‘Tis the season

I live in a festive neighborhood.  These people go all out.  Not over-the-top, in-your-face Griswold all out, but in a pleasant way.  A cheery way.  A way that brings a  smile to your face as you drive those last few minutes home, even though you’ve been sitting in traffic for too long.

So, with all this Christmasy joy these people are bringing to my evenings, it would only be right for me to reciprocate, and put up some twinkling lights of my own.  Alas, it is not to be.  And not because the magic of the season doesn’t live in my heart, because it absolutely does.  Just not in my actions.

This year, despite the boxes of Christmas finery tucked neatly away in my garage, I traded in Christmas lights for chrome.  Gave up putting out Santa, in favor of putting up a new shower.  The time usually spent decorating the tree got transitioned to choosing marble and faucets and tile.  Next year, though, I’ll be sure to keep renovations to the pre-December months, and devote myself to decorating my house.  So it too will bring a smile to the faces of my neighbors.  Instead of just to mine.

Full speed ahead

I’m oh-so-close to the finish line.  The master bath is almost completely done, with just a few small finishing touches left.  But the shower doors that didn’t exist last week are now in, and the super shiny chrome towel bars are a great replacement for the dining room chair I was using as a stand in.  It truly is the space I envisioned.

The smaller bathroom is coming along quickly.  The vanity is in, and it is a huge improvement on the 1989 cabinet it replaced.  The light switch has been moved to another wall, which impresses me tremendously that you can just change up the location of such a thing.  (The fact that I’m impressed is a perfect piece of evidence for why I would never try to tackle electrical work…)  Now, just waiting for the piece of marble I picked out over the weekend to be cut and installed.

Then it will be time to gather all the accessories!  All the nailed down stuff looks great, but decorating will be the final touch.  I’ll get rid of the hodge-podge of towel and bathmat colors that worked for the old bathrooms, and go with something entirely new.  Any votes for the new colors?

Surprise!

I got home from my Thanksgiving vacation, and was welcomed to a few unexpected things.  I walked into my master bath, and it was nearly complete.  Faucets in, doors on the cabinets, and a shower head installed.  So, mostly complete, but not quite there.  Still a little difficult to take a shower with no shower doors.  Not a concern, as I had a fully functional second bathroom.  The one I’ve been using while the first was being renovated.  And here’s where the bigger surprise came in…

That smaller bathroom?  Completely demoed.  Which was completely unexpected.  Because the contractor and I had agreed (oh so many times) that we wouldn’t take the second out of commission until the first was complete.

But, being undaunted by this unanticipated bit of exuberance to plow ahead on the part of my contractor, I threw up a temporary shower curtain, brought a dining chair into my bedroom to use as a towel rack, and hopped in the shower.  Where I resolved to put all future agreements in writing…