I really, really want it to be spring.

Is anyone else in a funk?  Tired of freezing your hind end off and not a lick of green to be found?

I'm right there with you.

A couple of weeks ago, we had temperatures plunge into the well-below-zero region and the water supply line to my washing machine froze.  I ran to Home Depot and picked up a heating cable and some insulation tubes in order to remedy that situation.  Of course, I forgot the heat-safe tape, so by the time I got everything installed we had a 40-degree day and the pipes thawed on their own.  A major lesson I learned in this case was to open the heating cable instructions in the parking lot (after I made my purchase) to find out if I had all of the components necessary to install the cable in the first place.  I also kept the faucets open at a trickle, and kept the washer on so that when things did thaw, there wouldn't be a buildup in pressure.

I did get outside on that 40 degree day to plant garlic in my frozen raised beds.  I simply laid garlic cloves on the frozen soil and covered it with about 4 inches of topsoil that I stocked up on at the end of summer.

German Butterball & Rose Finn Apple fingerlings

I placed my order of organic seed potatoes from High Mowing Seeds already, and those will arrive in April sometime.  I'm sticking with the All Red and German Butterball that I planted last year.  I didn't get a good harvest from the All Red, but that was due to a lot of rain and not enough sun.  I'm skipping the fingerlings this year for the simple fact that they're a bit out of my price range and we didn't get a high yield from them last year.

I'm pretty happy with the fact that my Brown Turkey fig has suddenly gone wild and is sprouting leaves like mad.  I brought it in before our last frost and all of its leaves promptly fell off.  It didn't look like it was going to make it.  I added some azomite and greensand to the soil, watered it a couple of times and left it under the grow lights.  Apparently, that did the trick and I'm hoping to maybe have a figlet at some point.  Fingers crossed.

Next month will usher in seed starting on a larger scale, most notably getting the onion seeds sprouted and I'm going to try my hand at growing them inside, in a container like this:

from Auntie Dogma's Garden Spot

That is pretty fricking amazing if I do say so myself.

Walls and Tile

If you're wondering how the bathroom remodel is going, the answer is that I've nearly picked everything out.  My contractor is on vacation in sunny Florida, so construction won't be starting for a while.

Since I'm bringing you along for this process, this is what we're up to so far:

Above, are the towels, floor tile, paint colors, and shower tile I've chosen so far.  I picked up the Cynthia Rowley "Quatrefoil" towels at HomeGoods before I moved up from Florida.  They were a steal at $7.99 a piece, and I got 5 or 6 of them, with matching hand and wash towels.  I like a white towel, because they're a cinch to keep clean... when all else fails, use a bottle of hydrogen peroxide and let them soak for a while, then dry them on the clothesline on a sunny day.

The floor tiles were picked up quite some time ago from one of those builder-supply discount stores in my general area, called Grossman's Bargain Outlet.  At 80 cents a square foot, I really couldn't beat that with a stick.  I was lucky enough to pick up 3 boxes.  I also found some matching bullnose wall tile that will go around the bottom of the walls for $2.47 each at Home Depot.  

The paint was probably the one thing that I really had trouble coming to a decision on.  Normally, I look at something and it is a definite yes or no.  I know what I'm looking for, and it is either it, or it isn't.  As evidenced by my still-unpainted bedroom, I have paint issues.  For the bathroom, however, I finally settled on Behr's Ocean Pearl for the walls and Sea Salt for the ceiling and the trim.  

The shower tiles are Home Depot's stock glass mosaic and runs $4.99/sq foot.

I wasn't going to replace my 1.6 gal/flush toilet, but decided to do so to save water with a 1.28 gal/flush model with cleaner lines than the existing commode.  

The sink will also be replaced, since I really dislike the current sink setup which takes up far too much room in such a tiny space, not to mention, the previous homeowner cut large holes in the bottom to allow for the existing plumbing, so the cabinet is mostly unusable as storage space.  I would like a small sink, since the current one is only used to wash hands.   Nearly all of the tooth brushing and primping action goes on in the downstairs half-bath.  Yes, it is weird, but it's more convenient for us.  After the remodel, tooth brushing might just move upstairs.  We're living on the edge, people.

Things to Come

In the span of nearly fifteen decades, styles obviously come and go.  What was once considered the height of interior design can quickly become outdated, stale, and--let's face it-- flat out ugly.

Such is the case with my upstairs bathroom.  In the 1960s, aqua tile was IT, as shown in this photo by Pam Keuber of RetroRenovation.  I suppose it is fine if you have a charming ranch or split-level, but not so much if you have a traditional postbellum gable-front house.  Since I'm not ready to show you the entire horror that is the upstairs bathroom, I'll give you a preview:

You're looking at the ceiling above the toilet.  Yes, the ceiling is tiled... isn't everyone's?

This particular bathroom has some serious issues, other than the feeling of being trapped in an aqua- tiled box.

1.  The tiles in the shower have come loose from the adhesive mortar, causing tiles to sometimes fall off and break.

2.  The bathtub doesn't have a stopper.  This doesn't stop anyone from taking a bath; see #3.

3.  Old lead drum trap.  Old houses sometimes do not make any sense.  At one point, I'm sure the bathtub was a claw-foot tub, much smaller than the "standard" 5-foot tub of today.  When the bathroom was remodeled in the 1960s, the drum trap was never moved, and sits beside the tub (under the floor), about a foot in front of the drain inside the tub.  What does this mean?  It means that water draining from the tub has to make a 180-degree flat turn at some point, enter the drum trap, then gravity can take over and drain the grey water.  The problem with drum traps is that they're not self-cleaning as in modern plumbing.  Using drain cleaner can slightly improve the issue, but drum traps have to be cleaned manually on a regular basis.  At times, my tub has taken two entire days before it has drained completely.  The trap has recently been cleaned, so it takes a mere 2-3 hours now.  Here's a visual:

That there is almost accurate, except that when water immediately leaves the tub, it leaves in a straight, horizontal line, then makes whatever wonky turns it has to take.

4.  Nonexistent grout in some places.  Since I've lived here, I've been attempting to do something to stop the seepage of water under the tiles, short of ripping the walls out and remodeling.  When tiles fall off, I put some silicone adhesive on the back of it, press it into place, wait until it dries, and use silicone caulk to waterproof the seams.  I tried regular grout, but the cement backing just doesn't want to work with it.  It pops right back out within a week or so. 

5.  No modern ventilation.  There is no exhaust fan in the bathroom, but there is (lucky me!) a window in the shower.  This isn't as bad as it seems, unless it is winter.  In summer, I just leave the window open, but it is definitely not an option when it is 20 degrees (F) outside.  Steamy air just wafts through the upstairs hallway and I save money by not purchasing a humidifier.

6.   There is no heat in the bathroom.  

7.  The bathroom has zero storage. While there is a cabinet under the sink, it can only hold a few bottles of body wash, a plunger, and that's about it.

Don, my contractor, is stopping over today to update his bid with changes I'm considering.  Originally, I wasn't going to switch out my toilet for a new one, but I'm going to go with a 1.28 gal/flush version rather than the 1.6 gal/flush toilet that is currently there.  I'm also getting a bid on radiant floor heat versus a hot water baseboard heater; and lastly, checking to see whether a cabinet can be installed in the narrow space behind the tub.

Updates to follow, but here's a tiny preview of the inspiration for the new bathroom:

This print is by Mae Chevrette, and can be purchased at Mae's shop on Etsy.  I have several of her prints, and I just love her work.  Definitely check her out!

Seven Weeks In...

We arrived on the 4th of July to an empty, musty-smelling house.  Immediately, we surveyed for damage, noted the clean kitchen that our good friend was kind enough to get into shape for our arrival, and threw open all of the windows.  Since both electricity and water weren't going to be hooked up yet, and the movers were coming in the morning we sped off to our lovely friend Lola's house.

The next morning, all hell broke loose.  

The water department guy turned on the water main in the house, and it rained in the basement.  Not good.  We had the house winterized, so no pipes should have split, but according to our plumber, cast iron pipes have a thin side that can fail when water decides to shoot through them.  In our case, there had likely been a very slow leak started just before the water was turned off, and ripped through the pipe when the water was turned back on.

See the rusty line there?  That's the crack in the pipe.

Two days of plumbing work (for under $400) and a very large PVC pipe later, the leak was fixed, and we had both water and electricity.

And gaping holes in the drywall in both the bathroom and the kitchen.  Overall, though, it was a lovely glimpse into what the original kitchen somewhat looked like.

One of the plumbers didn't close the basement door completely, though, and for a couple of nights, we had a bat situation in the house.. they came right up through the small space left by the new PVC pipe created, and out through the bathroom/kitchen escape hatches.  A couple of small mammals swooping about your house isn't quite the most comforting feeling, but I opened the front door and it soon flew right out.  Since the basement door has been closed and the holes temporarily patched up, we haven't had an issue.

While on the list of things to do, remodeling the kitchen wasn't high up there.  In fact, it wasn't even in our top  ten.  It has moved up by leaps and bounds, though, and it's just after the garden prep, fixing the furnace, and the upstairs bathroom remodel.  I really hated the birdhouse and potted plant wallpaper that was in the kitchen, so this is the perfect excuse to get rid of it:

Seriously ugly wallpaper, and a seriously large hole.