Home Improvement Update

[darkemeralds]

Since Tread Riser and the Bathtub of Resuscitation, there have been delays in my bathroom remodel. Most of them have had to do with my own uncertainty about spending that much money.

So I decided to consult a real bathroom designer, and she and her sidekick visited the project site, aka my house, yesterday.


The verdict is mostly positive:

• My proposed layout received their professional approval.


• My choice of bathtub is very "now".


• The budget I've got might actually be enough. Barely. Maybe.


• They can specify all the technical stuff that I don't understand, like lighting. And complicated faucets. And where things like niches and grab-bars go.


• They didn't turn their noses up at my tiny house or the still-iffy neighborhood it's in.


• They both thought Monsoon was adorable, so I know they're good people.

On the other hand, there were a few disappointments:

• I really won't be able to go to Europe on any leftover money from the project, because there won't be any.


• My flooring choice (bamboo) is silly for a bathroom. So it's back to the drawing board on that.


• I can't begin to afford the heating system I wanted--and the hot-water system is in doubt.


• I will have to scale back my fantasies on the faucets and showerheads and stuff. Mid-range. Not high-end. Which makes sense. It's not a high-end house.

In two weeks we'll meet to go over a final design. Then, sometime after that, the nightmare of actual remodeling begins.

My 50th birthday is in December. It's my goal to celebrate it, at least in part, by getting up to my neck in hot water in my very own bathtub of resuscitation. Wish me luck.

Comments

[executrix.livejournal.com]

The designers work for *you* so where would they come off being snotty about your house and your neighborhood?

The good thing is that there's a knock-off for every fashionable object, so I bet a little bit of surfing will provide way-lower-cost alternatives for the faucets etc.

My 53rd birthday is in January, so put 'er there, pal.

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

Yay, tertiary prefrontal cortical development!

The meeting was in part to decide whether the design firm would be working for me. I was pleased that in a world of $150,000 bathroom remodels, my little fraction of that was of interest to the pros. And I was especially pleased that they got the whole small-but-cool city living thing. I didn't want a design firm that only does McMansions and starter chateaux.

[kispexi2.livejournal.com]

Can a baby of just 48 put it there too?

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

Quit yer braggin', kid.

[kispexi2.livejournal.com]

But look how cute I am!

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

You really are. You look like a giddy girl of 23 in that photo. From what you tell me, the giddy part, at least, is perfectly true.

[executrix.livejournal.com]

Sure, kiddo. We need someone to feel sorry for because it was so much better Back in the Day.