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My Waterloo

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You may have noticed I haven’t been here much lately. There are a few reasons for that, but I’ll spare you. Following is a series of picture galleries chronicling the project that A) forced me to admit that Bob Vila lied and B) released me from three years of guilt I didn’t know had weighed so heavily upon me. Out of my humiliation came peace and a life-changing epiphany.

I did not do this myself!!! I gutted most of it myself and couldn’t go on. Dude knew who to call to finish the job. It was a Mike, although it wasn’t (*sob*) Mike Holmes. Roll over the pics with your mouse and it’ll tell you the story.

OCTOBER 2005

October 28, 2005, the week before we moved in. Notice the Brady Bunch charm. I liked it. But not that much.

APRIL 2007

April 2007 Can you tell it's soaked? The shower had been leaking pretty badly. We'd caulked it with silicone a couple of times, but I knew I'd have to replace a few of the ceramic tiles. No problem. Until I tapped one lightly and the whole thing fell apart in my hands.
April 2007 Mold. Mildew. Gross. I knew we had a problem, so I went around into the garage and pulled down the insulation and lo, what did I see. *sigh*
April 2007 Mold. Mildew. Gross.

SUMMER 2007

Summer 2007 I knew what we were going to have to do, and I was arrogant enough to think I could do it. So I began the demolition.
Summer 2007 Boy, was I enthusiastic! I measured and designed and did calculations and went to Lowe's to buy the stuff.
Summer 2007 Unfortunately, I couldn't even manage to complete the demolition. I paid a kid from the ward to come finish the demolition, but told him to leave a wall, which I then decided to take down.
Summer 2007 I still didn't get it all finished before I admitted defeat. Three years later.
Summer 2007 You know what? I just didn't want to do it, but I wouldn't admit that I *couldn't* do it.
Summer 2007 By the way, do you know that Habitat for Humanities takes donations of things like countertops and shower doors that are perfectly usable and nice?
Summer 2007
Summer 2007

MAY 4, 2010

The beginning of the end.

May 4, 2010 This is pretty much how it looked for three years. I had sheetrock and tubs of mortar, bags of grout, rolls of insulation, a sink and all sorts of fixtures taking up space in my garage. That was what broke me.
May 4, 2010 See, I really hate STUFF. I am an anti-packrat, and I felt like I couldn't MOVE with all this STUFF in my garage doing nothing, that we'd paid for, taking up money and space and time.
May 4, 2010 It was really cold in there in the winter. The insulation on the outside walls was about as far as I got. Since this is XX TD's bathroom, I figured I owed it to her to at least insulate it before winter.
May 4, 2010 In the meantime, I'd had an electrician come in and do the wiring. I already knew I wasn't going to touch that, and I was okay with it. I'd had someone else install the fan light where I was going to put the shower, right where the old one was. Yes, I meant to build it from scratch.
May 4, 2010 It was at this point I got a lump in my gut thinking about what needed to be done. I was paralyzed, not knowing what to do first. I still had more demolition to do and I knew it would take me forever. Plus, I had more interesting and money-making things on my plate. I was drowning in chaos and guilt. Guilt and chaos. Chicken. Egg.
May 4, 2010 Dude had put forth the idea in January to call someone. The only people we'd called before wanted $10k to do it, even with almost all the materials assembled. We thought not. I was scared of the pricetag, but unwilling/unable to do it myself.
May 4, 2010 But then he said he knew somebody. Somebody at church. You know, I'm not the most social person, so I'd known this guy for several years, but never talked to him, much less knew what he did for a living.
May 4, 2010 And the guy from church brought his employee, and he measured, and he asked me what I had intended, what I wanted, and looked over the stuff I'd bought, which included the most beautiful iridescent purple/blue/pink mini tiles.
May 4, 2010 He came back with a price tag that was reasonable. We wrote the check for the first third and suddenly, it was like the weight of the world had lifted from my shoulders. I felt free, and over the course of the next week, I had to really examine my attitude about DIYing and how that related to money.
May 4, 2010
May 4, 2010

MAY 10, 2010

End of week 1.

May 10, 2010 Rick (our contractor) suggested this fiberglass shower stall. I didn't even know there were such things, lurking about in the back of hardware stores, waiting to be bought. It was then I could admit--cheerfully!--that I could never have done it myself because I didn't know what was available, what of that was good, nor did I have the right tools for the job.
May 10, 2010 You know men don't gossip, right? No. They shoot the breeze. And while Rick's employee Mike did the labor and Dude was at work, Rick and I shot the breeze.
May 10, 2010 So since were weren't GOSSIPING, we got to shooting the breeze about some of the workings of our ward and its politics and personalities, with the result being that I had unexpectedly got the answer to a characterization problem in Magdalene.
May 10, 2010 I love shooting the breeze. Also? Construction types like to talk. A lot. I listen. A lot.
May 10, 2010 By the end of the week, I was crying with joy. The sheetrock in my garage was gone. My soul could breathe again.
May 10, 2010
May 10, 2010
May 10, 2010
May 10, 2010
May 10, 2010

MAY 15, 2010

End of week 2.

May 15, 2010 I've never painted anything such a bright color before. Of course, *I* wasn't painting it. I just bought the paint. To go with the pretty blue/purple/pink iridescent tile I'd paid oodles and oodles for years before.
May 15, 2010 As Mike was working in the bathroom, and as the construction materials got cleaned out of the garage, I started cleaning again. Deep cleaning, I mean, starting with the storage areas. I made two trips to thrift stores, each time with a loaded trunk and back seat. I simply couldn't sort it all out while there was sheetrock in my way.
May 15, 2010 Dude even noticed I seemed a lot more chipper and...lighter of spirit.
May 15, 2010
May 15, 2010
May 15, 2010
May 15, 2010

MAY 22, 2010

End of week 3.

May 22, 2010 And there it is, my vision come to life, right on the floor with the gorgeous tile. You should see it glint in the sunshine and/or halogen spotlights.
May 22, 2010
May 22, 2010
May 22, 2010
May 22, 2010 A little tile left over to decorate the shower stall.

MAY 29, 2010

End of week 4.

May 29, 2010 This is looking into the bathroom from XX TD's bedroom. The pictures are arranged counter clockwise as you walk into the room.
May 29, 2010 Both Mike and Rick were out with the flu on Thursday and Friday, or it would have been more along by now.
May 29, 2010
May 29, 2010
May 29, 2010
May 29, 2010 That's a little wall heater. There was a ~1973 Sears one in there that took up half the wall, but man, did it warm things up. Like I said, it gets cold in there, but that's a powerful little heater and so XX won't need space heaters in her room anymore.
May 29, 2010 Love that window. I may never put a curtain on it.

JUNE 2, 2010

Almost there…

June 2, 2010 It kinda speaks for itself, doesn't it?
June 2, 2010 I went to buy towels and rugs and such today, thinking it would be finished. It's not, but that's okay. Just a few details more, and it'll be finished.
June 2, 2010
June 2, 2010
June 2, 2010
June 2, 2010
June 2, 2010 Yes, there is a wave/hump in the floor. The previous owners did some...weird...thing to the floor and had this little ramp-type thing going on. Mike smoothed it out as well as could be expected.
June 2, 2010

JUNE 3, 2010

And…victory. At last.

June 3, 2010 At last. Next project!
June 3, 2010
June 3, 2010
June 3, 2010

Next month…our front porch.

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June 3rd, 2010  
Tags: DIY, organization, philosophy

17 Responses to “My Waterloo”

  1. Marci Baun
    June 3rd, 2010 at 4:09 pm

    Did you do this all by yourself? We just had a door put in to connect the back room to the rest of the house. Now, I am in the process of painting. It’s ever so much fun. LOL

    BTW, I love your new bathroom. :)


  2. MoJo
    June 3rd, 2010 at 4:11 pm

    Oh no!!! I didn’t do it. We hired a contractor. If you roll over the pics, I did actually write the story there. I’ll update the post.

    And thanks. :)


  3. Marci Baun
    June 3rd, 2010 at 4:20 pm

    Well, I’m glad you said that so I could read the story. LOL I had no idea it was all in the alt tags. LOL I like the iridescent tiles. :) Are you going to do the front porch? (g)


  4. MoJo
    June 3rd, 2010 at 4:21 pm

    Are you going to do the front porch?

    Ha.

    No.

    I’ll take pix, although I’m ashamed.


  5. Cara Wallace
    June 3rd, 2010 at 4:21 pm

    It looks great! But where are the iridescent tiles? I see blue in the floor, but they don’t look pinkish-purplish. Or would it just require a closeup view?

    Congrats on letting go and finding peace. :)


  6. MoJo
    June 3rd, 2010 at 4:24 pm

    If you click on the first pic in the May 22 set, you’ll be able to see a little bit of the glinting. The wall matches the overriding tile color and the pink towels catch the pink undertones of the tiles.


  7. aj chase
    June 3rd, 2010 at 4:32 pm

    I like it. Good on Rick and Mike.


  8. Farawaydeb
    June 3rd, 2010 at 5:16 pm

    I LOVE the wall color. Not so fond of the pink, but I don’t like pink anyway.


  9. haggis
    June 3rd, 2010 at 6:17 pm

    Well, having gutted a bathroom and kitchen, I found myself salivating at the blank slate–but I have to say I have grown to appreciate the idea of delegating the never-ending project and just letting it go. (Oh, that Mike would travel to FL and fix my siding. For free, now that I’m poor.)

    Just one quibble, though. . . Great goddess, woman–the toilet paper goes OVER the top! *grin*


  10. MoJo
    June 3rd, 2010 at 6:23 pm

    Thanks, Deb!

    Jeanne, clearly you are a troglodyte. UNDER is the most logical thing to do.


  11. haggis
    June 3rd, 2010 at 7:08 pm

    Dear. I would rather have the paper meet me at the top than have to go digging for it under and behind. I could make my argument so much easier if you could still find patterned TP–which is obviously designed for over the top because it just shows white/plain on the backside, which would look stupid.

    On those rare occasions when Patti will deign to change the roll, she often gets it wrong. Nothing worse than fumbling in the dark because some moron sabotaged the roll.

    So how many times a day are you just standing in the doorway and admiring your room? And. . . how long before you get that bad urge to fix something else now that you’ve set a standard? *ducks*


  12. Dude
    June 3rd, 2010 at 7:45 pm

    Dude agrees wholeheartedly with Haggis!! And Dude never even thought of the printed design defense for this 8 year long argument. Obviously the paper should drape from the top of the roll so it is easy to grab!

    Dude also loves the bathroom despite this major decorating flaw.


  13. Eva
    June 3rd, 2010 at 8:45 pm

    OMG, that is the most gorgeous color and tile. just beautiful.


  14. Babette James
    June 4th, 2010 at 5:34 am

    Congratulations on the end of the project. It’s lovely!


  15. Tweets that mention My Waterloo | Moriah Jovan -- Topsy.com
    June 4th, 2010 at 2:41 pm

    [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Moriah Jovan, Moriah Jovan. Moriah Jovan said: NEW BLOG POST: My Waterloo http://moriahjovan.com/mojo/my-waterloo [...]


  16. Estara
    June 6th, 2010 at 4:44 pm

    On the one hand I commiserate, on the other hand I find looking at the whole process fascinationg. Also, I still have the makings of a craft project on my dining table in the living room – which I use not very often – that I haven’t started yet and wanted to start two years ago.


  17. Maris
    June 17th, 2010 at 7:08 pm

    Oooohhh…lovely result! The colors are so pleasing to the eyes. I don’t think I could have done this by myself if I were in your shoes, especially the de-constructing part.


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