Monday, July 29, 2013

Decisions, Decisions...

We finally got a decent quote to fix our bathroom, and the decision-making process began in earnest last week.  Of course, we ended up in the mindset of "as long as we're fixing THIS, we might as well fix THAT" - even though THAT wasn't covered under the insurance settlement.  But we've been in this house for over 13 years now, and some things are getting cruddy (like the frame around the shower stall), some things have not worn well (like our tile floor, which cracked years ago), and some things I never liked right from the beginning (like our faucets) - but they were brand new and it would have been silly to change them out.  So, we ended up scrapping our plans for a trip to Maui (we were just about there with saving enough money for the trip, dangit) and instead, will spend that money on our bathroom.  And I'll have a piña colada in it, and enjoy the nice bathroom that we probably wouldn't have bothered with upgrading this much, had the flood not forced our decision.

Of course we wanted to keep the wall color gray, since we'd just painted it (and love the color).  While our cabinets were covered by insurance, the countertop was not, since it wasn't damaged.  They allowed money for it to be detached and reset onto the new cabinets; we ended up deciding to upgrade to granite (and I can't believe I'm getting granite in my bathroom before my kitchen, but this is how things work out sometimes).  Here's the granite we chose:
It's called New Caledonia and has flecks of gray, black, taupe and silver.

Because we like how light and bright the bathroom is (and really, the entire house), we didn't want dark wood for the cabinets, which seems to be the style right now.  We ended up going with pretty much what we had in the first place, only the new cabinets will be white painted wood (done by a professional painter) instead of the melamine that is in there now (the melamine has started peeling off of the wood since the flood - the combination of moisture and the hot fans that dried out the room pretty much wrecked them).

I had a hard time reconciling the cost of the faucets - we have two sinks, plus a roman tub, and the shower on/off valve.  Jeff and I picked our favorite, and then I went to the plumbing store and worked on pricing - we got a nice contractor's discount, but it was still expensive.  I looked at a different brand and got it priced out - it didn't feel as solid and didn't look as nice as the top contender.  In the end it was only (ONLY, hah!) a $200 difference, so we went for it.  I figure, after living with faucets we didn't like for all these years, it was time to get something we really loved:
Delta Dryden - and I'm super happy to also finally get a single-handle faucet...no more turning on one side, then the other, then adjusting to get the optimal temperature so my teeth don't feel like they're cracking from too-cold water when I brush them (yes, it's the little things, but they're daily little things).

Choosing the tile for the floor was pretty simple - my criteria was something that would hide dirt.  And dog hair.  And, let's be honest, my hair...I swear I can vacuum and the very next day it looks like I haven't cleaned in a year!  We're paying extra for an anti-fracture membrane to go under the tile and hopefully prevent the cracking  problem like before.  This is a porcelain tile - the sample is big, but we're going with a smaller 13x13 size:
I'm surprised this shot came out clear, because when I turned the camera on, Paco came running over, stepped on the tile, and it slid a bit, which scared him!  Silly dog.  You can sort-of see one of the cracks in the current floor to the left of the sample. 

The carpet was the hardest to choose, which surprised me.  I mean, there's a gazillion different kinds of carpet out there - how hard could it be?  As it turns out, fairly difficult.  We didn't want something too brown/beige since we have gray in the bedroom, and we also wanted something that would help camouflage white dog fur.  I really like frieze carpet, which has short, twisted fibers that hides dirt, traffic areas, stains...you name it.  We narrowed it down to five and brought samples home.  Ended up choosing this:
The best part?  I mean along with it being brand new carpet, is that is cleans up with water.  All stains.  I was either making my carpet guy laugh, or grossing him out, by quizzing him:  "Even coffee?  Even dog vomit?  Even cat hork?" - but he swears it all will come clean with water, and there's a good warranty to go along with it.

Because my office is right next to the bedroom, we're replacing the carpet in there, too...on our dime, but since you can see both rooms from the entry/dining area, we thought it would look weird to have one different from the other. 

We are also replacing our shower stall enclosure - the frame was getting pretty grody on the outside.  Our contractor said it's normal, after about 10 years, but it does seem odd that the outside looks worse than the inside.  Who knows, maybe he was just trying to make us feel better, haha.  We're switching it from a shiny chrome finish to a brushed nickel, and getting new glass, too.  This is on our dime as well, but it was one of those "as long as we're doing this" decisions.

Along with having the walls repaired in the toilet room, they'll be retextured and repainted.  The texturing will be nice since we weren't super-thrilled with how it came out when we did it after we removed the wallpaper.  And as long as the painter will be here, we're going to have him repaint the interiors of our closets, which feels like a real treat since we are always too cheap to pay for a painter, and usually just do it ourselves.  Yes, we're paying for part of this, but we never would have had a painter come in, otherwise, so might as well take advantage of our one-time deal, right?

Oh and as I'm writing this, I've realized that we should change out our doorknobs...they are shiny brass, which really clashes with the gray.  Shoot, better get to pricing that as well!  As you can see, one thing keeps leading to another.

So.  This has nothing to do with weight loss/maintenance, except that it shows a parallel:  I unknowingly began the "as long as I'm doing THIS (dieting), I might as well start doing THAT (exercising)" which started me on a healthy path that has continued to this day. 

21 comments:

  1. This remodeling stuff is so interesting, you don't even need the diet and exercise parallel! A trip to Maui would have been great, but living every day in a beautiful bathroom that you really love is going to be even better. The same for the closets and office carpet. And you'll get back to Maui eventually. I can't wait to see the during and after pictures!

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  2. Love the tile! Once you replace the doorknobs on the bathroom, you are going to start doing the whole house - trust me, I know. And that ain't cheap either. But worth it.

    Can't wait to see the finished room.

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    1. I've counted, and the other half of the house has 13 dang doorknobs!!! Dumb closet doors have two each...you are right that it isn't cheap. It will look nice, yes. But even the cheaper doorknobs add up when you have to buy so many!

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  3. I love the choices you made, my style too. Now I can't wait to see the finished project!

    We choose not to go on a vacation this year either. I need to save money for a new car, R. has to paint our house on the outside. I don't mind because I love being at home (I don't care for going away on a vacation that much). You can only spend your money once, right?

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    1. Apparently yes, you can only spend it once. Although I would prefer to spend it two or three times, and I sometimes do that, but only in my head since my bank won't let me have free reign on money, darn them! ;)

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    2. LOL

      I do have to admit that I do spend it twice sometimes but then I have to deal with the consequences the next month :)

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  4. and I LOVE how like a good episode of SEINFELD you tie it allll together at the end!!!
    it is all about healthy living :-)

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  5. Wow, so many decisions to make!! Sorry about your trip to Hawaii - but glad that you are upgrading so you actually love it!

    And you knew Paco was going to have to get in one of the pictures!!

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    1. You would have busted a gut laughing at how fast he ran into the picture when he heard the camera turn on!

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  6. Great choices. I really like the bathroom tile. I would like to have granite in my kitchen soon. Our counters are tiled (guessing 6 x 6 or a bit bigger). They looked so cool when we bought the house, but seriously who wants tile and grout on your kitchen work surfaces? Maybe next year we can start pricing, this year we're looking into a covered patio.

    I can't wait to see the finished project and hear about how good the piña colada is from your new view.

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    1. We had tiled counters in our first kitchen, and I'm right with you on the grout issue. Not what I wanted to deal with on a daily basis!

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  7. (This is Debby's comment - apparently my blog and her computer aren't speaking to each other today and it wouldn't post, so she emailed it to me)

    LOL at Carla's comment-- "My Journey to Fit--the Seinfeld of the blog world!" I can see your blog going viral!

    And you know that I was both fascinated and horrified by this post--the DECISIONS!, the EXPENSE!, the PEOPLE IN YOUR HOUSE!!! But I love all your choices. I am fascinated by faucets and fixtures, and I've spent hours staring at them in Home Depot. Never did buy any, come to think of it. I LOVE your choice. I never thought about the water temperature mixing. I guess I'm glad I have a single dial, even if it is a cheap one that I've never liked.

    And of course, I was fascinated by the carpet conversation : ))

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  8. OOOH!!! It's going to be lovely!!! LOVE Paco's "Vanna White Ta Da" point at the tile. He's so funny!
    Have a wonderful Monday Shelley!

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    1. Paco as Vanna White - well, he does love modeling my knitted projects, so I can see it...LOL!

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  9. Can't wait to see your finished bathroom. I have two that need to be redone.
    Love the weight loss/maintenance tie-in, made me giggle,
    I love Seinfeld, maybe that's why I love your blog :)

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    1. I'll take the Seinfeld comparison, undeserving as it is - he's so funny. I miss that show!

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  10. Oh Shelley - I am so, so sorry that you can't go to Maui! If there is enough money left, maybe a trip closer to the east coast would work :D

    I love the granite. I wish our house was nice enough for granite, but putting that in would not match the neighborhood and we wouldn't get our money back out of it.

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  11. Sorry about all the water damage!

    Here in Florida with the hurricanes, we are no stranger to that misery!

    Delta has a lifetime warranty on their products and their customer service is great! Ask me how I know, lol!

    www.calorielab.com/news/dr-j

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  12. Shelley, while you're doing all of those renovations, our radiant heat under our tile floors is one of my favorite things about our house...but maybe you don't need that so much in Texas!

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  13. I love all your choices! I was thoroughly enjoying all your reno stories and then chuckled when you brought it all together in the end to talk about diet and exercise. I guess while I'm eating healthy these days, I might as well get up at 5:30 to walk the dog...I tell that to myself when the alarm goes off. And I grumble the whole time :-)

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