Eeerrrtttttttt....Potty Break.

Thursday, January 28, 2016

Hm.

Well.

Progress has ceased.  I know, sorry to disappoint you.

The tub is gone though.

exposed Chicago brick wall in bathroom
No more tub.  Buh-bye.
In an effort to save Mike from having to help me remove it and drag it out of the house, sparing everyone bruised hands and a string of curse words, I posted an ad on Craigslist for a free tub, "you yank it, you take it."

Ended up having the best CL experience ever three hours later -- the gentleman and his son who came for it were so nice, appreciative, careful, thankful, and did I say appreciative?  It felt good to give them this tub.  Two thumbs way up.

Oddly Mike seemed disappointed that he wasn't going to have to move the tub.  Weird.  So very very weird.

And the wall studs are gone now too.  Thanks to my Master of All Things Structure Dad who so kindly looked at a slew of photos and asked a bunch of great questions thereby teaching me a thing or two.

brick wall without studs
That.  That is awesome.  Amiright?!
He asked if I could see the second floor floor joists and upon leaning tight to the wall and peering up with a flashlight, I did indeed!  The original floor joists from the 1890's, meaning trees from at least the mid-1800's.  Wild, right?  So cool.  I was mighty geeked out at seeing those!  I know!  I'm so weird!

And thanks to Mike's boss Ken for loaning me his swanky reciprocating saw.  Vvrroom buzz, nails cut, studs out.  Wheeee!!

cleaning some of the Chicago brick
I cleaned some of the brick here using water, water with TSP, but mostly water and a scrub brush.
Anywhooo....right, potty break.

I had emailed my mom inquiring if they had any scraps of pond liner as I read here how these folks did their walk-in shower, thinking maybe that could potentially be a solution for us.  She wrote back saying she did not, that she wasn't understanding what I was trying to gain by installing a shower in the first floor bathroom.

Tub, shower, neither are/will be used in there soooo.....  Valid points.

I mentioned this to Mike who abruptly blurted "no shower."

"Huh?" I so eloquently retorted.

Gird yourself:  monster monkey wrench drop.

Protracted was the ensuing conversation so details are too fuzzy to recap precisely but it went generally like this:

M:  Babe, no shower.

B:  Huh?  Then what....

M:  I think part of why you do and then redo is because you didn't get to do the way you really truly wanted the first time.

B:  Uh, ok, possibly maybe I dunno....

M:  And I don't want to redo this bathroom again.

B:  Well neither would I....

M:  Think bigger.

B:  What?

M:  Draw me five options for reworking the whole area -- your office, the bathroom, the kitchen.  Would you take out that wall? (The one I just painted.)  (Which has a high potential for being load bearing.)

B:  But babe....That's....that's A LOT...how would we ever be able to do that?

M:  Don't worry about it.  Get me five options.

B:  That's....that's plumbing and electrical and and...mumble mumble

M:  Five options.  Go.

B:  (in my head)  Wait, now who's the crazy one?!  Omg.

So the bathroom is on hold.  Takin' a break.  A potty break.  Ha ha, silly play on words....

Entertainer that he is, next day Mike asked if more bathroom brick could be exposed.  We're clearly terrible for each other.

Anyway.  So.  Bathroom on hold.  Larger-not-sure-if-it'll-be-attainable plan may be afoot?  Bathroom in state of disrepair.  But!  The brick is exposed and that's just super duper cool in itself.

In all fairness, maybe I do redo partly because it wasn't truly what I wanted the first time.

That's not the only reason for redoing though.  Sometimes it's because the first time was a patch, a bandage, a bridge to the other side.  Sometimes it's because it didn't pan out.  Sometimes it's a thought process that needed out, to be seen, learned, then discarded.  Sometimes it's because I'm tired of whatever and want to change it.

I don't have a problem drawing up plans and ideas and such.  That's far too easy.  The problem becomes ok, I drew it, I envision it, I want it.  Today.  That's why I thoroughly avoid such dreaming tasks.  Danger zone.

If I could re-lay out this house, sure, I can do that and improve it tenfold on paper.  Or computer screen.  Whichever.  Knowing the potential vast improvements but being stuck with the way it is is frustrating for my poor beady head and heart.

I mean, please don't get me wrong, I love that he asked me to do this.  I love that he trusts me to amp things up, design this house into what it should be, what it wanted to be, what it should have been before some bonehead got a hold of it.  I am indeed very lucky.

Anyway.

We shall see.

Baby needs a new project forthwith.  Hm.

Since we're slim on photos today, a photo of little peahead.

Hailey

2 comments

  1. That sounds like so much fun! I was thinking how that exposed brick would make a lovely office wall. Go ahead and dream, have fun! I can't wait to see what you'll come up with.

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    Replies
    1. Oh I hadn't even thought to expose the brick in my office....Well! Heh, thanks! :)

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