Adventures in Remuddling continued...

My glorious adventures in remuddling are hereby continued. We begin with a photo of the finished floor - sort of finished actually. I had to rent a 100 lb. roller... heavy!

I say sort of finished because this Forbo flooring is nothing but trouble! It keeps coming up from the adhesion... a total PITA!

But such is the fine art of remodeling... It turns out that the word remodeling derives from the ancient Greek... translated loosely into 'looking for stuff' and or 'doing things over twice'.

I spend most of my time looking for various tools and bits and doing things over twice.

But it's finally coming together.

The medicine chest looks terrific... but I'm going to have to repaint it with a different gloss, since the paint that was used is very chalky and seems to mark very easily.

Oh, and I have to reinstall a different toilet. It turned out once I installed the chosen toilet it turned out to be entirely too big for the space of the room... sitting 4 inches away from the wall.

Basically there is NO useable space in this bathroom, since the usable floor space is about 5 feet by 5 feet. I guess in 1926 they didn't think people ever needed space for anything.

Best to change it out now for a nominal return charge than spend 20 years tripping over something that's designed wrong.

It's hell being a perfectionist!

A Winner Appeared in the Distance!

An air of expectancy swept through the crowd... the excitement filled the air. The first of 50 automobiles was expected any moment.

A brass band played. Sousa was the perfect music for the occasion... loud, brassy and with no doubts about the effect. Brash excitement!

And finally a winner appeared in the distance! The first automobile to cross the finish line, having driven from coast to coast... New York City to Seattle in one month. A cause for celebration at the Ocean to Ocean race.

As you can see from the map, it was quite a journey. Very nearly the same route I once drove on my way from New York to Seattle. But I was lucky enough to detour through the Black Hills and Yellowstone.

1909-2009 Ocean to Ocean Race

Excitement grabbed the headlines. The Ocean to Ocean race was nearing the end!

A crowd had gathered to see who might win after 30 days of arduous travel. The drivers had raced all the way from New York City, behind the wheels of their trusty model T Fords.

A genuine sense of authenticity filled the air, right out of the book 'Cromwell Dixon's Sky-Cycle'. Only it was 100 years later, of course. A rumor swept through the crowd that the winner had been sighted!

Progress & Perfectionism

I have decided that being a perfectionist artist probably makes doing carpentry twice as difficult as it otherwise might be. When things go wrong I just want to tear it up and start again... and believe me I've done that a few times in the course of this.

A glorious day indeed when the bathroom cabinet and lights on the wall were hooked up at last! Whew! Let me tell you, that took some doing... I'd estimate at least 60% of this makeover has been to construct this custom designed cabinet and put it all together.

The interior was especially challenging, having to match the existing dimensions to a new construction... and have it all fit together. Figuring out how to run an electric outlet down through the basement was a challenge. It's all about problem solving.

The front mirror doors are also finished, but they'll go on last.

Grinding grout - done.
Re-grouting the tiles - done.
Replacing 12 older tiles - done.
Realigning the heat register - done.

The template for the floor is underway. There's something magical about an empty space without anything in the room... sort of a 'zen' thing. The paper floor template was fun to do... think of it as collage.

I confess to being a self trained handyman. Necessity is the mother of invention after all. Mostly it's sheer stubbornness and bravado... forging ahead bravely. Almost everything I know about doing these projects I learned from TV shows and books.