The Bathroom Chronicles

I have to begin this entry by saying that I'd never want to be a Contractor. In my line of work, I get to hold a lot of hands, kiss some occasional ass, and throw myself to the wolves. Contractors on the other hand, are just asking for trouble.

I think I mentioned that Chip and I are remodeling two bathrooms in our house. The bath in his parents' area is done. Looks good. Works right. The end.

OUR bathroom? Well, you can imagine what kind of experience we are having. First we had the drama surrounding the tile (the existing floor tile was discontinued and then the tile guy broke one of them) which was a blessing, wrapped in a headache. Chip & I canceled our first tile order and placed a new order... and that visit didn't result in a fight only visible by exaggerated eye-rolling. Hurray for us.

Here's a pic that I took once the tile was installed. The grout is in now, but not in the picture.

We also ordered a new, frame-less shower door, in brushed nickel that costs about a million dollars. Did they have doors on the beach that we liked? Of course not! We ordered in on the Internet, according to the measurements from the Contractor. Does it fit? Of course not! As I type, Chip is home trying to figure out if we can simply buy a new piece of glass from "the glass store" or have to ship the thing back and order a new one. Oh yeah, there's also the never-ending discussion of "who is going to pay for what." This is the drama of working with friends.

Oh yeah, we also have the associated drama of the fact that my husband, God love him for all he brings to the table, is a meticulous, crazy-man. He has spotted every variation on grout thickness inconsistencies, every tile that's not PERFECTLY level, and even found a flaw in the threshold that will be hidden under the bathroom door once it's put back on. He's the one that noticed that the builder did think to center the new drain hole and the shower head hole... but not the place where the water-turner-on-er is. SO! The tile had to ripped out, re-drilled, and replaced.

OK, so we covered the broken tile, the tile re-order, the shower door mishap, the hardware concerns... what am I missing? Ah, yes, the fixture drama! I'm tellin' ya', I have no idea how people build homes from scratch. There's just too much to consider!

We have visited Home Depot no less than 7 times in a 1-week period. Some employees we know by name.

Trip 1: Pick out fixtures. I am particular about few things, but how a handle feel sin my hand is important to me. The knobs couldn't be pointy or square. They needed to be brushed nickel (No, Chip, not SATIN nickel, brushed nickel) So we purchase 2 sink set-ups, the turny-thing for the shower + a higher quality shower head. Go home.

Trip 2: We go back to pick out the other stuff we forgot: a large towel rack, 2 hand towel racks, and TP holder.

Trip 3: Get to the car, and run back in to get the drawer pulls in brushed nickel.

Trip 4: We return said sink faucets because Chip wants the kind that have one lever as opposed to two. They they match the shower items? Heck no, but I am over and decide that it's the same material, and that's close enough.

Trip 5: We learn that the shower fixture set that we purchased doesn't fit the valve. (Uh, huh. I said it. VALVE) So we return the shower fixture things and had to find new Kohler items.

Trip 6: The Kohler items don't fit the freaking Kohler valve! WTF?! We return it all to Home Depot, and hit a specialty store for assistance.

Trip 7: NO Kohler fixtures will fit that damn valve because it's too old. We go back to Home Depot to buy all new things, and tell the workers to cut a big-ass hold in my closet so they can rip out the flipping valve so we can scratch from scratch.

The UPSIDE, is that it will look really pretty. The downside it the look on my husband's face each night, and the fact that we will never use this team of workers again.

Being a grown-up is the pits sometimes!