Bathroom Redo
It doesn't usually rain much here in Arizona. So, when I first moved in to my condo it took quite a while for me to find out that the skylight in the bathroom leaked. I exchanged calls back and forth with the property management company (throughout the turnover between representatives) only to finally be told that my skylight was not "approved" so they had no responsibility in fixing it.
Uh, who would have thunk it - I was a renegade.
So, the Pirate Captain came over to check it out. He said it needed to be reset in some "mud"and he duct taped around it until I got someone to fix it. Well, the duct tape worked pretty well so I didn't get someone.
Until this year, when it started raining like we were in a tropical forest, not a desert. Oh, it rained and leaked some before. Enough to soak through the paint and make it look yucky. I just chose to ignore it.
I'm not a good home owner.
The Rocket Scientist looked at it at some point and told me it would need new drywall and that there might be some mold. He said something like, "We'd have tear it out and replace it" and he was looking right at me when he said the "we" part. I mentally said, "Who's this 'we' you're talking about because I'm not doing any of that" and ignored him. The Princess does not do major repairs.
When I got my tax refund this year, I decided enough was enough. I emailed a friend who does a lot of repair work and asked him if he would fix it for me (for a fee, of course, only The Rocket Scientist works for free). I was heading to Mexico for five days so he'd have plenty of time. Since it's my only bathroom, I wanted to give him complete freedom to work whenever and not have to worry about my schedule.
He said he would come check it out and, once at my house, agreed to do it. At that point, it was just reseal the skylight, replace the drywall and paint where needed. I still had a can of paint from when I painted originally so we were good to go.
But, then he said, "Do you really like the color in here?" OK, for those who remember way back when you know that I don't. I wanted a bright white interior but everyone and his frakking brother told me it would be too harsh so now I have frakking beige and hate it. I said, "Not really but I don't want to put too much work on you." He said no problem and to just go buy a gallon of the color I wanted.
Then he asked about the light fixtures. I had no attachment to them so it was agreed to replace them both. Same for the texture on the walls. I would rather have it all smooth so he agreed to do that, too. I also asked him to put some white molding around the base of the skylight to make it look more finished and he was cool with that. The only thing he asked of me was to take everything off the walls for him. Easy enough.
He left and The Rocket Scientist and I headed to Lowe's to pick out paint. On our way over, my repair guy sent me a message saying that if I took pictures of where everything was hung, he would put it all back up. I told him I was going to rearrange so not to worry about it. I then recounted that to TRS and added, "And by I'm going to rearrange, I mean you." He said, "I know..." He's really too good to me.
We got to Lowe's and I looked at pretty much every brightly colored paint sample card they had before deciding for sure that I wanted yellow or blue. I narrowed it down to a yellow called Pale Cowslip 3 and a blue before deciding on the yellow. TRS told me to keep the blue in case I didn't like the yellow and wanted to repaint. I gave him a look and said, 'That doesn't sound like me." then put the sample in my pocket and subsequently washed it my jeans so it was all for naught.
The next day, I decided I wanted to get rid of the old towel racks and was going to spend my lunch hour finding new ones so the repair guy could put them up. TRS told me not to worry about them until we got back from Mexico and he would hang them for me then.
We headed for Mexico that night and the repair guy went to work. Actually, more like to town. He decided that he hated my mirror so he cut it down and added tile around it. He replaced not only the light fixtures but also the exhaust fan cover. He also cracked the skylight but had already warned me that he might have to order a new one since the old one was single paned and the weather stripping was really beat up. He even consulted Steven on replacing the entire shower/tub and Steven agreed I should have that done. Fortunately, they waited until I got back and I vetoed that expenditure.
I had to wait a week for the new skylight and then it turned out to be 1/4 inch too short on each side. The new one is still on order but the repair guy put the other in temporarily and I am leak free.
TRS came over last week and assembled and hung a new cabinet that I bought and rehung all of the bath decs and new towel racks for me (the latter from Lowe's, of course). I also bought some new towels and a new bath rug.
The end result is that I have a bright, shiny bathroom that I think is super cute. I love it!
Check out the pictures to see the progression.
The only downside of the project is that it's making me want to redo more rooms in my house. I might even get to the point where it doesn't look like a college student lives here once I'm done.
Uh, who would have thunk it - I was a renegade.
So, the Pirate Captain came over to check it out. He said it needed to be reset in some "mud"and he duct taped around it until I got someone to fix it. Well, the duct tape worked pretty well so I didn't get someone.
Until this year, when it started raining like we were in a tropical forest, not a desert. Oh, it rained and leaked some before. Enough to soak through the paint and make it look yucky. I just chose to ignore it.
I'm not a good home owner.
The Rocket Scientist looked at it at some point and told me it would need new drywall and that there might be some mold. He said something like, "We'd have tear it out and replace it" and he was looking right at me when he said the "we" part. I mentally said, "Who's this 'we' you're talking about because I'm not doing any of that" and ignored him. The Princess does not do major repairs.
When I got my tax refund this year, I decided enough was enough. I emailed a friend who does a lot of repair work and asked him if he would fix it for me (for a fee, of course, only The Rocket Scientist works for free). I was heading to Mexico for five days so he'd have plenty of time. Since it's my only bathroom, I wanted to give him complete freedom to work whenever and not have to worry about my schedule.
He said he would come check it out and, once at my house, agreed to do it. At that point, it was just reseal the skylight, replace the drywall and paint where needed. I still had a can of paint from when I painted originally so we were good to go.
But, then he said, "Do you really like the color in here?" OK, for those who remember way back when you know that I don't. I wanted a bright white interior but everyone and his frakking brother told me it would be too harsh so now I have frakking beige and hate it. I said, "Not really but I don't want to put too much work on you." He said no problem and to just go buy a gallon of the color I wanted.
Then he asked about the light fixtures. I had no attachment to them so it was agreed to replace them both. Same for the texture on the walls. I would rather have it all smooth so he agreed to do that, too. I also asked him to put some white molding around the base of the skylight to make it look more finished and he was cool with that. The only thing he asked of me was to take everything off the walls for him. Easy enough.
He left and The Rocket Scientist and I headed to Lowe's to pick out paint. On our way over, my repair guy sent me a message saying that if I took pictures of where everything was hung, he would put it all back up. I told him I was going to rearrange so not to worry about it. I then recounted that to TRS and added, "And by I'm going to rearrange, I mean you." He said, "I know..." He's really too good to me.
We got to Lowe's and I looked at pretty much every brightly colored paint sample card they had before deciding for sure that I wanted yellow or blue. I narrowed it down to a yellow called Pale Cowslip 3 and a blue before deciding on the yellow. TRS told me to keep the blue in case I didn't like the yellow and wanted to repaint. I gave him a look and said, 'That doesn't sound like me." then put the sample in my pocket and subsequently washed it my jeans so it was all for naught.
The next day, I decided I wanted to get rid of the old towel racks and was going to spend my lunch hour finding new ones so the repair guy could put them up. TRS told me not to worry about them until we got back from Mexico and he would hang them for me then.
We headed for Mexico that night and the repair guy went to work. Actually, more like to town. He decided that he hated my mirror so he cut it down and added tile around it. He replaced not only the light fixtures but also the exhaust fan cover. He also cracked the skylight but had already warned me that he might have to order a new one since the old one was single paned and the weather stripping was really beat up. He even consulted Steven on replacing the entire shower/tub and Steven agreed I should have that done. Fortunately, they waited until I got back and I vetoed that expenditure.
I had to wait a week for the new skylight and then it turned out to be 1/4 inch too short on each side. The new one is still on order but the repair guy put the other in temporarily and I am leak free.
TRS came over last week and assembled and hung a new cabinet that I bought and rehung all of the bath decs and new towel racks for me (the latter from Lowe's, of course). I also bought some new towels and a new bath rug.
The end result is that I have a bright, shiny bathroom that I think is super cute. I love it!
Check out the pictures to see the progression.
 |
| Bathroom |
The only downside of the project is that it's making me want to redo more rooms in my house. I might even get to the point where it doesn't look like a college student lives here once I'm done.
