Rich and I made the trip to the cottage last Monday sans kiddos (they are still in school) in order to work and clean and paint. The contractor had informed us that the bathroom was almost complete. Apparently, there was a leak in the incoming water pipe (surprise, surprise) and the plumber was having issues finding proper size replacement parts due to the age of the pipes. So we had no water. Well, we could drain water from the hot water tank but we couldn't use the bathroom or the kitchen sink.
The bathroom looked great except for some areas of the floor where the grout was thin. Rich spoke to the contractor later that day and he blamed it on the floor. He wasn't a fan of the tile I picked out but I know enough about grout and tiling to know that it was simply a grout issue. They left the container of grout at the cottage so I'll take care of that this week to give it a few days to dry without little feet walking on it. It should hopefully be less than an hour's worth of work. When I was there the week before, the grout was wet and we were walking all over it. I think too much was displaced and wiped up with a wet sponge. In any other situation, I would have fought with the contractor over having someone fix it but I just want these people out of my house. Otherwise, I think they did a great job. I gave them free range with some things and I know they had wonky walls and other crap to deal with, but it looks really good. Emily told me it looks like a bathroom that should be on HGTV. (Ha ha - I love these kids.)
The contractor called us after the bathroom door was put back on and told us how it all looked good but that we may want to reconsider the bathroom door. He said he could have someone sand and paint it. We told him we would take care of it later. While I would love to have someone sand and paint the whole place, I don't want workers in there any longer and it costs $$. Painting is something I can do. Free labor.
We've got bigger fish to fry right now but each day I'm leaning more and more towards painting all of that natural wood. One bedroom is floor to ceiling wood paneling and I think the room would look so much brighter painted white. The other two bedrooms are half wood panel/half wall. The walls are not drywall - it's some sort of wood, almost like particle board. The home inspector told us it was commonly used in the '50s to build cottages. That wood is dark and darkens rooms. Rich and I started priming the walls in the two bedrooms with those walls. With school getting out this week, I think painting the bedrooms is going to have to wait until September. We're going to be sleeping there now and no one wants a paint-smelling room. Unless we paint on the days we are heading back here. I don't know . . .
The plumbing was resolved later in the week and we did sleep there Saturday night. The girls need to get used to it as their second home. More photos later!
4 comments:
I am so enjoying "watching" your beach cottage updates and improvements! As much as I love watching HGTV- I just can't relate to people who have $100,000+ renovation budgets OR who have a team of DIY experts at the ready!! This is much more like real life, so thanks for letting us have a peek in!
The bathroom looks great! And how great that you'll be getting to spend so much time at the beach this summer!
I hear what you're saying about wood. I love natural wood, but it it's almost all the room I could see that being too much. I'll stick to my wood floors and furniture :)
My aunt just bought a very similar cottage on the cape, and she painted the wood white and it looks great. I hate the dark look of natural wood and so I love how hers looks now, but it also is really a lot brighter and cleaner looking. But it could probably wait until the fall.
Oh and also the bathroom really does look great! I love the gray you chose. It's perfect. (and you definitely have my family's attitude towards fixing up a place - my mom and other aunts have been working hard to help with the painting, rather than hire someone, haha).
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