A Delicate Operation

Our bathroom renovation is very close to completion, which shouldn’t be surprising since it’s been going on for over two years. What is surprising is how many things there still are to be done and subsequently how many things to go wrong.

A couple of weeks ago, N discovered that our plumber, while installing the thermostat for our in-floor radiant heat system, had put a screw right through the thermostat wire, seriously wounding it. Unfortunately, the damaged wire was inaccessible deep inside the wall, our beautifully tiled wall.

• Solution one, chisel out the surrounding wall tiles and repair the wire, necessitating a costly call to the tile setter or a messy, and possibly amateurish time consuming repair
  

• Solution two, purchase the appropriate tools from the local army surplus store and perform surgery on the wire to remove the offending object and repair the damage

N both dreamed up and chose to perform solution two.

the newly acquired surgical tools

the patient (top right) prepped for surgery

the operation in progress (disclaimer--no electrical circuits were active during the operation)

I'm pleased to report that the surgery was a success. No tile was harmed during the operation.

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As the project nears completion, it’s the little things that can hold you (by you, I mean us) back.

For example, when our vanity mirror was to be delivered early last week, everything seemed to be going well when I heard, from another room, the unmistakable sound of breaking glass.

And

Our marble slab, purchased as an off-cut from another project, turned out to be just a little over an inch too small to do both our vanity counter and shower seat. We are waiting for another off -cut from a project using statuario marble. Coincidentally, the project we are waiting on, so that we can get the remnants of their counter, is the kitchen of our next door neighbours, which is very strange since we chose this marble company in another city through a series of random incidents. Unfortunately, our neighbours’ renovation seems to be progressing almost as slowly as ours, so the shower seat may be a long way off.

Still, the bathroom even as it is—doorless, shower seatless, and mirrorless—is wonderful. We are very happy with it and will soon (relatively) be posting an entire bathroom redux.