New profile photo

I haven't really calmed down enough about the Toto installation (or the shower base install* for that matter) to blog about it. At the moment I'm alternating between tears, swearing and sang froid, all the signs of grief, I have to note. I am too emotionally invested in this project.
But in the interest of looking at things in a more positive light I have changed the photo on my profile from the original photo I took of the back of the house on the day of the "walk through" April 2004, to one I took last year (2006) with the new paint and stain.

Just to remind myself that some contractors do a bang-on job, and that we have made at least one positive contribution to the renovation of our home.


*it looks like a Bugatti with a Trabi hubcap

Freakin' plumber

is making Jane freak out. This morning I went to take out the trash and I noticed that the Toto G-max fill valve was still in the Toto toilet box. Now that was surprising because the toilet had been flushed three times by the plumber before he left. I ran inside and opened up the tank and there was an ordinary Fieldmaster fill valve inside. Why? Why would anyone take a piece of equipment specifically designed to work with the toilet and replace it with some generic thing?
I rang Toto to see what would happen if we left the Fieldmaster in there and they said it would affect the fill rate and eventually the flow of the toilet. Great. I ordered the Toto is because the G-max has a great reputation and because all the plumbers like them. This plumber told me it was a "good" toilet. So once again why? I'll be asking him to explain and then install it as it was meant to be installed, but only when I've calmed down.

Welcome Toto Nexus

New toilet
Originally uploaded by modernemama.

It's so slim and shiny and clean. Isn't that the prettiest wc you've ever seen?
Okay, the Toto Neorest (tagline:Sophisticated Sensuality) is possibly more impressive but at a retail price between $3200 and $5600 depending on model I'm unlikely to do a proper comparison. Plus, the Neorest has a remote control. Who needs a remote control in the bathroom? The possibilities for losing that thing would be endless and probably quite expensive. And this bathroom is only 5'x8'. The Neorest lid opens as you approach it and flushes as you leave. In a space that small it would be constantly opening, flushing and closing. We'd probably wear it out in a six-month.

More gems from the plumber

One thing the plumber asks that is guaranteed to make modernemama freak out:
"Did you measure this?"
The answer was: I measured it; my husband measured it; two contractors measured it and YOUR DAD measured it.
"Well, I'd better check, it looks big.....hey, what d'you know, it just fits"
Good, now if I could just remember how to breathe again.

Things you are relieved to hear your plumber say:
1) "There's nothing difficult about this, it's just different"
2) "The base went in"
3) "Let's break for lunch"

Do all plumbers moan?

new grohe shower valve
Originally uploaded by modernemama.

Five Things You Don't Want To Hear Your Plumber Say

1) I've never seen one of those before
2) I've never installed one of those before
3) I don't know how we are gonna install that
4) That's too heavy for the wall
5) That drain won't fit

I heard all of those on Friday afternoon. The offending items were: 1,4 the Grohe Freehander and 2,3,5 the mti-whirlpool shower base, both of which had been approved by the plumber's father (also our plumber).
They are coming back on Monday morning to install the toilet in the other bathroom and put in the shower base in this bath. I can't wait.

Bye Bye Green Vanity

bye bye green vanity
Originally uploaded by modernemama.

I'm missing you already. You and your faux marble top (that weighed a ton) and matching Kohler avocado toilet, which, according to the plumber must have weighed 300lbs. They don't make them like that anymore.

Now we just have this little hole in the floor, and a scrap of that wallpaper insert on the vanity on the wall. It must have looked really, truly groovy in 1970.

Custom Copper Shower

The Expo catalogue arrived yesterday and fell open at the bathroom page, and there was something I'd never seen before, never even knew existed: a copper shower.

It spoke to me enough to make me tear up the plans for the master bath and install copper instead. Before I go down that route, though, several things occur to me: Wouldn't the copper get too warm for comfort if you're taking a long hot shower? How do you clean a copper shower? What stops it turning blue? How much would a 48"x36" beauty cost? What would Greg the Plumber say?

A bit of research later and I had the answers to some of my questions, the cost starts just shy of $3000. And there is a no-tarnish option. But...... will it fit in with my cool house? What other fixtures (towel rail, toilet holder etc) and tiles would look right with it?
So many questions. Here are a couple more: Has anyone seen a copper shower in real life? Better still , has anyone got one?

Snow Melt

snow melt
Originally uploaded by modernemama.

The sun is shining and the snow is pouring off the roof. Huge drops of water are reflected in the sunlight and it's so pretty.
I love the California overhang. You may get a little wet walking beneath but there is no maintenance and that is so much better than gutters.

Setting a New Budget

It's going to be the end of the week before the plumber can do the rough work and move the shower drain so in the meantime I thought I'd frighten myself by ignoring the bath remodels and looking at the budget for the 2008 kitchen remodel.
I started this spreadsheet back in July 2004 when we purchased the Sub-Zero with a view to building the kitchen around it and completing it within two years.
It seems we were a little optimistic in our timeline.
Over the past two and a half years I have researched options for replacement cabinets and countertops, chosen 16x16" and then 20x20"floor tiles, and picked out stainless steel appliances. The spreadsheet is a thing of beauty with internet links, retail and discount prices, lead times and possible alternatives. As we changed our minds about products, new versions came on the market, or prices rose, I updated the spreadsheet but the basic price of the remodel never fluctuated by more than a few hundred dollars.
Walking around Soho one Saturday last October we wandered into Henrybuilt and fell in love with the hardwood cabinets, they seemed to have been designed with our house in mind. Suddenly the perfectly acceptable Ikea boxes didn't seem to cut it anymore, even if we used our own custom doors. The budget got a huge makeover, upwards.
Then I starting reading the Brooklyn townhouse renovation blog Here is the House. Big mistake. And I showed the post on appliances to Steven. Even bigger mistake. He fell completely in love with the Hansacanyon LED faucet and wouldn't be dissuaded even when I showed him the price.


Of course you just cannot have a beautiful, expensive faucet pouring red or blue water into a bog standard kitchen sink, even if it is the BlancoPrecision 10: Super Single Bowl Undermount, sink of choice for Varenna and other German and Italian kitchen cabinet manufacturers. Never fear, Here is the House gave us an idea for a solution. We only have to add an extra $3000 to the budget and we can be professionally washing up, chopping vegetables and cooking with the Kohler PRO CookCenter sink. Actually, this will also solve a design dilemma too. We hate seams on countertops but the quartz we have chosen only comes in 10' slabs. Our sink area is 10' 8". If we go with the mega sink it is countertop width so we can have two separate pieces of quartz on either side. Smart but not priceless.
The new kitchen budget? Even though we will save on extra plumbing by not having a prep sink on the island and we save the cost of an extra sink and faucet, it's increased by 50% since we started and that's without adding the built in coffee maker I have lusted over. I wonder what we can cut back on so we can afford this remodel before we get too old to enjoy it. Food maybe?

Setting a new timetable

It seems my suspicions were correct and Steven didn't make time to arrange delivery of the shower base while I was away because one call to the bathroom accessory store this morning and 10 minutes later I had the MTI shower base in my garage. I wonder how long it will be before it finally gets to the bathroom?
Yesterday we agreed to revise the order of work for the on-going remodel. It now reads:
1) the boys' and girls' baths will be done simultaneously - whatever part of the project is less hassle (requiring the fewest runs to the hardware store) will get done first
2) the downstairs bath will get its facelift: new vanity, sink and faucet, plus new towel bar and toilet roll holder.
3) the master bath
4) the laundry room
Depending on how long the first three take we may do the laundry room with the kitchen remodel - that's the big project for 2008.
It's funny how things can quickly change, though. This morning we woke up to 3" snow so I reached for a dog towel in the laundry and tore the sliding door off the last remaining cabinet.
The revised, revised list goes:
1) boys' and girls' bath; depending on number of tiles we use there we may have enough to tile
2) the laundry room floor, making this project #2.
3) downstairs bath facelift
4) master bath
Either way it is going to take much longer than we thought to finish this part of the remodel and I seriously think we need to increase the gin budget.

Renovation frustration

Okay, I didn't really expect to have all the bathroom renovations completed in the week I was away (although I did leave Steven detailed instructions) but it was really depressing to come home and find nothing had been done. Everything was exactly as I left it, except that an extra layer of dust, dirt and dog hair had accumulated.
Even the shower base that they promised to deliver on Wednesday or Thursday hadn't arrived. My feeling here is that Steven was too busy to schedule a drop off time, but I could be doing him a disservice. At this rate the boys' bathroom won't be ready for him to shower in on his birthday, we'll be lucky if it's done by Memorial Day.

So simple even a .......

The Martin Agency did such a great job for Geico with its Caveman commercials that the Caveman now has a life in cyberspace. I wandered happily through his apartment, envying the flat screen tv and his awesome kitchen and clicking on every possible clickable link (tip: click multiple times, this is a very innovative site) but it wasn't until I got to the bathroom that it hit me. The faucet, vessel sink and wooden vanity look pretty similar to what I've chosen for the girls' bath.
I have caveman taste.

Basic Needs v Bathroom Jewelry

I was extremely distressed at having to part with $500 yesterday just to ensure continuing warmth and security. The garage door opener was declared dead and that was the cost of a new one, installed.

Apparently it was a miracle that the thing had held up for 38 years because the door is heavy and the Genie opener only had a single chain. Amazing. So I should expect the other one to go any second now? Anyway, I am now the proud owner of a double chain opener, guaranteed for one year.
I had that $500 marked down for the start of the downstairs bath remodel and specifically for either one of these beauties. They are both sleek and modern but the one on the left is the angular Tosca Bergamo and on the right we have the more traditional KWC Vesuno Classic.
Strictly speaking, I don't need a new faucet, but we do have a leak on the existing one, and the vanity is starting to de-laminate and I hoped that while we were on a bathroom remodelling kick we should just go with it and update the lot. I hadn't discussed this with Steven because I know he'd be even less enthusiastic than he was when I suggested adopting a new kitty........
In the unlikely event I should have a spare few hundred bucks in the future it would be good to have the fixtures already chosen, so some input on my faucet choice would be appreciated. Vote here for your favourite

Your favorite faucet
	Tosca Bergamo
	KWC Vesuno Classic
	Either, I love them both
	Neither, they leave me cold
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Tiles & Vanity

Oh, and hardware too. The tiles were delivered in the ice storm and join the vanity in the garage. If you're counting that's two bedrooms and a garage full of stuff waiting to be transformed into the kids' bathrooms.
I scored a major deal at Expo yesterday paying $1.68 per cabinet knob, reduced from $7.99 (their price, list price elsewhere about $6.00!) As the cheapest I could manage on The Hardware Hut was $5.70, I was a happy girl. And the custom vanity countertop is being made as I type. I should have the whole thing in ten days. I'm still waiting for word on the window and the shower base, though and that's what we need to re-start the boy's bath.

Garage Door

If you were a garage door which day would you pick to stop working?
a) A warm and sunny summer's day
b) The first ice storm in several years
This house has a sense of humour.

Weekend Chores

nickel door knobs
Originally uploaded by modernemama.

The pink granite is gone and we have this splendid new knob from Baldwin in it's place. It took me two hours to finangel into place this one and the bigger version on the powder room door. Most of that was spent upside down turning the locking screw with the allen key. I was extremely nervous about dropping the knobs on the tiles, or my face, as they weigh a ton. I guess that's why they were so expensive. And I discovered by removing the old porcelain knob that the powder room used to be painted oil blue. No why doesn't that surprise me?
On Saturday Steven put a coat of primer on the new ceiling in the boy's bath and re-attached the towel rails in the girl's bath. We chose hardware for the new vanity but they are out of stock so eventually we may have to find something else. I'm hoping not as they are the right size, shape and price and we both like them. How often does that happen?
No luck getting the new vanity installed though. The faucet lines are as tightly corroded as the one's in the boys' bath were, and the P-trap won't move either. Oh well, the plumber will be here next week to install the shower base and he can wrench it apart then. Things are progressing but really, really slowly.

No room to sleep

more new fixtures
Originally uploaded by modernemama.

The cat doesn't seem to care, but the bathroom remodels are taking over the house. Every surface in this room is covered with a faucet, sink or towel rail just waiting to go into the new baths.
The vanity for the girls' bath arrived yesterday but it's so heavy it has to stay in the garage until some man with muscles can help me negotiate it upstairs. FedEx also dropped off the faucet for the girls' bath and the fixture store called to say they have the closet door knob ready to be picked up. That means we have everything for that bath except the countertop and we can only order that when we've mounted the vanity. I could do that this weekend but we would be without a sink in that room for at least two weeks until the countertop is installed and we've connected the sink and faucet. I'm not sure whether that's a good idea or not.

Knobs

Ah, door knobs. Functional and decorative and the quickest and easiest way to give your interior a whole new look. Ha, that piece of advice comes from some design show or HGTV website. That's cyber reality.
In the real world, where I live, changing a door knob is frustrating, time-consuming and very, very expensive.
In this house all the public spaces have Schlage teak trimmed knobs, very 70s but also tasteful and they match the doors. They are staying. The closets and the front door have pewter handles from Arrow. Also gorgeous, and we will not be replacing these either. But the private spaces, bedroom and some bathroom doors have porcelain or granite knobs and these have to go.
In bizarro universe I'd just pull/unscrew the offending part off the door, trot down to the local hardware store and buy some sexy replacements. In my world, I discover that no one makes decorative trims for Schlage knobs so I have to buy a whole new knob. As a temporary solution I settle on pulling the offending pink granite trim off the bathroom door and swapping it with the trim from the basement door. The basement is now looking a little funky but who's going to notice?
Then I try to replace the above knob in matching pink granite but it requires an allen key in a size I don't possess. A quick trip to the local hardware store and $1.29+tax buys me a set of allen keys, one of which is the correct size. (This turns out to be the bargain of the week).
Armed with the offending door knob and original manufacturer's name (Arrow) I head off, at the hardware store owner's suggestion, to the local locksmith. He looks at it, declares he doesn't understand how it works, but can sell me an absolutely hideous shiny brass and glass knob in a vaguely Victorian look at a reasonable price that may work. I decline and he suggests I visit the local fancy decorative hardware store where he assures me I'll find something more my taste but "it's going to cost you".
And the local expensive store? I show the guy all the bits and he finds a manufacturer he swears is going to have a knob to fit, even though he doesn't understand how it works either. I pick out one small knob to replace the above monstrosity and two larger ones to take the place of the flowery porcelain powder room handle. Then he totals it all up for me, three knobs plus plates = $257. These had better work, I have my doubts as the knobs screw onto the spindles and I don't see how the replacements are going to do that but I'll bow to the salesman's superior knowledge.
But good grief, $257 just to get rid of a little hideous. Imagine if I had to replace every door knob in the house. Especially when I really want these beauties from
Turnstyle Designs which I believe run about $450 each.

House Art

It might be 7 below zero but I can't wait to install my lovely new mailbox that arrived yesterday. houseArt's slogan is: Finally, mailboxes you can love. And I do.
Now I have to find a post I don't hate......

Bathroom Race

mirror
Originally uploaded by modernemama.

The race is on. Although the boys' bath was started way back in late fall 2006 and the girls' bath only began last month, it's going to be a toss up which gets finished first.
Porcelanosa called today to say the tiles are in for the boys' bath, then I got a call to say the vanity I bought on ebay for the girls' bath had shipped and I put two coats of Benjamin Moore Cotton Balls on the girls' bath walls. In an attempt to stop spending money I also soaked the shower head in Oxy Clean until it actually delivered a decent flow of water. I was surprised at the weight of the shower head when I unscrewed it, in fact I almost dropped it. If that had happened it would probably have gone right through the bath and then we would have had to replace that and of course all the tiles too.
It could so easily have been a very expensive remodel after all.

Serious Ugly Revisited

Just as I'm getting rid of the fugly 1970 avocado green/pink combo in the girls' bathroom, HGTV's Design on a Dime has a great new idea for a "Pretty in Pink" bedroom using complimentary colors.
Either I'm behind the curve or have no taste because it still screams UGLY to me.

Extreme surgery needed

Will someone please help me? I think I need to enter rehab.
My problem?
I started in a small way, ordering music and books from Amazon, then computers from Dell and Apple. For a long time I was happy and then we started this remodeling project and things have gotten out of control. First I bought a sink online, then I progressed to faucets, showers and accessories, including a toilet seat.
I thought I could manage my habit, after all it was just one bathroom, a finite project. Then I started buying for the second bathroom, one we had no plan to undertake in the foreseeable future. But it was so easy, things were cheaper and readily available online. Just a couple of clicks, totally painless. So I ordered a vanity, and another faucet and I can justify it because it's a small project that will be easy to complete.
And then the madness began. I was searching for a door knob to replace the hideous pink stone one in the girls bath when I came across something I've lusted after ever since we moved here. A bronze mailbox, contemporary in style that reflects the design of the house. But it wasn't in the budget until we re-tarmac the drive. (Ironically we missed out in the great mailbox vandalism episode that struck the village last May when most of out neighbors got a new mailbox courtesy of the idiot who smashed them with a bat and was caught by the village police. End of term madness, almost as expensive as remodeling).
Today though, I was having no luck with the door knobs but one little weblink and I found my object of desire. Instantly available, it was perfect; it even looks like our roof line. And two clicks later I had ordered the Da Vinci mailbox.
I'm sure I'm going to love it when it arrives, but right now I'm feeling a little sick. I will have to buy a new post and dig out the old one and concrete in a new one in a new position. More tasks and btw it's February and the ground is frozen. Crazy woman with bad credit card habit.
Plus I still haven't replaced this beauty.
Help, I need help, either the credit card or the internet will have to be cut off.

This is "gentle" remodeling

Steve agreed with me that the white ceramic vessel sink I ordered would look even better in the girls' bath, so we ordered a brown glass vessel for the boys' bath and went off to shop for counter tops. We immediately honed in on one, an ivory color with sage green and silver in it, turned to each other and said simultaneously: "That would be great in the girls' bath". It was that easy.

All we had to do then was choose a vanity base. It has to be a cabinet so we don't have to touch the tiles which are in excellent shape, but I don't want anything that looks traditional. I've narrowed it down to a couple, both wood in the same tones as the doors and I have a couple of faucets in mind too.
And the ugly medicine cabinet? We're taking it out, patching wallboard in the hole and installing this beauty from Design Within Reach
Today I painted the olive green doors in Benjamin Moore Silver Satin, a bright, grayish white and it has made a huge difference.
If only all remodeling was this easy.

And we've paused

After two days we have wall board up except where the plumbing needs to be changed and we can do no more until that is done, and the window and the tiles have arrived. It would be really nice to get on with things but I'm quite enjoying the nice clean space that's there now. I'm sure I will be really sick of it by the time we start again (mid Feb) but at least we have a jump start.
Until then I will leave you with these photos of the fixtures in the girls' bath that I plan on pulling out.

Project Bathroom - we're underway

It feels like we have really started on the bathroom project now, the workers arrived at 8 am and we have a lot of progress already. The electrics have been re-wired to code (GFCI) and in future we shouldn't go bang when we plug in that hairdryer that has been lying in a puddle of water . The new fan/light/nightlight combination is up too, so the contractors will have light to work by. The walls and ceiling have been insulated and the backer board ceiling has been tacked up.
I spent most of the morning on the phone. I checked to see when I could expect delivery of the tiles, and it's a good thing I did. Although my copy of the order form says they had been ordered on January 5th, under one tile sku it says "get from NJ". This was obviously an aide-memoire for them rather than an order, as there was no record in the system. It's been taken care of now, and I should have the whole lot in a week or so. I was a little tigged because I need the wall tiles to take to the cabinet guy so I can choose a co-ordinating top, but Porcelanosa offered to send samples of the tiles by UPS and I should have those in a couple of days. Then I can order the countertop and I think that's it for fixtures.
The plumber called to tell me the toilet I chose is the one nobody has in stock so I can expect a 4-6 week delivery. That should put it right there with the arrival of the window. I asked him to get me a second toilet that we can put in the green bathroom because that thing has a mind of it's own and it's also seriously uncomfortable: low down and round. Apparently that is the best style for potty training little girls but it ain't good for grown-ups. I can see this turning into a "while we're about it" scenario. Once the green toilet is gone, the vanity is going to look old and nasty so we might as well replace it, and obviously you wouldn't put the old faucet back on a new vanity, would you? And we'll need to take the matching green laminate door off the full-length medicine chest.......
The sweetest part of the day? I asked the contractor if he wanted a cheque for part of his estimate now. I expected to pay him a third on agreement of the contract, a third when he starts and a third on completion. His reply? "I have enough to live on, let me get started first." I think we picked the right contractor.

It blows

Q) How many trips to X-pooh does it take to buy a bathroom fan?
A) Three.
Trip One: because the contractor wants to start on the electrics tomorrow and then sheetrock the ceiling and I haven't ordered one online yet. I arrived at the "luxury" big box store and asked the Customer Service Rep where they were located. "Oh, I think they are all special order. But you could try through the arch at In-store pick-up". Through the arch there are faucets and hardware and pillows but no ventilation units. An employee asks what I need and it turns out they do have them, just installed last week and hidden behind the faucets with no sign at all. There is one brand, Nutone, six models and they are all ugly. I leave and try three other stores, only one of which carries bathroom fans and that is Hopeless Desperation and they only sell Nutone, but even uglier, less powerful models.
Trip Two: Back to Exasperating to purchase the most energy friendly, least ugly, and most expensive, model.
Trip Three: To return that model and purchase the second most expensive model because that has 4" diameter ducting and the one I had taken home was only suitable for 6" ducting.
Three trips, starting at 2:30 and finishing at 8 pm. I need to go stand under the fan to cool off and in future I must learn to read the box properly before I leave the store.

Shower base chosen, tick.

Settling on a shower base has been the most difficult part of this project. I'd rather chip tiles off the walls for a week than look at any more options that stop water cascading through the ceiling to the shower room below.
So far we have decided on
1) keeping the thirty-eight year old terrazzo base
2) getting a custom-made shower pan, tiled in
i) glass mosaic
ii)mesh-backed pebbles
3) ceramic base
4) acrylic base
5) tiled pan
6) another acrylic pan
We rejected the first once we started the demo, if it looked old and grubby at this point what would it look like with shiny new tiles on the walls and floor? The second had the tile designer and ourselves going crazy trying to find something that went with the other tile choices and the style of the house. The third was Steven's favourite but looked to busy with the mosaic accent wall. The ceramic base was my preference. I wanted something that looked like this



But the cost would be prohibitive and the sizes are European so we'd have to re-frame and there was a long lead time (which at this point wouldn't have mattered but that was before we knew the window would take a trimester to build). I'm determined to have this in the master bath remodel, though. We'll have to make the floor extra waterproof because it's a no-lip system.
Bck to the project in hand. We settled an an acrylic base and then we looked at them and they were all horrible. Cheap feeling and nasty looking. So we went back to plan b. But the thought of a lead pan or a "hot mop" rubber system had me freaking. After all the "hot mop" is the stuff they put on flat roofs and we all know how long that lasts!
Then I walked into Finishing Touches, the local fixture store in Huntington, and told them of my problem, and they showed me an acrylic base that didn't feel like plastic, it felt like ceramic.


It came in a gazillion colours and although it was twice the price of the Kohler looked twice as nice and came in the correct size. And if we install it and find it is too shiny, they sell a teak insert for an only slightly shocking price that looks very zen.
At this stage in the process, money feels like the least of the remodel problems.

(mostly) Excellent service

I spent Tuesday evening online ordering some of the fixtures for the new bath. Shopping around for the best price takes time but beats the hell out of driving round visiting every plumbing supply store and bath showroom in a twenty mile radius to find a Tenso faucet. And that was after I'd visited the Grohe website to locate the dealers. Every one could show my a picture in a catalogue but no one had the model in stock. I'd seen the faucet on the website and had the dimensions but I wanted to see it in real life. I wanted to see how shiny it was, how big, how bulky. After a really frustrating four hours and nearly half a tank of fuel I gave up, came home and started searching online suppliers. By 5:00 pm I had not only ordered the faucet but a matching shower valve trim and a Freehander shower.
Then I moved on to the vessel sink. I'd wanted a bronze tempered glass sink but I was concerned that the color might not be as pictured on the websites and once again I couldn't find anyone locally who had anything in stock - not even the snotty hardware store in Nassau County, NY where the salesman's first question wasn't "Were you looking for glass, ceramic or stone?" but "How big is your budget because we only deal in expensive sinks, we're a high-end store, that's what our clientele demands." (note to self: wear a huge diamond ring and borrow Louis Vuitton bag when shopping in Great Neck). He showed me a bunch of catalogs and gave me a price on a glass vessel that I could beat by $180 elsewhere. Superb customer service.


I identified a cute Italian ceramic vessel sink at Qualiytbath,com, emailed them about lead times, had a reply within 10 minutes saying it would ship 5-7 days after the order was placed, ordered it at 5:30 pm and it arrived by UPS at 3 pm yesterday. Less than 24 hours, free shipping and no sales tax. Oh, and no snotty salespeople of course. I rounded off the evening by ordering the towel racks, toilet roll holders, robe hooks and finally a Toto Maple Softclose Toilet Seat.
Just to prove that I can shop locally without feeling like I'm wasting the salesperson's time, I ventured out again to look at lights and had lots of help from The Lighting Gallery in Huntington. I explained what I was looking for and was directed to contemporary vanity lights. A few questions later and I had the perfect solution: a bar light that won't detract from the mosaic tile but will still make a statement and will fit in with the style of the house. I did have to pay NY sales tax but I got excellent service and I got to feel the merchandise too.
It's all coming together at last. Today, before 9:30 am FedEx dropped off the faucet and shower. The trim is promised, via the wonderful UPS tracking system, for Monday, the other things by the end of the month. The plumber is getting the actual toilet for me and the Grohe shower valve and now he, the handyman, the other contractor, my husband and myself have all agreed on the dimensions of the shower I can go ahead and order the base, safe in the knowledge that five people can't be wrong. Can they?

Custom made

No photos for this post, although there are some links further down.
I finally found someone to make me a floating vanity. Hurrah. I thought this would be a project that the handy guy who likes to work with wood would love but he doesn't have a workshop so he didn't want to do it, although he was happy to mount it on the wall when we found one. My second choice was the trim carpenter but he had never made a cabinet so didn't feel confident.
Let me tell you I'm not asking for anything complicated here: a box 36"w x 22"d x 20"h; three full sides; one stile frame; a bottom; a top with two holes cut out, one for the drain and one for the tap (faucet); two full-overlay doors. That's it.
I even went to IKEA and Kraftmaid with the intention of using an over the refrigerator cabinet but they are 24" deep and it's a tight space. If I had the tools I'm sure I could have sawn 2" off the back of a cabinet and dovetailed it right back on. But never mind.
I then spent hours, days even looking for a vanity that didn't make me want to vomit or run screaming from the store or that was going to cost the price of a holiday in the Bahamas. Nothing. Rien. Nada. Niets.
Then yesterday I was out looking for faucets when I stumbled upon a cabinet maker who will knock me up the box made to my specific dimensions in wood or wenge veneer. He sketched it out as I described it, called it clean, modern and streamlined and said it would take a couple of weeks to knock out. It will have a rolling drawer and a half rolling drawer, so getting to the toiletries will be easy. The wenge sample was gorgeous and looks like this but the unit will look more like this. I will take the tiles in when I get them so I can pick a co-ordinating top in granite or quartz.
And we ordered the window (also custom made from Marvin) so we are almost home............

Decisions

We have actually made some actual decisions. Firstly we ordered the tiles from Porcelanosa. The floor and accent wall tiles are the same ones we chose back in October but I decided that the rectified wall field tiles were too classic and so we chose a more contemporary 12"x12" tile that should also be easier to lay.



Then the champion procrastinators finally got down to business and read through the contractors' bids, then phoned them with follow-up questions. It was a no-brainer. The guy we have used before, who does the work himself, who has worked for our neighbors and who we trust to deliver what he was contracted to do was significantly cheaper than the other guy who arrived without a tape measure and sent me to a fictitious plumbing supply store to look at shower bases because "tiled bases always leak". When I asked this guy how he came to his "Basic 8'x 5' Bath" price he told me that because we had done all the demolition ourselves he used the price of a 8' x 7' bath. Now, normally doing the demolition would make the price cheaper (as it was with the contractor we chose) but it seemed here that it was costing us money. Anyway, I really only wanted the tiler who works for this guy, I don't need a GC who pops in every day or so to check on what his guys are doing, and I certainly don't need a flaky GC.
The Marvin window will take four weeks to arrive so no cement board can go in until that's here. In the meantime we will start the electrical update and the plumber will move the vent and pipes and replace the copper waste pipes with PVC. We need to order the rest of the fixtures this weekend and with room for delays we should be done by Steven's birthday in March.

A little more demo

Although we'd agreed we wouldn't tackle the master bath until the boys' bath is finished I got a little bored today and took off the shower doors and hauled them out to the dumpster. Then I took off the door to the medicine cabinet. The one Steven cracked with his elbow oh, nearly twelve months ago. That baby had twelve screws and took me an hour to get off. It also weighed more than the shower doors combined. Still it has now joined them in the dumpster. Unfortunately, I couldn't get the medicine cabinet out as the screws are bent and somebody nailed it in for added strength, so I'm leaving that job for Steven.

I even tried once again to clean the tiles in the shower, now the doors are off it's much lighter in there but, nope, that dirty grout is not getting any cleaner.


My prediction is that by Sunday evening there won't be any tiles, grubby or otherwise in the shower. Now, if I could only find a tiler who is happy to install rectified tiles with 1/16th grout lines...

Frustration and furry animals

We spent New Year's Day in a fruitless frenzy trying to take down the old media centre/bar in the den. This was my fault. I thought because we had the dumpster we could just knock the baby out and the replace the carpet later. I thought it would be an easy job.
When it came down to it, after we'd spent an hour clearing everything out of and off the bar and then finding new homes for the junk, Steven took a screwdriver to the back of the unit and pronounced it wasn't going to be so simple. Some of the wires for the cable and electrics come out of the floor. The cables that run to the speakers in the other rooms in the house run through the HVAC vents (?!?). In short, he didn't feel confident taking it all to bits and being without a TV or music for days or even weeks.
So reluctantly we cleaned the unit and put all the stuff back.

And then some devil prompted me to wonder again why the was a hole under the light on the unit. We'd thought it was to push the lamp cord through and it would connect to a socket at the back of the unit or even in the basement. But although we'd poked and prodded at it when we first moved in we couldn't find a power source down there so we'd let it go. Now I was curious and we had a tool we hadn't had two year's ago: a flashlight! Steve said he'd run down to the basement if I shone the light and see if he could see it. So I shone it, and then I squinted down the hole.
The following exchange then took place:
Steve: I can't see a light
Modernemama: No, But honey, I know why they drilled the hole.
Steve: Why?
Modernemama: Because they lost their gerbil.
Steve: What are you talking about?
Footsteps up the basement stairs and then he took the torch from me and looked for himself.
Steve: Hmm. I saw that before. I thought it was a shadow.
Modernemama: The shadow of a dead gerbil?
Steve: Sweetie, that's not a gerbil, it's more of a garden rodent.
So now I not only have to live with an ugly media cabinet in the den but also the knowledge that there is a dead rat inside it and the only way I am going to be able to get it out is to demolish the thing once and for all.
And it took me two days to get the speaker cables back in the right order on the stereo receiver (a 1970 Russound model MP3) but at least the iPod is plugged in and we have music throughout the house once again.

More demo

original 1968 formica
Originally uploaded by modernemama.

When you've hired a dumpster and learnt how to swing a sledgehammer to great effect you might as well use it.
We couldn't do anything else to the boys' bathroom in the way of demolition so we moved on to the laundry room. Actually I take no credit for this, the "we" was all "he". He cleared the room, unsrcrewed the upper cabinets and resorted to the sledgehammer when the were unresponsive. Then he carted it all out to the dumpster, which is now full.
I'd like to clean up the walls and hang new cabinets but he thinks it will be better to wait until the kitchen gets replaced in 2008. My original thought was to do this room and use that s a makeshift kitchen while the big room is being done. But I can see the benefit of waiting - that way we can go throughout the kitchen, mud room and laundry with 18x18" tiles, and get a clean, continuous look.
The only question is whether I can live with a half-demolised laundry room for 20 months.

Santa? No, the demo man

Santa? No, the demo man
Originally uploaded by modernemama.

He's looking surprisingly chipper for a man who just rearranged the back of his new car on a dumpster. If you add the cost of the bodywork to the renovation we are now seriously over budget. Grr. His only excuse? "I forgot it was there". Huh.
I knew it was only a matter of time before he "personalised" the car but on our own driveway? The morning after he filled the dumpster? How is that possible?
Anyway, the ceiling is now down, we can see where the hole in the flashing round the vent pipe caused the water damage, and the assessment is that it's not too bad. The biggest relief is that there is no longer any smell of mold or rot in the room so I think we can change the cruddier insulation and start putting things back together again.
Next on the list: change the wastepipes to PVC, upgrade the fan to a quieter model, install a light over the shower and a GFCI circuit.

The shower pan nightmare

Floor under shower pan
Originally uploaded by modernemama.

The terrazzo shower pan is no more. Steven drilled a couple of holes, hit a chisel with a hammer and used a sledgehammer vigorously for an hour or so and that base stood no chance. I'd been dreading tackling this beacause I'd heard horror stories about how difficult they were to remove. It turned out to be fairly easy. That was the best part of the day.
The second good thing was that forty minutes after ringing to enquire about dumpsters (skips) we had one sitting on our drive. And two hours later we had just about filled it.
It was far harder carrying the lumps of broken terrazzo out to the dumpster than it was breaking the shower pan up. That stuff is heavy. But here's the scary bit: the pan was just resting on the floorboards. No plywood reinforcement, no tar-paper or liner. So when you break up the shower base tiny pieces of terrazzo rain down through the cracks in the floorboards onto the bathroom ceiling below. And when you switch on the light in that bathroom you realise that not only does that no longer work, but the fan has stopped also.
Now my problem is that we still have to take up the cement floor tile bed. I imagine that this has a liner because otherwise what stops the mud falling down the spaces between the floorboards? But what if it doesn't? How much debris can I afford to let fall onto the ground floor bathroom before the ceiling collapses? The nightmare continues.....

Xmas Day 2006

demo left wall
Originally uploaded by modernemama.

Some people eat turkey, some open presents and some spend the day with relatives. We do demolition.
Steven stepped up and removed the partition that was preventing us from taking off the last of the wallboard. There's a little mould on the ceiling that was under a piece of framing, but nothing worse. We will experiment with diluted bleach to remove it, but unfortunately there's also a tiny hole in the ceiling where the wood slipped as it was coming out. Whoops.
He is finding that demo is rewarding and kind of fun too. The next job is to try and prise (hammer, drill, jackhammer) the terrazzo shower pan out. We'll see if he's still having fun after struggling with that for a couple of hours.
Wish us luck.

Down to the studs

Finally.
I've been taking the wallboard off over the past couple of days and I made a couple of discoveries. One was a few scary alien-like corpses that could be either large insects or small birds or even actual aliens. They were behind the vanity wall and they had been dead for a very, very long time. I would have taken photos but I didn't want to terrify anyone into sending out the exorcist. The other was some clean, white mice skeletons behind the wallboard on the opposite wall.
A way nicer surprise was the extra foot of space I uncovered behind the shower. It seems that those terrazzo shower bases came in a standard size, 4'x 3', so they built the shower to fit the pan. I discovered this when I couldn't get a piece of sheetrock out because it had been framed in. When I demolished more wall I saw that a frame had been built onto the sheetrock and there is no reason why we can't take it out and have a 5'x 3' mud-base tiled shower. It will make the room a little larger and only add another three square feet of shower tiles to the ever-expanding budget.

No plumbing fixtures

No plumbing fixtures
Originally uploaded by modernemama.

I had to suck it up and call the plumber to remove the valves so we could turn off the water. While he was here he took out the toilet and hauled it away and put the vanity and very heavy countertop out for the garbage. The garbeage men arrived ten minutes later and that's the last we'll see of that baby. Will have to tip them big time on Friday as they have been dealing with a lot of demo trash.
The plumber asked if he was coming back to replace the waste lines with PVC. It hadn't occurred to me but as we don't know what sort ot mess they could be inside it makes sense to do it when the wallboard is out. He also said they could replace the supply lines. With PEX? I asked. No, with copper he replied, it's been tested for years. So you take out the copper pipes and solder more copper in there. Hmm.
The he asked what we were doing about the shower base. Mud, I said. Oh, lead pan? I do that.
What? They still use lead and copper in NY? I just freaked at the thought of more of these heavy metals being brought into my house. The explanation that they've been in use for years doesn't cut it for me either. If I followed that logic I'd be cooking over an open fire lit by rubbing two sticks together.
It is the C21, right? Even in NY?

Vanities

We made the decision that the bathroom vanity is toast so I took a break from tile destruction today to check out a few vanities in the local showrooms. I know I swore I would never set foot in Expo again but I was desperate and willing to explore any option.
The first thing I noticed when I walked in the door was that the new Kraftmaid Venecia kitchen displays were finally open. Last time I was there they were waiting for the granite countertops to be installed and I asked the "Can I help you guy" what the cabinet price per linear foot would be. I was told they were very expensive (the doors come from Italy, you know) so they would run $1800. Well guess what? That was another price pulled from the ether by someone who didn't know what he was talking about and couldn't be bothered to find out. The prices on the vignettes ranged from $440-$998. Pricey but half what I had been told. This lack of attention to detail (aka customer service) didn't surprise me but it didn't put me in a positive mood for vanity shopping either.
Of all the vanities on display, and there are lots to choose from, only one would work in the space. This simple square box from Kohler's Purist range is a whopping $1450 for a 24"x22"x16" box.

.
So, practically speaking, to hold toiletries and towels you would need two, plus a countertop and then the sink and faucet. At least $4000. Crazy money.
I didn't find anything I liked anywhere today but at least when I got back home, I found that the garbage fairy had been, swept the bathroom floor and taken all the boxes of debris to the garage.
It's a slow process.

A lot of old drywall

or a valance of tiles

This is where I finished today. There is a 2" (60cm) border left around the room plus this tiny bit behind the door



I just ran out of boxes to put the debris in, otherwise I might have pressed on to the bitter end. I can't do anything about the "valance" as I'm not supposed to jump on and off ladders at the moment and my arms won't reach up there without a lift.

I had hoped someone would volunteer to help me but so far that hasn't happened, although last Saturday he did carry to the garage one (1) box of old tiles. This morning I suggested that getting a plumber to take out the old toilet would make us look like pussies, we can easily do it. The look I got back means I'll be finding out on my own.

Rot free windows

jane's demo
Originally uploaded by modernemama.

I found out how that window stayed rot free (at least on the inside) for the past 40 years. Teak trim, baby. I demo'ed the frame today and the window is builder's standard pine, but it was framed inside with a sloping lower edge of oiled teak. A brilliant solution and if the tiler can't find a way to tile neatly around the replacement I might have someone build me another teak ledge. And maybe we'll add a teak shower seat while we are at it.

Taking it off

...one tile at a time.
Although the tile was laid in 12x12 mesh backed sheets, it doesn't come off like that. I take the chisel or a long-handle flat-blade screwdriver and tap that with a hammer.This loosens the tile so it pops out or I prise it off. It's slow but it's not too messy. I am doing it in 30 minutes stretches, and I like to complete an even section and then clean that up before I take a break. So far I have filled four boxes, six Trader Joe paper bags and a wastepaper basket.





At least the floor is done-that really was the easiest part.
Steve took off a door from the vanity and turned the water off on one faucet. The other one is apparently stuck. This is a major inconvenience as I wanted to get the countertop out so the garbage guys would haul it away today. Oh well, if he can't budge it at the weekend I 'll have to get the plumber to do it when he takes out the toilet and fits a thermostatic valve for the shower

The demolition continues

I can't believe how easily the floor came up, or at least the first few square feet. I've taken off 3sq", so only another 27 to go! I barely have to tap it with the chisel and whole sections of tile spring into my hands, leaving the grout to be swept up later.


Earlier I took the medicine cabinets off the wall. I was really surprised to find how clean it was behind them, because you never know what you are dealing with when you start these projects. Once again I thank the original builders who worked clean and built solidly. I wish they were still around.
Actually taking out the cabinets did lead to a discovery. We decided to save them for the moment and store them in the boy's bedroom next to the bathroom. When I cleared a shelf in the closet I found a white yarmulke, size 7 1/4". Not riches, but a part of the heritage of the house.

Renovator's Remorse

We have begun to get quotes for the bathroom renovation. I can see that this is going to be a long process. We've already started with the "what ifs". The first what if was really quite sensible. What if we replace the window before we re-tile the bathroom? The window isn't failing but it nearly forty years old and has had some repair to rot outside. It is also a sealed unit. It would make sense to replace it now with a venting one and I think we should have another Marvin awning installed. So the budget expands, and the timeline extends.
Then there is the vanity question. We have a floating vanity in this bathroom that I love. My original plan was to keep the unit and junk the marble top but we have to take the unit out to strip the tiles behind it so will it stand up to this treatment bearing in mind it is laminate? Can I find another floating vanity that I like at a price I can stomach? And as for a not-hideous medicine cabinet, why are these things both ugly and outrageously expensive?

I'm beginning to regret starting this and there is a long way to go. Renovation should be fun and I'm not feeling it.

Electrical switches

Electrical switches
Originally uploaded by modernemama.

I finally put another piece of the electrical lighting system jigsaw together this weekend. I located the outlets for the centre switch on the seven-gang in the kitchen. This has been bugging me for thirty months. But I'm getting there. In case I forget it goes like this:
Top panel L-R: spots in great room; cans in kitchen; cans in eat-in part of kitchen
Centre Panel: socket with horizontal switch (still a mystery). Vertical switches: pond pump; tree lights; exterior rear floodlights; great room balcony lights; great room third storey lights; chandelier
Bottom: dimmer switch for umbrella pendants.
Now I only have to figure out that horizontal switch, the switch by the kitchen slider, the one by the front door and the two by the grarage doors. And then I can get the x10 system we inherited to work too.

Now we're demo-ing

Actually, it's less "we" more "I" as Steve has gone to Los Angeles. He said to leave it and he'd get round to it at the weekend. When I asked which weekend it turned out to be Xmas. I think I can have the walls stripped before then.
It was no wonder we had a leak. The wallboard at the bottom of the shower was completely black and rotten. Whoever replaced the shower valve didn't caulk around it and water has been dripping down there for who knows how many years. All that damage for want of five minutes and a $5 tube of caulk. Luckily, the wood behind seems sound and every other piece of board is dry so far. It doesn't really matter as we're going back to the studs and putting in cement backer board but if the wallboard is dry there is less chance that we'll have any structural problems or other nasty (expensive) surprises.

Garden gate

As of yesterday we have a new gate. Hurrah. It should last 10-15 years, double hurrah. Unfortunately our handyman thinks the rest of the fence is toast. Boo.I asked him if he would make us a custom fence to replicate what is there now, but he demurred. He thinks we should get a "nice" cedar fence from the local cedar place. Boo hoo. The local cedar fences are only slightly less horrible than the vinyl stuff. (Have you noticed how vinyl fences almost glow in the dark? How do they do that?) I'm not going to worry about it until it actually falls down, even then I might not worry, after all the gate is as solid as a rock.