Plumbing

The bathroom has been gutted, re-plumbed, re-wired, re-framed, and re-configured. The sheetrock has been hung and the tile is now complete. And now, for the most exciting part.....

...We can officially shower and go to the bathroom in our new bathroom!

I really wanted to write that previous sentence in all caps, mostly because I'm beyond thrilled that I don't have to pee in a bucket in the basement anymore!

Tile Happy

I love this tile! It might seem weird that I would get excited by super plain white tile all over the bathroom. But did you see what we lived with before? It wasn't even real tile IT WAS PLASTIC!

I have to admit that while this project has taken longer than I expected (because obviously my expectations were wacked!), it's a lot of fun to watch the progress and see all the decisions, we took months to make, take effect.

Again, I love this tile!

*We got everything from Dal Tile. We picked a gray grout for the floors (because white is impossible to keep clean). We did pick white grout for the shower tile area, mostly because I think that area is easier to clean.

Bathroom - Part 1

These are all pictures taken while I was not home - which makes me really glad that I decided to go somewhere else during the demo process. It's not that I didn't want to help, I really did. But luckily we both know ourselves well enough to know that there's only one boss allowed in demo.

I know that I've stated this too many times, but that really was a DISGUSTING bathroom. I'm very glad to see it go.

An Anniversary

We are in the midst of the bathroom remodel this September 11th. It's an anniversary that feels very strange to me because of how different my life is from 10 years ago.

My Dad was passing through town this weekend and when he turned on the television, I was like a chicken after dark. I couldn't move. I just stood in front of the TV while MSNBC re-aired the live coverage of that day. I stood frozen for about 30 minutes, until I realized that I had never seen what NBC, or any network, aired that day.

It's weird to write about it - like I was affected. I wasn't in that way. I didn't lose anyone dear to me (though I knew lots of people who did). But I lived there. It was my city - and I loved it. I was working for a major cable news network during that time and I remember not having a normal life after 9/11. I also remember my family being incredibly concerned that I was 3000 miles away and they couldn't protect me. I remember missing my best friend's wedding (she got married on September 15th - on the other side of the country a few hours after they lifted the NY airports ground stop). I remember having anxiety attacks for the first time in my life.

There were a lot of bad things that happened around that time - but there were also some good things.

I saw a side of New Yorkers that I never thought I'd see, I made some of the most important decisions of my life, and I made my closest friends.

Today was a very unexpected reflection. I often think about that time in my life - but rarely all at once - and the thoughts never freeze me in my tracks. I talked to my dad about my life during that time, what I was thinking and feeling and my experience. I don't think he'd really ever heard my stories before. He's glad I'm home now - and I am too.

In the Midst of a Remodel

When I came home from my trip (aka escaping the bathroom remodel) I sort of thought that the project would be mostly done. I mean, I was gone for like six days.

*For those of you who have gone through an actual bathroom remodel (rip it all out down to studs, alter plumbing layout, and build form scratch), you can imagine how humored hubby was when I said, "There's no toilet yet?"

I'm not sure what I was thinking when I imagined that all of this work could be finished in a weeks time. Without question, I was elated to have the old dingy, smelly pink bathroom gone, but this is what I came home to. Writing this makes me feel like a brat - but we only had one bathroom, there was NO backup. I'm really not that high maintenance!

Fortunately, our saintly neighbors all offered to let us use their facilities when necessary - and one set of neighbors even magically timed a vacation during the second week of the remodel. I honestly don't know what I would have done without their shower (and other) at least once a day for a week. I mean, it really is easier for boys.

Bye-bye Bathroom

I can't believe I waited this long to post a goodbye bathroom story. Without delaying this any further, let me lay it all out for you.

It's the night before it all gets torn out and I'm sitting on the couch with my hubby (and the cat) watching bad TV. Meanwhile, there's a new bathtub sitting under a tarp in the driveway and a toilet, pedestal sink, and all sorts of other bathroom-type stuff down in the basement. Hubby's got stacks of plans, schedules and contracts all over the kitchen table and he's ready for demo.

There's going to be a lot going on pretty soon and that bathroom is small, so in the midst of hubby's planning and organizing I made an executive decision and opted to leave town during the majority of the demo and remodel. Yup, you read it here, I'm not participating. I'm leaving all the decisions up to my architect/contractor. I trust him because he's cute.

Don't get me wrong, I got the tile and toilet I wanted and I still get to pick the paint color - but he gets to do everything else. And I think he likes it better that way.

Right now this whole thing seems very anti-climatic. Like I'm going to leave a pink plastic tiled bathroom and come back nine days later to a shiny new bathroom. If I were only that lucky!

Fast-forward - the next morning I was all packed in the rental car. Six days away from home/remodel/demo. Yay for me!