Thankful

With six full days of work done on the master bathroom renovation, I have so much to be thankful for.  I am grateful that all the horror stories you hear about contractors not showing up, and being unresponsive, are mere fiction in my world.  Appreciative that all the elements I picked out one by one, rather than in unison with one another, are coming together very nicely.

I’m perfectly pleased with the custom-made (in the USA!) vanities and linen cabinet.  Custom style, custom color, and of sizes that could not be found anywhere.  You never know if reality will live up to the imagination.  But it has.  In fine form.  They’re gorgeous, and are just what I was hoping for.  And most of all, truly and utterly thrilled at how quickly it’s all coming along.  Each day, amazing progress is made.

And thankful that a friend who has been house hunting for quite awhile finally has keys in hand to her new home.  Everything always works out in the end.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

A blank canvas

Tuesday morning, I had a fully intact master bathroom.  When I got home from work, I was greeted by an empty room.  Save a couple of pipes sticking out of the walls, there was nothing left.  Nothing but space.  Space for all the wonderful new things I’ve diligently been picking out for the last few months.

It’s hard to believe, after the many meetings with the contractor, the cabinet maker, the stone yard owner, and various other purveyors of bathroom-related goods, the time for putting it all together has arrived.  So with all the old stuff gone (and anything salvageable donated to charities, of course), I’m left only with dreams.  Visions of the completed, modern, much more functional bathroom.

And just as you would use a true blank canvas, this one will also be splashed with a little paint.  I’ve got a few choices up on the wall, and a couple of days to decide.

All the ingredients

I have a garage chock full of goodies.  From tile (for both shower and floor) to sinks, from faucets to lighting fixtures.  And even a rather weighty cast-iron tub.  So once the vanities and counter tops are delivered, I am ready to go.  And boy am I ready.  After many moons of meeting with contractors, searching out the many stores, big and small, that contained all things bathroom, and scouring the Internet for the very best deals, I am done with this phase, and am eager to move on to the next.  It’s been a blast picking out the myriad pieces, making sure each was just what I’d been envisioning.  But now it’s time for phase two – the take a sledgehammer and a crowbar to it, get the dust flying phase.

But what I’m really, truly ready for?  The finished product.  Which will be fully cooked, and revealed in a mere two weeks.  And I will then feast my senses on the fabulousness of it all.

Going, going…

Gone.  Lowe’s Black Friday Facebook event 90% off coupons were gone almost as soon as they were available.  Like 60,000 other home owners eager to score a mega discount, I waited fervently for the code to be revealed, and jumped on their homepage in a quest to be one of the lucky few.  Whether the goal is a major or minor renovation, getting 90% off would be amazing!

Unfortunately for me, all the other enthusiastic participants, and most of all, Lowe’s, the jubilation was a little too much for their system to handle.  We crashed their site promptly and summarily.  They sent assurances that although there was significant advance preparation, the response was well above what they would have expected.  I’m guessing there will be some pretty lively meetings taking place today.  But to make it up to all the forlorn customers who weren’t one of the fortunate few, a promise has been made that more discounts will be offered throughout the weekend.

It’s a fantastic idea, and it’d be great forother retailers to follow suit (with better preparation, of course).  Because at the rate I’m buying things for my bathroom renovation, every little bit helps.  Home Depot, the gauntlet has been thrown down!