Bathroom Project

Our big bathroom ("big" har har har) has been in need of some serious attention.

 

I love white. Walt Kowalski always wanted a little color.  I said when we remodeled we would add some color.  Well it was time.  I have been smelling stinky old wood in the bathroom lately.  We were suspecting some water damage to the subfloor beneath the tile behind the toilet.

 

 

 

Then there were several cracked tiles.  One was from the floor being uneven, one was from a dropped curling iron that hit straight down and cracked the tile, one was from a drilling mishap when we added new heating ducts during the game room remodel.
 

And the grout used to be white.  Used. To. Be.

And when I remodeled this bathroom, I didn't know we were going to have four black cats. 4 black cats and 1 white bathroom are not a good combination.

There was some water damage to the subfloor.
 

 
Of course, everybody had to sniff all the stinky boards and roll on them.  The entire old subfloor was composed of only three thin plywood boards. It was only held down with one screw in each board.  I'm amazed there weren't more broken tiles.

 
I know so much more about remodeling now than when I did this bathroom originally.  A layer of waterproof cement board went down before the tile.  You can see where we repaired the wall. In the previous photo you can see the hole in the wall where the heat register was.  When we remodeled the game room, we brought the heat up under the vanity.  But never repaired the hole.

Pepper would stick her head in and look down that hole every morning. 

 
It looks so big with no vanity, door, or toilet.

Floor done.  Wall fixed.
 
It took me an entire evening to cut the five tiles in front of the tub.  I outlined the pattern on paper, cut out the pattern, transferred the pattern to the tile and then carefully cut the pattern with the wet saw.  As always with me and tile, I make my cuts too precise.  They fit too tightly together and against the wall and tub. We wanted a little wiggle room for grout.  Cut, measure. Cut, measure. Cut, measure.
 

 
We still want a new toilet.  One that has two buttons, one for liquids and one for solids.  With a well that type of toilet is a HUGE water saver. We know what we want, we just have to find it.  The old commode, with a good scrubbing, will be fine for now. 

They also have new toilets with no touch features.  Just wave your hand over the tank.  Flush! 

My concern was that Fudge and Pepper sit on the back of the tank while I get ready for work.  Every tail wag might mean a flush. Too many flushes.

Chain Saw Johnny gave us the idea for the sink top.   We went down to pick out the color from the selections he had to offer.  He even gave us a tour of the granite factory where it was carved. (Very cool.  No photos allowed.)

The vanity was also new.  We were going to use the old one (which was similar) but it was glued to the countertop and wouldn't release. The fixture in the sink was in good condition.  Also got a good scrubbing.

It added a little extra to the cost of the project, but it is nice.  For under $600, we replaced the subfloor, got new tile and grout, a new vanity and granite top.

Now to keep it clean.

Dinner Guest

This weekend I was making dinner. It was nothing special. It was so un-special that I can't even remember what it was! But we were hungry and thankful for food. 

When out on the lawn I heard such a clatter...

No clatter.  Just several cats who were suddenly VERY interested in the forest out back. 

The cats and I were watching the deer.  The deer was watching me, then watching Walt Kowalski in the shed, then watching me.  By the time I quietly signaled to Walt Kowalski to look, he was gone. 

He. Yes, he.  See those nubs of antlers? I didn't at first.

STAY AWAY FROM MY HOSTAS! THE SALAD BAR IS CLOSED. I already have to buy another Rose of Sharon bush.

Hello?

Sorry I can't get to the phone today.  My replacement will be handling all calls:

The answers might be a little sticky, however.

Shower

Last night Walt Kowalski and I did our usual "divide and conquer." He went to work at the front house.  I stayed home and worked around the Cat Ranch. 

One of the things on the to-do list was a new flapper for the commode in the powder room.  I could hear the toilet was running to refill more often lately. The high calcium deposits in well water make the parts in the tank wear out more frequently.  Less than $3 for a repair completed by one person in less than 5 minutes.  Easy task. 

Except the valve to turn the water off to the toilet is corroded and won't shut off completely.  So my one person task became a two person task.  Walt Kowalski knew about the valve and even has a replacement ready.  In the meantime, we can still fix the toilet.  I held the lever so the water wouldn't fill and Walt Kowalski changed the flapper.

Of course we did this task at 10:15 pm just before we went to bed. (I know better than to start a plumbing project that late.)

But everything went well. The valve replacement will be another day. 

Except as we finished the task, I glanced at myself in the mirror and realized ...

I never took a shower this evening!

But I'm ready to go to bed nowwwwwww.

How I missed this minor detail, I don't know.  Walt Kowalski showered as soon as he returned home from the front house while I was making dinner. Normally, after working outside or at the front house, I'm too dirty and I shower before making dinner.  One small change threw me off my schedule.

Then again let me tell you what I *almost* did the other day. After working outside, I am always cautious of ticks, poison, and dirt in the house. As a preventative measure, we got in the practice of taking our work boots, jeans, and long sleeve shirts off in the garage before coming upstairs. 

My mind was already on making dinner and when I got upstairs to the bathroom, I turned on the water, grabbed a wash cloth, and stepped into the shower.  Still wearing my socks and unders. 

*sigh*

It took my brain a moment to realize 'something is not right in this picture.'

It's ok. You can laugh.  I did.  

Dumpster Diving

Like my "new" planter? I got two of them. 

Last year, at the end of summer, they were sitting down by the curb for the garbage. They were dirty and needed a good scrubbing. I popped open the trunk, threw them in and put them away in the shed for next year.  

It's next year!

I forgot about them until this weekend.  After I scrubbed them, you could see they were a little weathered from, well, being out in the weather.  Nothing a coat of spray paint wouldn't cure.  I even had a can on the shelf in the laundry room. 

Spray spray.  

Add dirt.  Add flowers. Done! 

(I know that Walt Kowalski tolerates my collection day "finds" but a quick internet search said they retail for minimum around $50 each.)

I got the other small pots for the back patio planted, too.  

I have learned that when planting my own pots if the pot looks like 4 flowers would be enough add 6. I also learned that I always buy too many flowers.  They are just so pretty at the store.  

One Two Three

And just like that...

The walls are gone.

It looks kinda scary in here with no walls and plaster.  It looks a LOT cleaner than it is, too.

Taking the ceilings down is the worst.  The walls are dusty, but the ceilings have dirt left in them from the coal furnace and lots of chimney soot. 

The truck is full. The burn pile is growing (again).

I'm not ready to think about the chimney.

One Job

Dear City,

You had one job. Empty the dumpster.  

Here was our agreement.  Instead of going to another company and having to get a permit, I would rent dumpster from you for a weekly fee. No permit needed and you got some easy money from a member of your community. You would bring the dumpster to the requested location, I would fill the dumpster, and you would take it away in 1 week.  Empty or full. If I wanted the dumpster emptied sooner, I would go to your office, pay for another week, and you would empty the dumpster on the day I paid.

Sounds like an excellent agreement.  

Our relationship started out great. We paid, you provided, we filled, we paid, you emptied. Once you even gave us an extra weekend.  We didn't mind. 

I now realize that extra weekend was only great when the dumpster was not completely full.  

Walt Kowalski and I planned the dumpster rental around the weekend.  We planned to fill the current dumpster, have a check to you on Friday morning, and have an empty dumpster Friday afternoon for the next weekend. We have done this before, do you remember?

So when I get the call around 2:30 pm that the new dumpster had been paid for and the current dumpster was still full, you can understand I wasn't pleased. I was even less pleased to find out that on Fridays, you are done working at 2 o'clock pm and that dumpster I paid for is not going to be emptied until Monday morning. 

What about our agreement? 

You can't be late for you Friday afternoon tee time, can you? I bet you didn't hesitate to deposit that check I gave you this morning, did you? But if I'm late paying, you don't care and make certain you remind me I was late. 

So now I have a weekend of work planned and an overflowing dumpster

Ok, Lesson learned.  I will still honor our agreements in the future, but I will no longer trust you. Because you can't be trusted, I will call and call and call you again until the dumpster is empty. Because you can't be trusted, I will be the responsible one and get you the request for an emptied dumpster a day earlier than I need.  

Once again, City, you have disappointed me.  

Love, me.

P.S. Your truck is going to struggle to pick up that dumpster to empty it.  It is HEAVY. I didn't wait for the empty dumpster.  I added as much as I could to every corner of this current dumpster.  It is overflowing.  I probably would have needed an extra week's rental from you, but not anymore. Maybe I should be thanking YOU for saving me money after all.