Snapshots: This Old House

Everything in Anaconda is old, or antiquated as Trevor would politely explain it - the houses, the streets, the businesses, the buildings which are home to the theatre, the library and the downtown shops. And our home is no exception. With an old house comes old plumbing, horse hair plaster, crooked walls and a long list of “to do’s”. 

While we have a list of things we’ve eventually like to do (like turn our cabin into living quarters and a laundry room - or clean the garage), the first project on our list was the bathroom. When I visited a few weeks ago, we were making do with a claw foot tub and a shower head which was attached to the ceiling with a pipe strap. After the intense water pressure managed to destroy three shower heads, it decided to burst a pipe in the basement. At that point, it was clear - the whole thing needed to be replaced.

The goal had been to have the bathroom finished by the time I arrived but with busy and conflicting schedules, I arrived to a gutted room - with only a few sheets of drywall hung. After spending our first week together working on more drywall and waiting for the finishing touches on our electric, Trevor and I were relieved when our landlords - a welder and a contractor - arrived from San Jose. With them was gallon after gallon of paint, supplies to repair our siding, plans to fix all of our cracked windows, new plumbing for the kitchen and bathroom and a lot of know how and labor.

All together, with the help of our friends too, we spent the past five days working from nine a.m. until at least seven o’clock - with a work finale that lasted from five a.m. to one a.m. yesterday. (And ended with a delirious Trevor and I trying to install a shower rod so that we could finally shower in our own house.) We managed to mix in some home made iced tea, a few bottles of beer and Trevor’s delicious potato and dill soup to make the whole task a little bit more manageable. 

As I write this, I’m taking a break from the extensive clean up that comes after five days of hard work. We had drywall dust on every surface, piles of dirty dishes from the water being turned off, clumps of mud smashed into our kitchen floor and construction tools in every room. 

While I’d like to say that five days of hard work got us a finished bathroom - I can’t but at least we have new plumbing, finished electricity, repaired windows, a working shower, mostly finished drywall, and a new respect for remodeling your house.  Our list of things to do now includes taping and mudding, painting, installing a sink, fitting molding to our shower, installing flooring and enjoying a new bathroom. 

If you would have told me a year ago that in a few weeks, I would fall in love with a guy and a year later would be living with him in Montana and remodeling our house together - I would have never believed it. I wouldn’t have wanted to. While I can’t say that it’s not difficult to work together (especially when things go wrong.. and you’re exhausted and sleep deprived), it’s been a good, rewarding experience and I can only hope that the rest of our home projects go so well.

[Check back (eventually) for finished pictures of the bathroom. 

We can’t wait to show you our mint walls & fabulous shower curtain.]