FEBRUARY 6, 2015 – IT BEGINS!!!
It’s an exciting week in our house – after 3.5 months of selecting contractors, flooring, granite, cabinet-makers and paint colors, demolition has finally started for our master bathroom remodel.
For those of you who enjoy remodels (especially when they’re not yours), I’ll be documenting the process along the way. Think of it as “This Old House”, except instead taking you through the remodel of a charming 400 year old home in New England, I’m taking you through the repair of a leaky bathroom in a mid-90’s mass-produced planned-community home in Austin, TX.
The events up to this point have been thoroughly documented in not one, not two but THREE posts.
Let me catch you up, there has been:
My Sh*tty Morning (The discovery phase)
Who Needs a Shower Anyway? (The denial phase)
Help Me Remodel (Two) Bathrooms (The panic phase)
For those of you who prefer Cliff’s notes, here’s how a simple shower leak has evolved into an entire bathroom remodel in 10 easy steps:
1. It started with identifying an odd smell in our master bedroom closet. Surely it must just be the shoes or the laundry, right?
2. “Hey, why’s there a giant wet spot in our closet? Let’s pretend the cats did it and just continue to step over it for a week before we actually investigate further.”
3. Oh Crap
4. One morning, after closing the bathroom door to keep the cats from puncturing their little paws on the nails in the carpet strip, we discover that a) The door is locked from the inside and b) Whoever installed the doorknobs didn’t use the kind where you can pop the lock open with a pin so instead my husband MacGyvered it open with a slap bracelet.
5. Our doorknob looked like this for about 2 months
6. Husband to the rescue!
7. There were months of material research that required lots of Nintendo DS bribery
8. As with any house project of mine, there were prototypes involved
9. The contractor came with his plumber a couple days ago to check out some stuff and the sledgehammers started swinging. He informed me we can start the next day and I get my marching orders to clear out every cabinet in the bathroom as well as the entire master closet. I estimated two hours….it actually took closer to four. We have entirely too much stuff. Realizing just how much stuff we have changed my entire tune about this process from “what a pain in the ass” to “wow, we’re awfully lucky to be living a life where remodeling a bathroom is considered a ‘problem’”
10. Now we’re living like this for the next 4 weeks (5…6…7…..8?….This isn’t our first rodeo)
Visit the next post: Episode 2:
Once upon a time, Susanne Kerns was a Senior Account Director at an advertising agency working for two of the top brands in the world. Nine years ago she traded in her corporate life for a life as a stay at home mom, raising two of the best kids in the world. She started her blog, The Dusty Parachute as a way to dust off her online advertising skills and begin her job search. Instead, she now uses it as a way to spend lots of time on the computer so her kids think that mommy has a job.
Susanne’s essays have been featured in Scary Mommy, BonBon Break and Redbook and she is also a contributor in the upcoming books, It’s Really 10 Months, Special Delivery and Martinis & Motherhood – Tales of Wonder Woe & WTF?! You can follow her on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Be sure to follow me on Facebook & Twitter and check out my 'Photos' tab for a sample of my Instagram feed. It's where I post my tasteful nudes (made you look!);)
xo - Susanne
- Come Check Out My New Place! SusanneKerns.com - May 23, 2017
- Don’t Miss “Touch a Truck” Austin! - May 11, 2017
- The Priceless Benefits of Having a Pen Pal - May 7, 2017