Home improvement

[darkemeralds]

I woke up yesterday in a state of despair so thorough--and so apparently sourceless--that the only thing for it was distraction. "I shall paint the bathroom!" I thought. "Lavender!"

Fifteen hours and two or three hundred dollars' worth of paint and fittings later, I had a bathroom devoid of hardware and lighting, and no more than two square feet of wall actually painted.



See, owning an old house is one thing. Owning an old, very modest house is another. And owning an old modest house that the previous owners landlorded to pieces with the cheapest possible fixtures and the worst DIY techniques is something that only the strong-willed should undertake.

The wires for the light fixture, it turns out, come right out of a jagged Sawzall cut in the drywall. No outlet box, no supports, nothing. The new fixture could not be made to stay up in those circumstances. Several drywall anchors just popped through and dropped down inside the wall. When dusk fell, I had to cap the wires to turn the power back on, and bring in a spare desk lamp to brush my teeth by.

The window was fitted in such a way as to trap both rainwater from the outside and condensation from the inside. As a consequence, the entire sill has rotted into spongy mush, which I'm in no position to repair. I crammed Fix-All into the worst of the holes and primed it, hoping for the best.

And did I mention that the bathroom is minuscule? Whereas I am not? So that all bending, reaching, and twisting became a bit acrobatic, and everytime I wanted to set one tool down I had to move another make room for it?



I just wanted to paint. Pretty color! New towel bars, y'know? Instead, I'm exhausted and annoyed, and I've got no place to hang my damn towels for at least a week.

I'll say this much: it totally took my mind off the despair.

Comments

[vampirefan.livejournal.com]

you have to look on the bright side though... you discovered two bad problems and you may have either been electrocuted or had major damage to the wall when the water drained into it...um...yeah...it was a good thing! *g*

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

Yup, the constant threat of electrocution is one of the exciting thrills inherent in ownership of crappy old landlorded houses. Sadly, the services of a real IBEW electrician don't necessarily solve this--the last bigtime electrical contractor I hired left a hot pair of wires hanging in the basement. Just hanging there. Hot.

A small time independent woman electrician was the one who caught it and fixed it--thankfully without dying--two or three years later.

[tehomet.livejournal.com]

Sorry to hear about the state of despair, but relieved to hear that it was sourceless (because despair is bad but well-founded despair is worse :).

Lavender, eh? Why lavender?

I once painted my bathroom bright orangey-yellow purely because I liked the shade name (Solstice). That was during my hippie phase... which is apparently permanent.

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

Lavender, eh? Why lavender?

I have a whole triadic color scheme of purple, orange and green going throughout the house and garden. See? (http://home.comcast.net/~annehawley/finalpaint.gif)

Standing before the huge array of paint chips at my local purveyor, I always gravitate to those groups. With the despair and all, I was definitely leaning toward the purpley-gray.

And yes, color names are half the fun. I think the color I chose for the bathroom was "Mystic Haze" or something else Hendryx-ish.

A hippie phase should properly last a lifetime, I think.

[prime_meridian]

Urgh. The Ol' Simple Bathroom Project Gone Awry story. You know, maybe you, serenity_valley, str8ontilmornin and I can get a group rate for our collective bathroom projects.

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

Group rates at Rejuvenation.

I like the sound of that.