When I've told people that we are finally updating our master bathroom, the first question I get is "are you keeping the tub?" Most of our friends have removed the tub, opting for a large shower instead, however, because it is the only tub in our place, ours is staying, albeit with a paint job. Paint job, you ask? Indeed, you can paint a bathtub, something we know because we've done it before and it worked beautifully. Although we are ordinarily not bath takers, every now and again a bath is a fine idea. The more I've played pickleball, the more the idea of a hot bath to soak my aching joints sounds very appealing. So, are you interested in more details aside from the bath?
Let's go....
I believe it was Monday morning that we'd arranged for Herbert to come to the house to discuss the project. If you don't know who he is, well, let's just say he is what might be considered a God-send because he can do it all. You need plumbing work, he's your guy. Drywall--for sure. Electrical, no problem. And the list of his skills goes on.
We'd planned on tackling this project far sooner, however stuff got in the way, including Covid-19. Now that we've had our first vaccine, and soon to be second, we felt like the time was right. Speaking of the vaccination, our friend Mary told us that about ten days after receiving hers, her arm began to redden and itch at the injection site. Sure enough, ours did too, nothing serious and is gone now but when I asked Fallon about it she said that type of reaction has been very much reported.
As you can see by the list above, there is a lot of steps to tackling a remodel, so I had Bruce walk me through it in the order things were meant to happen. We'd planned on going camping this Sunday, but for a variety of reasons, we canceled the trip in order to focus on the project. I'm sure you've read all about delays in getting materials, so we felt it best to keep moving rather than interrupt the process for five days. Finding floor tile was first on the agenda. Before we moved in we had the popcorn ceilings done, followed by wall painting, and then new flooring. Well, the ceiling guys did not heed our instructions and dropped all sorts of goop on the bathroom floors which proved very difficult to remove. Thus a new floor is imperative. Except, apparently I'm not easy to please because I made about four trips looking for tile that I thought would be just right. I won't bore you with all of the details, but I brought some samples home and guess which one we chose?
If you guessed the ones on the left, you know us well. I love how it ties into the wood floor; we'd already planned on painting the vanity dark blue and now I will use the green, albeit maybe lighter, for the walls. One bonus is that the price was excellent, although that did not play into our decision. And what pray tell does this bathroom look like? Big.
Another good thing about the floor tile is that it will blend just fine with the wall tile which is in great shape and really just needs some contrast to make it work. The wall of mirrors is coming down, thus lots of drywall repair. Now I'm just trying to figure out the fixtures. Should we go with trendy brass, chrome, oil rubbed bronze, (which would kind of match the window), brushed nickel, or maybe black? Decisions, decisions! Black is probably out as I'm sure it is hard to keep clean, not to mention probably shows mineral deposits over time. The countertop will be a white quartz with a bit of veining. For that I drove over to Stone Crazy on Silver Star Road, the same folks who did our kitchen. I was greeted with a sign on the door,
"Sorry, no visitors inside the showroom due to Covid." As is seemingly the case everywhere, when I opened the door and hollered inside, the woman who came to the door wearing a mask told me that two of their workers tested positive, so no one was allowed inside. Fortunately she came outside and was able to show me some slabs, as well as providing me with a sample to take home. We stayed very much 6 feet apart, should you be wondering. Asking me to send her a photo in order for her to give us a price, I suspect that she was somewhat surprised when this arrived,
which I'm including so that we can do some comparison after things are gussied up. Another question is lighting. We looked at some fixtures, but I'm wondering if they will get lost in all of that wall space. While I know it is not trendy, I'm thinking of just painting what is there, the new wall color so that it might blend in. Hmmm.....
The good news is that because the tile came from Floor & Decor, we were able to pick it up immediately.
Bruce took it to the storage unit and will pick it back up when the time comes. The project begins the second week of February which is just around the corner, thus our urgency.
Meanwhile, the robins are still here, eating all of the camphor berries that they can to prepare for their migration North.
That sweet husband of mine surprised me by going on the web and finding the
Winged Migration film that I was raving about. Made twenty years ago, we watched it last night and it was just as thrilling as I'd remembered. While I know that you may get tired of bird photos, when you watch something like that and ponder the miracle of migration, you just have to think to yourself, every bird sighting is a treat. Including the Brown Pelican that was on our lake this week!
Along with the pelican, those are gorgeous Wood Ducks that we feel so fortunate to see with regularity, something that I do not take for granted. Susan reported seeing some White Pelicans on the the big lake, but to date I've yet to witness that glorious sight. Soon, very soon.
You might think that all I do is bake, yet I do enjoy preparing meals almost as much. I made a version of a Thai noodle dish, cutting up all the fixings, along with making the peanut sauce.
Sometimes we eat it cold, but for this dinner, it was hot and I added shrimp.
We've had quite a run of chilly days of late, however, today is warmer and as I just said to Bruce, "it is a glorious winters day." Made even more so by the fact that moments after typing the above regarding Susan's pelican sighting, she texted me to say that they were back. Immediately I quit typing and zoomed down there to see them. Beautiful bright blue sky, the same with the water, and the presence of 25 White Pelicans completed the picture. Plus, I may have seen a few seagulls as well. Once home, I checked out back and sure enough, we've got some too, however not yet close enough for a photo op. I did, on the other hand, see the owl, thanks to the gardener. What a day to be a bird nut, right???
All that chilly weather makes for an interesting lake in the early morning with steam rising to greet the day.
With all of the shopping for bathroom stuff, our refrigerator is bare, thus, it is time to head over to Publix.
Here's hoping that your winter day is far better than you'd hoped for when you got up this morning.
your friend,
Gail
p.s. You may have wondered why I don't soak in the tub currently and the answer is that the drain plug is broken, an inconvenience that will be remedied within the month.
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