February 2, 2008
Hubby got home from his Bible study and began immediately to work on removing the bathroom wall. As Hubby started removing parts of the wall it gave us the first glimpse of the bathroom as a whole room. I needed to go downtown but hubby asked me to wait until Pauly got there so I could tell him about the new vanity placement. I told him that I didn’t need to be there and for him to ASK Pauly if it would work. I then left to go downtown. When I arrived home a few hours later I was amazed. Not only was the wall completely removed but the toilet and vanity were also gone and Pauly had re-plumbed for the new vanity location. The bathroom looked so spacious and roomy! (Keep in mind that there were no fixtures in there which may have contributed to its roomy appearance). The guys then asked me how far from the new wall opening I wanted the vanity to be placed. As we were discussing this it hit me that the toilet appeared as if it were almost directly across from the vanity (the vanity is 36” wide and 18” deep). I questioned them on this point. With puzzled looks they began to measure. As it turns out there was very little space to walk between the vanity and the toilet. This was fine for little me but anyone bigger would have to turn sideways to walk between the two fixtures. Mind you this wasn’t a minor glitch-this was a full blown dilemma! Hubby said that I was the one that wanted the vanity moved to which I responded that I wanted him to ASK if it would work there. He asked alright but followed it with a ‘she wants it moved over here’. After an hour of discussion as to how to address the situation (and a small tantrum or two on my part) the solutions were evident but not necessarily desirable.
1. Place the vanity in the new locale and walk past it carefully so as not to run into it (and gain no weight or I’d be crawling over the toilet to get to the tub).
2. Turn the toilet to the side and build a half wall behind it to hide the plumbing and place the china cabinet on the other side of the half wall.
2 ¾ . Drink heavily and throw a fit.
3. Put the plumbing and the vanity back in its original location and place the china cabinet across from the toilet.
Number ‘3’ continued to present a problem in that the china cabinet placed across from the toilet would create the same small passageway (yes the china cabinet is somewhat necessary as this is providing additional storage). Another idea was to move the toilet to the old vanity location which would require the cement floor being cut up. Another problem with this idea was that the toilet would be the first image one saw upon entering the bathroom (where this might be acceptable to men it was a less than ideal situation for a woman). By now I was too tired to think, not to mention extremely frustrated. We all decided that after church the next day we would meet at the shop, bring the vanity home, and try arranging things to determine what would work best. I called mom later to get her input about the vanity situation. She wasn’t thrilled with either solution and suggested returning the vanity to its original placement (so much for the new arrangement). This also meant that the china cabinet would probably not be used requiring Darryl to custom build cabinets for storage purposes. And so ends another day in the bathtub saga!
February 3, 2008
By golly I’ve got it!!! Scrap the vanity and install a pedestal sink instead! After all, it’s just money! The vanity was going to provide very little storage once converted to hide plumbing, not to mention it was purchased before the bathroom addition idea came about (remember initially we were just going to re-tile the floor and add the 1950’s Victorian style dresser-converted-to-a-vanity with a new sink but then we found out we could add-on and have a claw foot tub too. Seems like months ago doesn’t it? Oh that’s right-it was months ago!) Yes, I’m drinking caffeine while I write this! This solution seemed the most viable as it solved all of the dilemmas from the previous workday. The pedestal sink would be installed in the new location with plenty of room between it and the toilet, and the china cabinet would be placed to the right of the toilet (where the vanity used to be) providing a lovely first impression when entering the bathroom. I would sell the dresser that was going to be used as the vanity in the shop and recoup our money. Problem solved!
But wait, there’s more.
We went to a home improvement chain store after church to purchase the pedestal sink. Several different styles and sizes of sinks lined the shelves. By now you know me well enough to know that I was drawn to the very expensive Kohler sink ($230). However, I continued looking and found a comparable looking off-name brand sink for a fraction of the cost ($95). I asked the salesman for assistance in purchasing the sink just to be told that almost all of the pedestal sinks were sold out. I was only interested in two of the sinks-the expensive Kohler and the affordable off-name brand. Guess which of the two sinks was sold out? Yup-the bargain priced off-name brand sink! Hmmm. Guess the Kohler it is!
· Kohler sink-$230
· Kohler pedestal base (yes you have to pay extra for the blooming base!)-$100
Oh stop all that gasping! I know it’s a lot of money but it is a very good sink. It is about quality, is it not?
But wait, there’s more.
The faucet we purchased a few years ago (still in the box waiting for hubby to install it in the old vanity-beep, beep, beep-that’s the sound of the bus backing over hubby as I write this) is a one piece unit that worked well for the old vanity and what was going to be the new vanity. Unfortunately pedestal sinks don’t take one piece faucet sets-they need split sets. Ok, not a big problem-we’ll look at the faucets. The first one that I liked was a whopping big $188! Let’s try this again. Next I found a beautiful Victorian style split faucet in the nickel finish (tub fixtures are nickel). The best part was that it was on sale for $98! WooHoo! Finally a bargain! We searched all of the shelves for this faucet but could not find it. We asked the salesman about it and he informed us that not only were they sold out but the faucet was discontinued. The search resumed. Alas, after looking at several faucets (including the special order one that hubby liked for $315) we decided on the $188 faucet that I liked originally. In addition to all of this I needed a new toilet paper dispenser ($24), a new toilet seat ($11.98), and a nickel finished toilet bowl handle ($19.98). Ironically I thought that the whole pedestal sink shopping spree would only cost a couple of hundred dollars (stop laughing-it’s not funny! Well, yeah, I guess it is kinda funny).
We arrived home to find Pauly waiting. He and hubby fitted the last window opening and did some more plumbing work.
On the brighter side, since Pauly started helping us there has been more accomplished on the bathroom in two days then there had been in the past month (Oops there goes that blasted bus again!). Pauly is a work horse and never stopped-he just kept on working. Hubby even seemed to work faster with Pauly there. I should have taken over as project manager months ago! Maybe if I had I would be soaking in a tub by now!
After they had finished for the day Pauly recommended a contractor friend from his church to install the siding and shingles (Hubby was going to do this but at this point I am trying to save some time). Pauly also offered to help hubby with the sheetrock installation and suggested his brother-in-law to do the dry walling. I liked the idea and told him to give my number to his friend so I could get an estimate. I noticed hubby looking at me with concern on his face (or maybe it was fear-you know wanting to say ‘but dear, I can do all of that for free’ but too afraid to see the reaction of the wicked wife/project manager standing before him-not to mention fear of the darn bus that she’s driving). Being the new project manager all decisions are mine and they are final (no negotiating!). I intend to get this project finished and pay whoever is willing to help me (except for hubby-he’s been paying since he married me).
Did I mention that the new pedestal sink is also being stored in the living room since the library and the spare bedroom are full? I guess that means that we currently have a living room/bathroom combo.
Hubby got home from his Bible study and began immediately to work on removing the bathroom wall. As Hubby started removing parts of the wall it gave us the first glimpse of the bathroom as a whole room. I needed to go downtown but hubby asked me to wait until Pauly got there so I could tell him about the new vanity placement. I told him that I didn’t need to be there and for him to ASK Pauly if it would work. I then left to go downtown. When I arrived home a few hours later I was amazed. Not only was the wall completely removed but the toilet and vanity were also gone and Pauly had re-plumbed for the new vanity location. The bathroom looked so spacious and roomy! (Keep in mind that there were no fixtures in there which may have contributed to its roomy appearance). The guys then asked me how far from the new wall opening I wanted the vanity to be placed. As we were discussing this it hit me that the toilet appeared as if it were almost directly across from the vanity (the vanity is 36” wide and 18” deep). I questioned them on this point. With puzzled looks they began to measure. As it turns out there was very little space to walk between the vanity and the toilet. This was fine for little me but anyone bigger would have to turn sideways to walk between the two fixtures. Mind you this wasn’t a minor glitch-this was a full blown dilemma! Hubby said that I was the one that wanted the vanity moved to which I responded that I wanted him to ASK if it would work there. He asked alright but followed it with a ‘she wants it moved over here’. After an hour of discussion as to how to address the situation (and a small tantrum or two on my part) the solutions were evident but not necessarily desirable.
1. Place the vanity in the new locale and walk past it carefully so as not to run into it (and gain no weight or I’d be crawling over the toilet to get to the tub).
2. Turn the toilet to the side and build a half wall behind it to hide the plumbing and place the china cabinet on the other side of the half wall.
2 ¾ . Drink heavily and throw a fit.
3. Put the plumbing and the vanity back in its original location and place the china cabinet across from the toilet.
Number ‘3’ continued to present a problem in that the china cabinet placed across from the toilet would create the same small passageway (yes the china cabinet is somewhat necessary as this is providing additional storage). Another idea was to move the toilet to the old vanity location which would require the cement floor being cut up. Another problem with this idea was that the toilet would be the first image one saw upon entering the bathroom (where this might be acceptable to men it was a less than ideal situation for a woman). By now I was too tired to think, not to mention extremely frustrated. We all decided that after church the next day we would meet at the shop, bring the vanity home, and try arranging things to determine what would work best. I called mom later to get her input about the vanity situation. She wasn’t thrilled with either solution and suggested returning the vanity to its original placement (so much for the new arrangement). This also meant that the china cabinet would probably not be used requiring Darryl to custom build cabinets for storage purposes. And so ends another day in the bathtub saga!
February 3, 2008
By golly I’ve got it!!! Scrap the vanity and install a pedestal sink instead! After all, it’s just money! The vanity was going to provide very little storage once converted to hide plumbing, not to mention it was purchased before the bathroom addition idea came about (remember initially we were just going to re-tile the floor and add the 1950’s Victorian style dresser-converted-to-a-vanity with a new sink but then we found out we could add-on and have a claw foot tub too. Seems like months ago doesn’t it? Oh that’s right-it was months ago!) Yes, I’m drinking caffeine while I write this! This solution seemed the most viable as it solved all of the dilemmas from the previous workday. The pedestal sink would be installed in the new location with plenty of room between it and the toilet, and the china cabinet would be placed to the right of the toilet (where the vanity used to be) providing a lovely first impression when entering the bathroom. I would sell the dresser that was going to be used as the vanity in the shop and recoup our money. Problem solved!
But wait, there’s more.
We went to a home improvement chain store after church to purchase the pedestal sink. Several different styles and sizes of sinks lined the shelves. By now you know me well enough to know that I was drawn to the very expensive Kohler sink ($230). However, I continued looking and found a comparable looking off-name brand sink for a fraction of the cost ($95). I asked the salesman for assistance in purchasing the sink just to be told that almost all of the pedestal sinks were sold out. I was only interested in two of the sinks-the expensive Kohler and the affordable off-name brand. Guess which of the two sinks was sold out? Yup-the bargain priced off-name brand sink! Hmmm. Guess the Kohler it is!
· Kohler sink-$230
· Kohler pedestal base (yes you have to pay extra for the blooming base!)-$100
Oh stop all that gasping! I know it’s a lot of money but it is a very good sink. It is about quality, is it not?
But wait, there’s more.
The faucet we purchased a few years ago (still in the box waiting for hubby to install it in the old vanity-beep, beep, beep-that’s the sound of the bus backing over hubby as I write this) is a one piece unit that worked well for the old vanity and what was going to be the new vanity. Unfortunately pedestal sinks don’t take one piece faucet sets-they need split sets. Ok, not a big problem-we’ll look at the faucets. The first one that I liked was a whopping big $188! Let’s try this again. Next I found a beautiful Victorian style split faucet in the nickel finish (tub fixtures are nickel). The best part was that it was on sale for $98! WooHoo! Finally a bargain! We searched all of the shelves for this faucet but could not find it. We asked the salesman about it and he informed us that not only were they sold out but the faucet was discontinued. The search resumed. Alas, after looking at several faucets (including the special order one that hubby liked for $315) we decided on the $188 faucet that I liked originally. In addition to all of this I needed a new toilet paper dispenser ($24), a new toilet seat ($11.98), and a nickel finished toilet bowl handle ($19.98). Ironically I thought that the whole pedestal sink shopping spree would only cost a couple of hundred dollars (stop laughing-it’s not funny! Well, yeah, I guess it is kinda funny).
We arrived home to find Pauly waiting. He and hubby fitted the last window opening and did some more plumbing work.
On the brighter side, since Pauly started helping us there has been more accomplished on the bathroom in two days then there had been in the past month (Oops there goes that blasted bus again!). Pauly is a work horse and never stopped-he just kept on working. Hubby even seemed to work faster with Pauly there. I should have taken over as project manager months ago! Maybe if I had I would be soaking in a tub by now!
After they had finished for the day Pauly recommended a contractor friend from his church to install the siding and shingles (Hubby was going to do this but at this point I am trying to save some time). Pauly also offered to help hubby with the sheetrock installation and suggested his brother-in-law to do the dry walling. I liked the idea and told him to give my number to his friend so I could get an estimate. I noticed hubby looking at me with concern on his face (or maybe it was fear-you know wanting to say ‘but dear, I can do all of that for free’ but too afraid to see the reaction of the wicked wife/project manager standing before him-not to mention fear of the darn bus that she’s driving). Being the new project manager all decisions are mine and they are final (no negotiating!). I intend to get this project finished and pay whoever is willing to help me (except for hubby-he’s been paying since he married me).
Did I mention that the new pedestal sink is also being stored in the living room since the library and the spare bedroom are full? I guess that means that we currently have a living room/bathroom combo.
So Kramer had a tub and a sink to play in... lucky kittie.
ReplyDeleteThe saga of your $10,000. bathroom is certainly entertaining Kim.
Susan x
The plot thickens! I figure, pay top dollar, get high quality stuff. You'll probably keep the sink forever anyway, right? And all the other great stuff you needed to purchase? Sounds like all were needed for good reasons. I'll have to tune in for the next exciting episode!
ReplyDelete-Pam