Bubbly in the Bathroom

Today’s a big day. 
The kind of day that’s going to end with me drinking a bottle of champagne in our bathtub, that is.

As you know, we’ve been working away in our bathroom since the first days that I arrived in Montana, and at that point, weeks of work had already been put in. Needless to say, it’s been a slow moving process spread over many days, many hours, many people (the majority? me).

While there are many things I believe in and enjoy doing myself, like party decorations or herb gardens (the next project on my list), I don’t know that bathrooms will ever make that list. Thankfully in the beginning weeks of the adventure, our landlord and his son - a contractor from California - made the seventeen hour drive to our tiny town to make sure that we had a working shower, solid glass windows and an idea of what to do next. (I may or may not have a crush on these two - we seem to always luck out with landlords.)

Thankfully, I grew up in a house where DIY wasn’t the preferred way, it was the only way. I helped mud drywall as we remodeled the living room; I schemed colors and shower curtains for the new bathroom; I painted walls after the house fire. Add to that experience two moves which included plenty of installed curtain rods and built furniture and you get one prepared girl (relatively speaking, that is).

While the boys of the project wouldn’t let me touch anything for a few days, they quickly realized I was capable of doing more than cooking their breakfast. Soon, I was measuring dimensions for drywall cuts better than they could do it themselves. Then, they let me cut sheet rock. And hang it. And mud it. And sand it. And prime it. And paint it. And paint it some more.

And the lesson I’ve learned from all this?
It’s no wonder girls act dumb sometimes - if not, you’ll end up remodeling a bathroom on your own.

But, there’s something rewarding in it all. And like I say, if Trevor and I can survive having no working shower, then no hot water, and two months of remodeling together? We’re set. Plus, this girl loves to choose paint colors - even if our choices weren’t exactly conventional. As Trevor would say, “a white ceiling is too Martha Stewart, this is my house and I don’t want things to match too much.” Yes, that’s what he said - he doesn’t want things to match too much. In case you were wondering, this doesn’t sit well with my obsessive tendencies.  But like they say, opposites attract and so we’ve got turquoise walls and yellow ceilings.

This week, we managed to install the medicine cabinet and vanity lighting. Meaning that I can mark “minor electricity” off of my list of DIY skills - but don’t worry, the electrician was just here to make sure that everything checked out. Though he did leave us with a heater to install but that’s a blog post for another day. That day, we also had the pleasure of hosting the floor installers to inspect our bathroom and then, the gas company repair man for the second time in a week.. not that I’ll complain since he brought us hot water after a week without. And in Montana? It’s a miracle that your cold water lines don’t freeze in the midst of summer so, that left Trevor and I with a lot of pots of water boiling on the stove.

Today, we will be receiving a few other visitors.
Our flooring and trim is being installed.
The roofer is coming to evaluate our missing siding.

And you know what that means? All that remains on the list is the installation of our sink & vanity and the hanging of decorative trim. But then there’s the ongoing debate of where to put the toilet paper holder. For some reason, Trevor believes that the back of the bathroom door is a great location but then again, he does want a clear shower curtain so, I’m not surprised. Opposite attract, remember?

Little does he know, I plan to finish the bathroom while he’s away next week.
(I’m hoping this good girlfriend task, combined with dog sitting, will earn me a trip to the fair.)

But for now, I will celebrate a covered floor.



This just in, folks: 
(Just in, as in “just installed” - clever, right?)


We have a floor.

And, our local liquor store found us Gruet.
A bathroom champagne celebration is definitely happening.