How I Spent My Memorial Day Weekend

Well, it was supposed to be a 2-day project, but the entire effort stretched into Monday afternoon. I'll let the pictures tell most of the story....

Friday (3:00 - 5:00): Removed enormous hideous mirror, ugly cheapo light fixture, and various bathroom hardware, removed toilet tank, scored wallpaper, stripped wallpaper from one wall....





Saturday: 9:00AM - 5:00 PM: Stripped wallpaper (4 more hours.... I will never, ever use wallpaper and I can't imagine why anyone would ever decide to do so either...), removed medicine cabinet, applied 2 colors of paint to walls, blended, to form a faux finish base coat.





Sunday: 12:00PM - 6:00 PM: Ragged on a top coat of paint, in a watered down lighter shade, to complete the faux finish on the walls -- nice venetian plaster effect, I'd say. Installed light fixture. Reinstalled medicine cabinet. Hang nice new mirror. Installed all new towel racks, toilet paper holder, and outlet/switchplate covers. Replaced the toilet tank and turned on the water supply. Once the tank was full, noticed there was a leak, so I promptly overtightened the bolts, causing the bottom of the tank to shatter and and resulting in about 6 gallons of water flooding the bathroom floor. Obtain a new tank, install it, attempt to reconnect the water supply line. The supply line was an old-style flexible metal one that was integrated with the valve stem, and it promptly kinked and snapped, requiring me to replace the entire water supply valve. At this point I realize this ain't getting done today and that Monday is now shot. Decide it's time to quit for the day and drink a bunch of beer.

Monday (9:30 - 2:00): Spend an entire hour trying to find the main water supply valve for my house. Shut off the water, unhook the old supply valve, and head for Home Depot. Buy new valve and supply line, head back home, get halfway there before realizing that I forgot plumber's putty, turn around, buy putty, head home and install new valve. Happily, it goes smoothly and the toilet is back in working order. Crack open the box for the new faucet, read the instructions and realize that the $160 faucet from Delta doesn't include the $.39 worth of silicone I need to install the drain. So, back to Home Depot. Buy silicone, return, install the faucet, install the drain,install pulls on the vanity drawers. Hang hideous roman shade on the window and resolve to remove it as soon as we find something better.

And that's it for now. Next, we've got to get new towels, shower stuff, etc. and hopefully some small shutters fro the window (will look far better than the roman shade, I'm sure...). Here are the results:











Quite an improvement, if I do say so myself. Now I just need to sleep for a day or two, and I'll be ready to clean the paint drips off of the tiles...

Mood: Headachey, but proud
Now Playing: Happy Mondays, "Thrills n' Pills n' Bellyaches"