Friday, April 16, 2010

Decisions and changes...

April 25, 2008
I went back to the paint store today and purchased a gallon of the Ceremonial Gold paint to finish the ceiling.

· One gallon of paint-$20

Once I got home I finished painting the ceiling and added a second coat to the walls and ceiling. It looks great but I am so sore!!! I could really use a soak in a tub!!!

April 26, 2008
Let the games, or should I say the arguments, begin!
Hubby and I went to choose moldings and bead boarding for the bathroom. Yesterday he brought home some sample pieces of molding for me to consider. He had purchased the moldings for the floor boards at our local hardware store, which, by the way, the floorboard moldings are now being stored in the hallway making access to the Abyss and the Black Hole difficult. Much to his surprise, and mine, I chose the plainer of the two moldings. Once we got to the national hardware chain store we chose bead boarding (the planks were a bit wider than the regular bead boarding) and then went to look at the moldings before loading the bead board supplies. We chose the traditional fluted trim work and rosettes for the door and windows. We looked at the wide plain moldings, like the sample I had chosen earlier, and all seemed to be decided upon when I spotted it-the most beautiful, elaborate moldings I had ever seen. It was heavily carved with lots of scrolly, fru-fru designs made out of that poly stuff. Oooh, it was pretty. Even hubby liked it! We both liked it, it was beautiful, and I wanted it! Decision made!
Then hubby saw the price-it was double what the plain molding cost.
All of a sudden he doubted my choice. He was worried that I had liked something so plain earlier and now wanted something so completely opposite (what is that old saying-a woman has the right to change her mind?). Anyway, I assured him this was the one I wanted. It was irrelevant to me that it was twice the price-it was gorgeous! I hadn’t skimped yet-why start now? Hubby continued trying to find a gentle way out.
Since I was convinced this was the one I wanted he tried another approach. It would be difficult to work with-trying to match the intricate patterns when mitering it. I told him I had the utmost confidence in his abilities.
Then he tried another approach, the poly stuff would probably melt with the heat of the saw which would ruin the design. Nope, that one didn’t work either-everyone else uses a saw for it so we could too!
Then he tried another one- it doesn’t really go well with the fluted door trim. That got my attention. I looked for another door trim but found none that I liked as well as the fluted trim. He finally wore me down and I conceded to the original plain but wide moldings.

But wait, there’s more.

I couldn’t give up that easily so I looked at the decorative wood moldings again. I found a beauty-it wasn’t as fancy as the poly stuff but it was very elegant. Hubby agreed that it was nice. He couldn’t argue over matching the pattern (it was easy to match because it wasn’t as intricate) and it was made of wood so there were no worries about it melting when being cut. Of course, it was more expensive (not much) than the poly stuff but all arguments were done. This time he conceded to the expensive, yet lovely, wood moldings. After a 30 minute discussion we now had to get back to the bead boarding. In the meantime, hubby had picked up one of the pamphlets on moldings which showed some beautiful wainscoting.
You know what is coming next don’t you?
Yup, we changed our minds about the bead boarding and decided on wainscoting instead. Now we had to choose all of the wood for the chair railings and wainscoting. In addition, we decided to add a picture molding to the ceiling. Another 30 minutes of decision making and finally we had loaded our cart. Hubby also chose a plank of wood to make the window sills. He showed me what he was going to do which included routing the edges. I asked him why he didn’t just buy the plank of wood with the edge already routed so that he could save time (he wants to save money-I want to save time). He said that only one edge was routed and he would still have to rout the other two edges so he might as well buy the regular plank of wood. We had a few more items to pick up and after an hour and a half (and a few more arguments) we were on our way home with a truckload of moldings and other supplies for the bathroom.

· Moldings, white paint, supplies-$557

We arrived home and I had errands to run. Hubby unloaded all of the wood into the house filling what little space we had left (the living room and kitchen floors are now covered in stacks of wood too so that you have to weave your way around to get from the living room to the kitchen). I returned home about two hours later to find Gary finishing up the roof. Hubby was standing outside of the bathroom so I figured he was taking a break from all of his hard work. I looked into the bathroom expecting to see moldings up but much to my surprise I looked into the bathroom to see the same thing I saw when I left earlier. I asked hubby what he had done. He responded that he had sanded the putty where he had patched nail holes on the back wall. What else have you done? I asked. He avoided the answer saying that he was going to return to the hardware store to get something for the window sills. I asked him if he could just wait until tomorrow to go and work on the moldings instead. No, he said he needed to do the window sills first. So I went inside to do a few things, crawling over the moldings in the hallway, weaving my way around the tub, china cabinet, and moldings in the living room making my way to the kitchen. When I went back out to the bathroom (crawling over moldings and weaving my way around bathroom fixtures and a china cabinet) Gary was now standing with hubby staring at the bathroom. ‘What are you waiting for?’ I asked. Keep in mind it has been more than two hours since we returned home from the hardware store and he has managed to sand the patched holes on the back wall. As project manager I made an executive decision and told him to stop standing around and get to the hardware store so he could get back and do some work! Finally, hubby left to exchange some wood. When he arrived home he had a new wood board for the window sills. Surprisingly it was the one I had suggested he buy earlier with the routed edge.
Gary finished the roof and left. Hubby and I worked until 8:30. I finished painting the patched and newly sanded back wall and then I painted the lower half of the walls a white semi-gloss for the wainscoting. Hubby worked on the window sill construction.
Injuries for the day included Gary cutting himself with a piece of roofing metal while hubby had some minor cuts.
I am just plain sore!

Monday, April 12, 2010

Paint and Dust!

April 19, 2008
St. Pauly to the rescue again! Pauly hooked us up with Mr. J, a coworker of his who used to do drywall years ago. Mr. J arrived Saturday morning and worked hard all day plastering the drywall. Hubby put up the remaining pieces of drywall and then helped with some of the plastering. The bathroom actually looked like a room by the end of the day! WooHoo!

April 20, 2008
Mr. J showed up again this morning to do the second phase of plastering which he completed. He will return this week to sand the walls and then I can begin painting!
Once I get the walls painted we can begin the finish work (tiling, bead boarding, moldings, lights, etc) and the installation of the tub, sink, and toilet. After all, having a tub, sink, and china cabinet in the living room for several months and the toilet in the side yard I believe it is time for the bathroom fixtures to actually be IN the bathroom. Fortunately my assistant project manager, St. Pauly, will work hard to get the finishing work done. I believe that hubby will help him to accomplish this although there is no doubt in my mind that I will have to manage this portion of the project very carefully. This is the ‘almost finished’ mode that tends to make people slow down a bit. Granted, if we slowed this project down any further it would go backwards.

Anyone seen the keys to that bus I’ve been driving?

April 21, 2008
Hubby is going to call Mr. J today to confirm a date for the sanding of the drywall. I now need to decide on the paint color for the bathroom walls which has wavered from burgundy to gold to burgundy and now back to gold. Whether I stencil the walls to look like wallpaper remains to be seen but is a possibility.
On a sweeter note, hubby had installed the fan vent in the tub area a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately he installed it where I was going to hang the candle chandelier. He offered to redo the installation (drywall the hole, cut another hole in the ceiling, rewiring, etc.) but I told him ‘no’ that I could work around it. I did not want anymore time spent on something so trivial. The following day (this was Sunday, April 13th) Darryl moved the fan vent so that the chandelier could hang where I had originally planned. I know, right now everyone is going ‘awwwww’ but don’t think for one minute that this act of kindness is going to extend the deadline or that I will cut him any slack! This bathroom project is on a roll and we are not stopping until it is finished!!! (I can feel the sympathy leaning towards hubby over his mean and spiteful wife. If this should happen please go back and re-read the previous pages of this diary to put this project back into perspective)!

April 22, 2008
Mr. J came out yesterday and finished the drywall! WooHoo!!! I am now choosing paint colors for the walls and the ceiling.
I ordered the covers for the light switches and outlets. I had looked at several home improvement stores but didn’t like what they had. I searched online and found several that I liked, some of which were quite expensive, but believe it or not I ordered the inexpensive ones. They are very pretty and I believe they will look good in the bathroom.
· Drywall job-$500
· Switch/outlet covers $32.20

April 24, 2008
I went to the paint store today to buy paint and supplies. I bought Ceremonial Gold paint for the ceiling and Sierra Redwood for the walls. I guess you are wondering about the change in paint colors. I asked my good friend for her opinion about the paint swatches I had chosen and after discussing it with her I realized that the walls would be better in the burgundy with the gold for the ceilings. The woman at the paint store said that one quart would cover about 125 square feet which should be enough for the ceiling. So I bought a gallon for the walls and a quart for the ceiling.

· Paint and supplies-$60

When I arrived home hubby offered to help with the preparation of the walls as well as the painting. This could only mean one thing-arguments. I have a tendency to cut corners while he has a tendency to add them. The arguments started almost immediately as I wanted to go into the bathroom through the door-he wanted to remove the window and go in that way.

Stop laughing!

There was plastic covering the door between the bedroom and bathroom from the drywall sanding earlier in the week so that the dust wouldn’t get into the bedroom. That was all done now so there was no reason to leave it up-so I took it down and entered the bathroom through the door while hubby went through the window. He reiterated that I should have left the plastic up-I ignored him.
In this one particular case…he was right.

Stop laughing!

I thought wiping down the walls would be a minor task; however, it was a horrible mess! The dust on the floors was pretty thick so we decided to vacuum it out with the shop vac. Well that made the entire room nothing more than a huge dust cloud! (This is why hubby wanted to come in through the window and leave the plastic over the door to the bedroom-I removed the plastic covering over the door to go that way thinking that there would not be much dust but there was a lot of dust)!

Stop laughing!

Anyway, hubby had to wear a mask to vacuum the room (I drank wine while watching the huge dust cloud stream from the bathroom window-I couldn’t stay in the bedroom as the dust was billowing under the bathroom door and covering the bedroom in a cloud of dust because I had removed the plastic covering). After vacuuming he wiped down the walls and we began painting. Hubby painted the ceiling in the gold color. After that was done (well not done-I have to go back for more paint-the quart wasn’t enough to cover it) we started on the walls with the burgundy color. It is gorgeous (this was one of the few things that we agreed on during the painting process)! After the first coat was applied we cleaned up and called it a night.

Friday, April 9, 2010

The deadline fast approaches!

April 5, 2008
In hubby's defense the dry walling portion of the project does require two people (two people with upper body strength which I lack). I thought hubby would have contacted Pauly (whom I now refer to as ‘Saint Pauly’ because he is the only one I don’t have to nag to get things accomplished) about helping with the drywall on Saturday. Saturday morning I received a phone call from hubby saying that he was going for supplies because no one had shown up to work. This is odd, I thought, as Pauly is always on time. I discovered later that hubby had NOT called Pauly but had instead assumed that Pauly would just show up. I instructed hubby, in my usual sweet and lovely manner, to call Pauly at once! He did and, of course, Pauly showed up (with help) to hang drywall.
When I arrived home there were trucks parked everywhere and the sound of nail guns and sawing was permeating the air! Ah, men at work.
I discovered later that although much was accomplished (almost all of the drywall was hung as well as the drywall on the ceiling) there were a few injuries. Hubby sliced his finger but was able to bandage it up. Apparently Pauly had something of a shocking experience. About 110 volts worth! Something went wrong and he received a pretty good zap which probably would have curled his hair, if he hadn’t already shaved it all off.
We have also renamed the spare bedroom and the library being that they are serving as holding spaces for bathroom supplies. The spare bedroom is now known as the ‘abyss’ and the library is the ‘black hole’. If you need anything from either of these rooms you are out of luck! They are so full of bathroom stuff (you know, all of the stuff that is not already filling the living room and dining room) that you cannot even walk into them. Of course, there are some things in our bedroom too. I am already storing some of my things in the cabinet that is in the living room that will eventually be in the bathroom upon its completion which is almost here since the completion date, of course, will be April 30th.

Oh no. I just realized that I gave a completion date of April 30th but I did not specify which year!
Hmmm…this could be a problem.

April 12, 2008
Pauly and Gary showed up today to work on the bathroom. Gary and hubby worked on the roof while Pauly worked on sheet rock. By the end of the day the roof was almost complete as well as the sheet rock. No injuries were reported and plans were made for a return to work the following day. At one point I reminded hubby of the April 30th deadline to which he stated that ‘it would not happen’. I of course responded that it would happen or I would hire someone to complete the job. Later, over a pizza lunch, the conversation returned to the fast approaching deadline for the bathroom completion. Pauly announced that he would be out of town next weekend and would not be able to work. Being that Pauly is my assistant project manager I could not reasonably expect much to be accomplished in his absence so being the kind and generous creature that I am I decided to extend the deadline to the second weekend of May. Pauly said that he ‘guaranteed’ I would be soaking in the tub by then. Normally I would laugh at such a statement (let’s see I have been told that it would be done by the end of October, then November, then by Christmas, then January…) but being that it was coming from Pauly, or should I say St. Pauly, I knew that this would be so.

April 13, 2006
Gary and Pauly both showed up again today and I actually had to send them both home as they were determined to keep working well past the dinner hour. Much was accomplished and the bathroom project is moving along! I have visions of bubble bath dancing in my head! (Sorry, there’s still a little Christmas left in my mind). Anyway, remember the green tin roof that hubby ordered for the addition? Well it was such a dark green that it looked like it would blend well with the gray shingled section of roof without the color and material difference being too noticeable from the road. However, once it was on the roof it became quite evident that the roof was very different but there is nothing I can do about it now. This is the kind of thing that you comment on when you are driving around looking at houses and you say ‘what on earth were they thinking?’ It is not terribly awful looking, I suppose, and it is on the side of the house that you don’t see very well from the road. And so another weekend of work was complete with some hope being given that the bathroom might actually be completed soon.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Full Steam Ahead!

March 18, 2008
Well it was a prosperous day for the bathtub diaries! Gary came out and worked all day on the siding and I must say it looks great! In addition to that, the building inspector passed everything so we are full steam ahead on the interior work (this is where my job really begins as project manager-I will really have to stay on these guys to drive this project forward). Hubby ordered the roofing materials which will arrive next week. Dare I say that there may be a slight illumination at the end of the bathroom? I better not being that there are still floors and drywall to be installed, light fixtures to be hung, a bathtub, sink, and toilet to be hooked up (not a problem on this one-Pauly handles the plumbing), tiles to be laid, painting, scraping, and on and on and on…
All of a sudden that slight illumination seems to have disappeared.
· Tin Roof materials- $250+

March 22, 2008
Hubby built the platform floor with plywood we had purchased earlier in the day. He then had to go back to the store to purchase the next layer of flooring. He worked on the platform flooring until after dark.

March 23, 2008
Hubby worked on the platform flooring a bit more today although he had to stop because the drywall needs to be hung before he can finish the floor.

March 28, 2008
Hubby is going to pick up the roofing materials which came in earlier in the week. I scraped the ceiling of the old section of bathroom which only took me about half an hour. I was surprised at this since I thought it would take longer. The little rubber pieces that hold the plastic bag on the ceiling scraper were missing so I had to use bobby pins to keep the bag in place-it worked just fine.

March 29, 2008
Hubby bought the drywall today and began the process. He wasn’t able to get very far as it really takes two people for this kind of work. I did help him unload the drywall since it looked like it might rain. We managed to get two pieces unloaded (with about 10 more pieces to go) in the bathroom. This was no easy task! I was sore from scraping the ceiling the day before which didn’t help. Apparently our next door neighbor saw my struggles and was kind enough to offer to let us store the remaining pieces in their garage (this was so much easier-we didn’t have to lift drywall up into the window of the bathroom we just backed the truck to the garage opening and unloaded). Our neighbors are always coming to our rescue! Thank goodness as the drywall would have to be removed from the bathroom once hubby started working on it again.
The roofing materials of course could stay out in the weather. The tin roof is a beautiful dark green color. Funny, I thought that I had chosen a steel gray color to match our current roof but hubby claims that I told him to choose the color so I must go along with it now. I remember saying something like that but I thought I had changed my mind and decided upon the gray. No matter now-the roof on the bathroom will be green.

March 31, 2008
Enough is enough! I as the project manager have given a deadline for the completion of the bathroom project! I told hubby that the bathroom had to be complete by April 30th or I hire a contractor to come in and finish it! Would anyone care to begin the polling as to whether or not this deadline is met? There could be some good money in it!