Still not done--are we there yet, mom? Bathroom Renovation Project 26

Saturday, November 10. The Hurricane has passed and we have had very little damage, overall. We're so conscious of feeling fortunate, compared to so many others. And, we've adopted a kitten. That's another story. So Capel is sitting with new kitten Phantom on the couch, "working."

I'm on day two of prepping to paint: filling nail holes and trying to salvage the original window that we trimmed out in the bathroom and, apparently, if memory serves, and it does, rather extremely frustrated with initial results. Looks good at a distance:

Up close, especially where the insides of the frame was trimmed out with extra pieces that aren't exactly flush with the original frame (for a long post about trim and a bit on trimming out the window, see here), it looks bad. 

Here's a photo of the trimmed out right-hand side, before I puttied it:

The putty, which went on easily, but, I now know much too thickly, has dried rock hard and is impossible to sand smooth by hand. It looks horrible:

Closer:

And, the other side:

The sill is even worse, because I left the window cracked open to air the room out and the putty got too cold and cracked, deep cracks that won't sand smooth.

Before I start that exercise in frustration, I decide to take a few shots of the room, since the shower curtains, towels, rugs and normal bric-a-brac of daily life have been removed so I can sand wood putty. 

I'm also trying to decide on a wall color. I've made three trips to Benjamin Moore and two to Home Depot, finally carting along a piece of painted new trim, a scrap of the old trim and a tin wastebasket that has the color I really want on the inside of the wastebasket, where, the Benjamin Moore paint experts assure me, their color-eye cannot possible see well enough to color match it (and they're straight faced about it, gives me some respect). Here's the best I've got so far. I think it's too pale.

But, the bath is amazing. Beautiful. Functional. Welcoming. Comfy. A pleasure to be in.

After just two weeks or so, we're also very happy with our toilet choice, a choice I spent a whale of a lot of time researching -- an older model 1.6 gallon Toto that was way on sale at the local plumbing store. Some of the reviews said it was too noisy, with constant dripping sounds. I knew there was a fix, though when I wrote Toto to inquire, they said they'd fixed the model some time back. So I had crossed my fingers and had Dan install it, as is. There are a few dripping noises now and then, nothing to write home about. And it hasn't plugged once (not as of November 10, and also not as of this actual writing, January 21).

The sink is perfect. The basin is large enough and the lip around the edge is perfectly large enough to hold whatever it is one needs at the moment, a tube of toothpaste, most often.

And of all the experiences I might write about (and many you might not want me to write about), taking a bath in this bathroom is divine. Peaceful. Soothing. Restful. Quiet during the day and by candlelight. 

And the new room suits the house, too. So here's to a bathroom renovation that works. Even if I do spend several days swearing at the wood putty on the window, which, fortunately, you can't hear.