WHAT BUGS ME THE MOST

I can see how this renovation is going to unfold.  It will take a lot of time and it will appear to be taking place in a random fashion.  There is nothing random about it, however, because I am operating on a rational principle: that I will renovate the thing that bugs me most.  If that means living with no kitchen for a very long time (and it most assuredly does), then I will live without a kitchen for a very long time, and I will not complain about it.

But once I had the bamboo floor in the office levelled, I became obsessed with replacing the baseboards because the existing ones did not connect with the floor.  So I had new baseboards installed.  It was a stressful few days with a tradesman who was not feeling well.  So actually it felt like a few weeks. But while he was here, he mentioned that he had a cousin who was very skilled at cutting and installing tiles.  This made me think of my basement bathroom.   The basement bathroom was clean and well maintained, but that was the full extent of its virtues.  This is a photo I took the day of the home inspection.  Perhaps this will give you some idea of how I felt about it.

I do believe this may have been the bathroom Noah had on the ark.

I tore the vanity out the next morning. You could hardly believe how solidly it was in there. Whoever had installed it 50 years ago was preparing for the apocalypse. Then I started trying to remove the floor tiles. I used a claw hammer. That was a joke.  I could drop it with all my force onto the floor and not even chip a tile. I used an axe.  I might have cracked a couple of tiles with the axe. A sledgehammer was next. Then the axe combined with a grout cutter.  Finally I put a masonry cutting wheel on the rotary grinder, removed the safety shield, and tried that.  Sparks flew.  But the tile remained. I wore out the cutting wheel, replaced it, and was well on my way to wearing out the second one, getting virtually nowhere. So I took myself to New Canadians Kitchen and Bath Outlet and spent a happy couple of hours choosing wall tiles, floor tiles and new fixtures.

It took the tile cutter two days to rip out the old tiles and install the new ones and the fixtures.  I was delighted to find that the faucets I had chosen were hands free:  they turned themselves on with a light touch, and turned themselves off 10 seconds  later.  I love my new basement bathroom.  The new pedestal sink is capacious enough that I could conduct baptisms in it.

See what I mean?

Perhaps now I'll be inspired to head upstairs and get to work on the second floor bathroom - or maybe the kitchen.  Just don't expect me to start cooking.