The promising start to the dayYesterday our plumber came to install some of the fixtures in the bathroom, but once again some little details have arisen to block our progress. First, the rail for the hand held shower came with the wrong hardware which made it difficult to mount to the wall. Unfortunately, after the rail was mounted the plumber discovered two little hairline cracks in the tile, which will mean prying out the cracked tile and replacing it.
The hairline cracks in the tile
We hope the tight fitting rail won’t give the plumber as much trouble coming off the wall as it did going on. Our plumber discovered another problem when he tried to install the toilet. One square glass tile from the slightly raised glass tile border is in the way (this in spite of the template I made to determine tile placement!). It too will have to be pried out and replaced with a porcelain tile. Supposedly all this tile repair and fixture installation will resume on Thursday when the stars will align and bring both our plumber and tile installer into the orbit of our bathroom on the same day (we’ll see).
Yesterday did bring two successes: the shower drain is now connected, and we have a new sleek pump on our boiler. The original boiler pump was very old and had been leaking oil for a couple of months.
Last October the house next door sold to a young couple with a small baby and a big dog. We were happy to have another family move in next door. They turn out to have very ambitious plans for their house and very deep pockets. In addition to the full renovation they are already doing on the existing house, this spring they plan to begin an addition to add 35% more floor space to their home. We genuinely like our new neighbours and they have been very generous about sharing their plans with us, but we are still a little worried about how the changes may affect us. One of the additions to their house will be only a couple of feet from our property line. In particular we worry that if they roof the new addition with the same kind of steel roof they currently have, the resulting annual avalanches of snow will fall right into our side yard and will prevent us from planting the small trees we had been hoping to plant in our much anticipated secluded side garden. We are determined to smile and bear everything graciously. We must keep calm and stay optimistic. Plus, with weather like this, it’s hard to believe we will ever be gardening again.
The backyard earlier today during yet another snow storm
It is spring here in name only. I know it must be spring somewhere. I wish I was there.
Forced cherry branches--my make-believe, indoor harbinger of spring
Two more of our backyard trees—serviceberries this time—have been completely girdled by rabbits. This is proving to be a very costly winter.
4 comments:
Your bathroom is totally gorgeous!!
I know all too well about these "little" things that delay progress but its looking really fabulous.
Try not to stress about your neighbors plans. Sounds like you have a good relationship with them and thats so key. You may get some benefits from their addition that you might not have realized once its in place.
Mrs. Limestone,
Thank you for your generous comments. Barring too many more little things I hope to be able to post pictures of the finished bathroom by June.
I think your advice combines wisdom with optimism. I will try to take it and rest more easily about things next door. Your home continues to be an inspiration for us.
S
Your bathroom looks great so far. I love the calacatta marble you've chosen - and for that matter, all the tile as well. Great choices.
Thanks Wanderluster,
If only you knew the insane process we went through to choose that final tile combination. In the end, we are very happy with our choices, but it was a circuitous route to say the least.
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