In the Beginning, There Was Darkness ...

Though I have not posted in a month, it doesn't mean that I haven't been busy! As will soon become apparent ...

After weighing the various outstanding projects, and taking into consideration the weather, which has not been that great (therefore prohibiting outside projects), I decided to tackle some bathroom upgrades.

Our home has one full bath on the second floor, and a half bath / laundry room on the first floor. The huge clawfoot bathtub in the main bath was one of the things that I loved about our house when we bought it.

However, the already tiny bath was painted dark blue, was lit by a single, rather anemic overhead light, and had a vanity that stole most of the space and didn't provide efficient storage. Furthermore, within a month of living in the house, all the towel racks had become dislocated from the wall due to improper anchoring (and a toddler). This photo is from the hallway, and you can see how tiny the bath is, and how the dark paint, poor lighting, and oversized vanity make it appear even smaller and darker. The single receptacle, while placed conveniently, was not enough. Note the dangling, and therefore unusable, towel rack in the foreground!

The window, which faces full west, was so shrunken that you could see daylight around the sashes. The vinyl shade was not only unattractive, but frequently fell on one's head when one would try to lower or raise it.

The overhead light was completely insufficient to light the room, especially when it had to compete with the dark blue paint. Towels had to be hung over the shower, due to the aforementioned towel rack issue.

The only towel rack that hadn't come loose was over the toilet tank - not the most convenient spot!

The vanity, while too large for the room, was not unattractive, but the storage area underneath was basically unusable. The inside was one large open area, and had at some point been damaged by water. Only the outside of the vanity was white - the inside was dark brown, making it impossible to see anything stored inside. The doors could not swing fully open, due to the size of the room.

One of the first things that we did was replace the window. Pella had windows the size and design that we wanted, with reproduction hardware, removable grills, and double-tilt sashes. However, since our house was built in 1918, the windows are quite large. One new window and screen cost close to $800. So we ordered one Pella window from Lowe's, and installed it ourselves, with the help of my engineer dad.

Next, I removed all the towel racks, patched the damaged drywall, and bought a free-standing towel warmer. I am not sure how I ever lived without a towel warmer! We replaced the weak overhead light with a nice dual bulb light from Lowe's. Of course, the matching sconces that would have been perfect for the bathroom had been discontinued! Around the same time, we replaced the tub filler, shower, and shower ring for the clawfoot bathtub.

Then, all in one long weekend, we removed the vanity and repainted the bathroom. However, when we demoed the old vanity, we found that there was vinyl tile installed underneath it. After scratching our heads over this discovery, we finally discerned that at some point the bath had vinyl tile installed over the hardwood floors, then the vanity was installed on top of that. When the house was cosmetically remodeled a few years before we bought it, the vinyl was removed except under the vanity. Consequently, there is a vanity-shaped area on the hardwood floor that will need to be refurbished.

We replaced the vanity with a free-standing cherry vanity with sink and matching mirror from Home Depot. Home Depot had just started carrying the free-standing vanities at that time, and we got a great deal on it. We also installed a new Pegsasus faucet on the sink. And we painted the whole room a very pretty robin's egg blue. With the vanity gone, we needed a place to put our "stuff", so we picked up a narrow shelf unit with little baskets on it to go next to the sink.

The light blue paint and new vanity made the room look completely different, and so much better! This is the new starting point for the work that I am planning going forward, which will include new lights for the vanity, a second receptacle, a bathroom ventilator, white beadboard and built-in shelves, and new trim and moulding throughout the room.

Concerning Hobbits

In a home in the 'burbs, there lived a hobbit ... um ... a family ...

I recently spent a week at home in bed with the flu.  Any time that I spend that much time in my own home, things about it start to bother me.  With my heightened flu-induced crankiness, things like not having a proper linen closet, or being unable to open the silverware drawer when the dishwasher is running, escalated from minor inconveniences to tantrum-generating, DEFCON 1 situations (I just want a fork!).  As I lay awake each night, feverish, stuffy-headed, more than slightly medicated, and sleep deprived, I passed the time by thinking about all the things that I want to fix, change, or improve in our home.  This led to thinking about how I would fix them, if I could fix them, which led to the question, Now why haven't we fixed these things again?  Sure, we're busy, but who isn't?  And we have very limited funds for home improvement.  And our house is very small, with no storage for tools and equipment, and no place to work on projects.  But are those really good excuses?  How much happier would we be if we didn't have to stand in line to get our coats from the coat hooks in the corner of the dining room, which is on the other side of the house from the front door?  Or if we could get out that front door without having to block the cat from running out because she hides behind the sofa that is five inches from the door, because there is nowhere else to put it?

So I have decided to take action!  There are multiple projects inside and outside our home, both large and small, that only require time, imagination, commitment, and minimal funding.  We can do these things ourselves!

Then it occurred to me that it would be good to document the whole process.  After all, if we rewire the bathroom, it would be helpful to have pictures, notes, or videos of just how we did it, should the need arise.  Or if one day, our daughter has her own house and would like to rewire her bathroom.  And maybe other people might want how we did it too.  After all, we have used others' online videos and blogs to fix our dryer and install a new blower motor in our car.  Maybe our information could be helpful in the same way.

So I decided to start a blog, this blog.  Over the next few weeks and months, and maybe years, I will document our do-it-yourself, home improvement, renovation, and remodeling efforts with pictures, videos, instructions, and useful links.  By the end of the whole process, we will have a home to be happy in, and maybe we will help or inspire someone else along the way.

Here is our home, as of today.  I call it My Blue Heaven, even though it desperately needs to be repainted, as the blue paint has faded to teal.  Our house is almost 100 years old, and is on the historic registry, but was apparently built before storage was invented.  We have no garage, no basement, and a partially finished attic.  The yard looks much better in the spring and summer, but could still use some serious help.  Yet in spite of all this, I love our house.  It is home.

Our neighborhood is one of those neighborhoods where people sit on their porches in the summer and wave at you as you walk by.  Everyone knows which dog or cat belongs to which family.  Kids ride their bikes, and play outside, and you can hear them laughing through the open windows.  People borrow each others tools and remember to return them.  When I go running on Sunday evenings, the whole neighborhood smells like fresh laundry as everyone gets ready for the new week.  

In the summer, you can hear music from the lake, and smell steaks cooking on your neighbor's grill.  You can here the crack of the bats and shouts of delight from the baseball park down the streets.  And at night, you can hear the boats, signaling to each other in the moonlight.  All those things make it like heaven, hence, My Blue Heaven.  And in case your not familiar with the song by the incomparable Fats Domino, here it is:  

Fats Domino - My Blue Heaven

And speaking of incomparable, I will leave you with this image of our cat Simon, gazing into the setting sun, thinking about the future, and the life that will be.


Or perhaps he is just thinking about dinner.