Our contractor estimated that the bathroom remodel would take 1-2 weeks. Having done this sort of thing before, I thought I knew better and planned for an extra week or so beyond the original number. Even with all that planning? We were five weeks start to finish with the hired guns and a week or two for me to find and install the doors, mirror and shelves.
We went 29 days without any means to shower or have a dunk in the tub so every second or third day we would go to Amy or Meg's place. Oh sure, there were plenty of bird baths (or Navy showers as my mum calls them) but without good pals, we would have been REALLY stinky. The absolute worst was the week of the tiling. We went 6 days and nights without a toilet in the house. We'd drive up to the grocery store during the day, pee at the neighbours house before bed and used Glaceau water bottles at night. (Hurray wide mouth bottles!) Needless to say, I spent most of that week very dehydrated so I wouldn't have to use the facilities.
The last step to getting it all finished was the tub. It's a big ol' cast iron behemoth original to the house and it seemed a shame to just toss it because it was a little dinged up. We wouldn't have been able to get it out the door anyway, so we left it in place and had it re-enameled. Ta Da! Shiny and new!
All in all, a successfully rehabilitated loo. Ain't it pretty?
(You'll find the before pictures here.)
The Austin house is empty. The moving truck has come and gone; our stuff is already stacked in the hallways and rooms in our Boston house. Two of the three cats are settled after the long plane ride tucked under the seat. All that's left is me, Bicoe, the air mattress and all my tools. There's quite a few holes to patch, paint touch ups, a little grouting and trim work before we can put the house on the market. The last few days have been all about hair in ponytails and sweat equity. (The sweat part comes easy, it's 33 C (92 F) today.)
