Don't Let Me Near Anything Sharp

Do you ever have those days where everything you touch goes "Ker-plooey?"  I have to wonder if my body is giving off some unusual electromagnetic charge this morning that is causing everything within my vicinity to stop working.

It started with the computer.  Trouble printing led to trouble with my storage device which led to trouble with back-up files.  Add in slow load time for the Internet and the warning message "Low storage space on Drive C" and it makes me think I better not chance trying to use the phone or driving anywhere today.  I wouldn't want to endanger the lives of others.

Right now I'm waiting for the "lamp-post people" to show up.  This is a quick "Decorating Diaries" fix.  We're finally--after ten years--installing a light post at the end of our walkway.  I say finally because we've been flirting with the possibility of broken limbs and lawsuits for years.  We have a walkway that leads from our house to some stairs that lead to the sidewalk.  This is a pitch black area. We manage to maneuver up and down the stairs at night simply by rote memorization.  Every Halloween we put out massive amounts of candles and lights on the stairs so we don't have a pile-up of kids and parents who fell over trying to find their way up the stairs.

Of course, the lamp-post people were supposed to be here at 10 and it's now 10:03.  But after all these years, I understand contractor time.  10 am means "I'll try to be there before two, but no promises."

My only concern is the light be installed before Trick-or-Treat.  Ooh!  We can put orange or red lights in it for "super-scary" effect.  Cool!

Decorating Diaries - Bathroom Update

Some of you have been so kind as to ask how the redecorating of the master bath is going so I thought I'd post a quick update.

The bathroom is...gone.  All gone.  Bye-bye.  It's been gutted.  No sink, shower, cabinet, or toilet remains.  All that is there is a plywood floor with paper stuffed down the connecting tube where the toilet used to sit.  I know this, because my clothes closet is through the master bath, so I have to pull on flip-flops (loose nails/staples) every time I cross the floor or decide I want to put on a different pair of jeans.

We have made no headway on the heated floor.  Here's where we stand:

Our floor person couldn't get in the tile we wanted and said he wouldn't do the tile if he didn't order it.  So he's out.  Next we tried the cabinet people we are ordering the tile from. They WILL do the tile, but don't do heated floors and prefer not to do tile showers.  I have in a call to a heated floor guy she recommended, but they aren't calling me back.

My contractor has a tile guy he prefers to use, but the tile guy also doesn't do heated floors.  He does, however, do showers.  So should be do all the tile?  You'd think so, except I already told the cabinet people that sure, they could do the tile floor.  So now, it's apparently a breach of etiquette to ask the actual tile man to come in and just do the shower tile when we haven't asked him to do the floor tile.

About this time I usually start holding my head and screaming. This just seems way, way more complicated than it needs to be.  I'm about one phone call away from telling Blair I'm out, and handing all the phone numbers over to him.

On the bright side, we got most of the wallpaper removed Sunday afternoon.  Glue remnants still cling to the drywall, so we'll have to go back and give it one last soaking/scraping, but we're close. 

In other news, we ordered sheets from Overstock.com and are very happy with them.  400 TC, so not silky, but still very soft and comfy. We also ordered lamps online (with the help of our decorator.  We're not that brave on our own) and are happy with those as well.  Slowly, slowly, it's coming together.

And that's where we stand.  Tune in next week (actually, Friday) for more decorating adventures.  We're having a lamppost installed Friday.  There's sure to be blog-worthy material there.

Cheers,

Dena

Decorating Diaries - The "Before" Bathroom Pics

My evenings for the next week will more than likely be spent scraping wallpaper glue from our master bathroom walls.  For those who've been following along, we are finally--after 10 years--letting go of the blue nightmare and gutting the bathroom.

The problem (one of the many) is that the wallpaper has been up there for about 30 years and is resisting removal.  We can tear the front layer off, but then must wet the walls down and scrape the glue, one inch at a time. 

We've also run into trouble with the floor.  The people we wanted to install our heated floor can't order in the tile that we want.  Since they can't order the tile, they won't do the tile work.  If they're not doing the tile work, they recommend they not be the ones to do the heated floor. 

My contractor hasn't worked with anyone who has installed heated floors so a new search must begin.  I've put a call into our cabinet woman--since she designs bathrooms I'm hoping she'll have a name for us.

Meanwhile, the scraping continues.

Here are a few more "before" shots of the bathroom: How sad it will be to lose the lovely baby blue toilet, shower, and carpet.  (What were the people before us who installed these things thinking?  It was the 70's, so maybe it was the drugs talking...)

Decorating Diaries: Bees & Rotted Boards Update

All is better in Harrisland.  I got lucky when I called Pest Control yesterday and the guy was at my door within 15 minutes to spray the bees.  I vacuumed up about 100+ dead bees bodies last night.  But better dead than alive, is my view.  The bees started appearing upstairs today in my office window which is directly above the downstairs window they were in yesterday, so I had the guy come back out today and spray upstairs.  I'd say the bees should be gone within the next 3 days.

Also good news with the rotted boards.  They don't appear to be from a plumbing link in the new bathroom. Rather, it appears they rotted from the inside out just due to exposure to the elements.  It's no lie to say I am thrilled by this news.  I had visions of both bathrooms being torn apart at once.  Our contractor will replace the boards by Monday, and all will be good in the decorating world.