The Reveal

Here it is! My neeeeeew bathroom! Because the bathroom is tiny, I didn't have a way to take all those lovely decorating magazine photos. So here we go, in bits and pieces...

Meet my new vanity and brushed nickel fixtures.

Here's a look at the new lights, mirror, wainscoting, and a handy dandy wall cabinet. I ordered the wall cabinet on line. Imagine my surprise when it arrived in 8 flat pieces. I thought the darn thing would come assembled, but no such luck. Thank goodness for a son who is willing to put things together for his all-thumbs mom.

How about this shower? The contractor even built a small corner seat for me. Oh, the luxury! My first use of the shower was quite an adventure. The water barely trickled from the shower head. Back came the contractor to remove the "regulator". Now the water comes out so hard it stings. Maybe it will beat my skin back into its youth. Or beat me to death. One or the other.

I wanted a basket weave pattern in green for the floor and could only do it with marble tile. The contractor stressed that I needed to seal it because marble is a soft stone. Imagine the fun I had sealing all those little pieces.

I love it. The tile man told me the finished room reminded him of the way bathrooms look on the east coast. A "beachy" look was exactly what I wanted, so I call this remodel a SUCCESS...but I'm even more happy it's finally done.

Have you tackled any remodeling projects lately?

Projects, Projects

If you have a writer friend who has recently disappeared, you may wonder what happened. I'm betting your pal is participating in NaNoWriMo. As many of you know, November is National Novel Writing Month, affectionately referred to as NaNoWriMo. The challenge is to get at least 50,000 words toward a novel on paper. You can outline and think about your story all you want, but can't begin writing it until November 1. Likewise, you must stop writing by midnight on November 30.

I've done the challenge 3 out of the past 5 years and reached my goal each time. It's stressful, but definitely exhilarating. This year I opted out, which makes me feel like a real slacker. After all, NaNo is addicting in a stuff-yourself-with-carbs kind of way, but I'm going cold turkey...until next year.

To appease the guilt gods I plan to drag out my last year's NaNo project this month and focus on trying to turn it into a real book. Haven't started revising yet, mind you, but it's on my list.

Other things have been taking up my time. Aside from my sister's health issues (Update: final pathology report showed everything benign! Thanks again for your prayers and positive thoughts), I've been working on another project.

I hate it when Mom does a project.

  










Mom's projects live in Snooze City.

I am doing a bathroom remodel and have a few post-project observations. First, who'd ever imagine redoing such a tiny bathroom would take so much time and cost so much money? Second, know what the contractor will and won't do. For example, I had to do the wall prep, painting, and sealing of floor/grout. I hadn't planned on that.

Anyway, here are a few of the "before" pictures.

Old oak cabinet and tacky linoleum floor in very sorry shape.

Fiberglass surround shower, with plenty of cracks, leaks and messy problems.

The contractor stripped the bathroom down to the studs. Now, nearly 3 weeks later, the job is complete. I'm pretty pleased with it and will post the "after" pictures later this week.