DIY-ish

For far too long Jarom has been wanting to do some renovations in the master bathroom. Alixa’s been holding him back, but after asking for the millionth time she finally relented. Unfortunately the first estimate they got came in at about $10,000. Things are going well at work for Jarom, but not that well. So they had a few other people come by for estimates. The prices were better, but still a little loftier than they were hoping for. Fortunately, we have a good friend who does these sorts of things and happened to be unemployed and looking for some work. So we figured we could give him a job, he could make some money, we could do the demo and some of the little things to save a few bucks and everyone comes out a winner.

 If only we really knew what was ahead of us at this point

So early in August Jarom and Lix spent date night at Floor and Décor picking out tile patterns and stuff. Super romantic. Shortly after that Jarom started tearing out the existing tile in the shower and on the floor. That happens to be one of the worst jobs ever. Or maybe they just used a special super adhesive mortar in the bathroom here. Either way, every time Jarom went to work in there he regretted his decision to do some of the demo himself. But it was a good way to release some anger.

It didn’t take long before the bathroom was in shambles and completely unusable. And that’s when things got interesting. Our unemployed friend got a job! Rah. While we were all very glad for him and his family to be getting a paycheck once again, we all knew that our 1-2 week renovation just became a 1-2 month renovation. So the weeks-long joy of sharing a bathroom with the kids and needing to wear shoes to get to the closet began. Everything in the master bedroom and bathroom was dusty all the time, and you had to keep an eye on Emmy so she didn’t go in there and step on (or eat) a nail or something.

Here's what else happened during the construction:

 Lix cut her hair short. Then she cut it shorter. She's 30 now. Time to start acting like an old lady.

 Lix and Bo went to Krispy Kreme on talk like a pirate day. They were supposed to get 2 dozen donuts for free, but the stingy cashier lady only gave them one.

 Emmy won't part with her babies. Alixa has to take her workout selfies in a disaster zone while she trains for her upcoming races. She is WAY faster than Jarom.

 Jazz doesn't care about the construction. She did injure leg somehow this month and had to wear a cone of shame for a little while.

 Bo feeds Tobogo the giraffe. On the way home they stop by that same Krispy Kreme and get 6 dozen free donuts thanks to a strongly worded email about their experience on pirate day. Boo-yah.

But piece by piece, bit by bit, new tile started to go up, and somewhere off in the distance there was a light at the end of that tunnel. We put in new tile with an accent strip in the shower, along with a frameless glass door and a new fixture. The bathroom floor got a dark hardwood-looking tile and the wall got a fresh coat of seabreeze or aquafoam or melonberry paint. I can never remember what they call the colors. It’s blue-green. When the maid came the day after the project was all completed she said that it looked like a hotel bathroom, and I think she is right. It was WAY over the projected time and $500 over the projected budget, but it is all done now and everyone is pretty happy with how it turned out.

 This little beauty is so Lix has a place to set her foot while shaving her legs.

But it may be a long time before Alixa lets Jarom start another home improvement project.

The final product