are very visual learners and so we laid out the pattern in the store and got o.k. with it. The work crew starts on Wednesday with the demolition, so we don't have too much time to shilly-shally. [Etymological note: I just learned that shilly-shally, which means to be undecided, hesitating or irresolute, comes from a variation of shall I? shall I?.... kewl.]

Bathroom Redo: Part Deux

Last night's date night was quite wonderful. We both had a great meal at the Texas Land and Cattle Company. Then we were off to the Home Depot to get down to chrome tacks [he's not doing brass] for Dave's bathroom redo. We found floor tile, grout, bought a tub, the light fixture, recessed medicine chest, wall storage unit and the cabinetry. It's the same maker as my bathroom, MasterBath, but he preferred the shaker style in a medium shade called cinnamon. We bought a very deep [20 inch] Kohler tub. It could be a jetted or whirlpooled tub, but Dave opted to just leave it as a tub alone. I know jetted tubs are big these days, but the kids' bathroom is not the room in which to put it, and I'm a little wary as I've heard they're prone to malfunction. Finally, I grew up in a 100+ year old Victorian which had one bathroom [the shower wasn't added until the year I went away to college], so I'm kind of "bathed out." It's fine now for my little mermaids and merman [Ethel?] to swim in, but they'll be graduating to showers soon enough.

Our plan is to have the bathroom done later this month while we're away on vacation. How cool is that?

Date Night Ahead

I just found out that our regular sitter can take care of the children tonight and so Dave and I have a last-minute date night. We have reservations at a newish steakhouse in town and then, joy of joys!, it's off to Home Depot and Lowe's. Getting him to make selections for his bathroom renovations is becoming exasperating for me. There's just a certain amount of money you have to spend on a bathroom redo no matter how small or large that room is. The three fixtures--toilet, tub and vanity--are what makes it a bathroom. And there's the thought that it you're gonna' do it, you might as well do it to the standards you've become accustomed to. So there's no scrimping on this project, much as we would like. He's in the grumpy 'tiara-on-a-pig' mood. Maybe the big box stores will blast him out of that. We did take a quick family fun outing to the Kohler showroom this morning...and that got us both thinking. There's more than one way to crown that porcine.

Family Fun Outing: The Lowe Down

Our cleaning lady came today and we took the opportunity to vacate for Lowe's. Dave will have his bathroom redone soon and we were needing to select a new tub, a new vanity, general stuff. It's really obvious that Dave and I need to maintain separate bathrooms because our tastes differ greatly. But his bathroom will become the children's in a few years, so we have to redecorate with that in mind.

[Am I wrong? Who would replace a white vanity with a white vanity? Sheesh! What's the point?]

The children were antsy, especially Zeke and Mary Jo who were "sharing" a cart. Zeke was facing forward in the rumble seat and Mary Jo was facing rearward. Good-natured sibling rivarly devolved quickly. It wasn't pretty. So we left at about the moment the two culprits had a melt-down. I really dislike foisting my kids' brattiness on the world. It's not fair to anyone. Melt-downs deserve a measure of privacy. I was childless long enough to know that not everyone in the area wants to see the snotty-faced squawling little darlings.

We did have a good time together at home. Everyone napped and everyone had a good long soak of a bath in a leisurely way this afternoon. Annie even got some time being "barefoot" in her Mr. Tony leg. They are delightful kids most of the time. Really.

Laundry Before and After

Here's the beginning of the laundry project. The disassembly of the previous closet. It is already painted in the new pale gray/blue. Doors are off.

Here's after. New high efficiency washer and dryer installed and working, new shelves installed, additional places to organize brooms, mops, and dustpans on the right.

A special feature I requested: The iron caddy and ironing board hook, plus the top two of the new shelves. A few of the shelves are fixed for stability. The rest are adjustable. There is a hole drilled on the left side to plug in the washer. The water faucets are not obstructed. As I said, not much of a gain in storage capacity, but much improved access and neatness. And that counts.

Knobs and Pulls: The Visual

One of my commenters asked to see the weekend's work. The hardware is brushed nickel and feels very substantial. Its shape is almost identical to the light fixture over the sink, which is chrome.

Bathroom Update: Software

Not because he asked or anything...but just because the new software arrived and I wanted to show it:



The diamond pattern in the floor tile is visible.



Finally found a perfect place for one of Nana's paintings.



You know "renovation software": shower curtain, valance, commode cover, contour mat, etc... Oh. I still haven't purchased drawer pulls. Now that you see it, I'm still taking suggestions. Opine freely in the comments.

Bathroom Redo: Before and After

As promised, here's the pictoral proof that the renovation happened in my bathroom. It is L-shaped. We had them remove wallpaper, flooring, cabinetry and commode. They painted the room a celery green, installed tiles on the floor [note the diamond cut-outs] and above the shower, installed a new gee-whizzzz toilet which flushes and finishes in 20 seconds, and installed a new vanity, hutch, vanity top, mirror and light. See for yourself.







The best $40 spent was on a Crescent Shower rod. It's available at Linens 'n Things and well worth the money.