Although it's not quite done yet, my bathroom construction that began on Christmas Eve is about three quarters done, with towel racks and the shower yet needing to be completed. When it all began, my landlord tore the bathroom down to the studs, as you can see in this picture. It was quite a shock to see that kind of demolition done on one room of my apartment, but also slightly gratifying to know that what once was a pretty ugly room would soon be transformed into something I could be proud of. The only problems with the whole thing were the timing - demolition began on Christmas Eve, hardly my idea of the best time to work on apartment renovation - and the fact that my landlord neglected to use drop cloths to protect my apartment from rampant amounts of dust from the demolition process, necessitating a massive clean-up effort that took my brother, his girlfriend and I about six and a half hours this past weekend to complete. I was forced to sort of move out of my apartment during the construction process and to go live at my mom's, which was fairly pleasant in that I got a good amount of daily cat fixes since I am deprived of being able to have cats where I live. But after a while, I began to crave my old life back and wondered what on earth could be taking so long. Construction still isn't finished but it's completed enough for me to move back into my apartment and use part of the bathroom that is done. I took advantage of the bathroom's new look to do some redecorating, so I have bought new bath mats, new towels, new shower curtains and new window drapes for the bathroom window. This is what my bathroom now looks like in its almost completed state:
I must say it's a significant improvement over how it used to look. The walls used to be half institutional green and half white, with forest green duct tape accents where wall problems had developed years ago. The trim used to be dark brown. Where the toilet is now used to be a counter next to the sink that had brown and white counter covering on it, and below them was a large storage area that was hidden by an old green and white bathroom window valence held on by thumbtacks. The shower was built out of wood frame and metal rods and the old shower was constructed out of an old garden hose connected to a shower head and duct taped on to the wooden frame around the bathtub. I like to call the style of decor "Early Student", as in, quite makeshift. Now, at least, the bathroom is an entirely new room - new floor, new
vanity, new sink, new toilet, but I wanted to keep my beloved old iron bathtub. My color scheme for the decor is periwinkle and midnight blue. I have bought midnight blue bath mats, and the new towels are midnight blue and periwinkle. The shower curtain, whenever the shower is finally completed, will be periwinkle blue. The window drape is midnight blue and periwinkle stripes, and my shower puff for bathing is even midnight blue, so everything is color coordinated. When the bathroom was institutional green, the towels were forest green and light mint green, the shower curtain was sage green and the window drapes were olive green, so nothing quite matched. This way, everything will be completely color matched. I hope that my landlord will install the shower soon, but at the rate things are going, I am not going to hold my breath. He's given me completion dates for three weeks now that were not met and now he says that he's got other projects to do at other properties and that it may be a while yet before my bathroom is completed. I don't know why he can't just come over here and spend a half day completing the work he began on Christmas Eve. Why leave a job incomplete to go on to another job? Every time he gives me a prospective completion date, that day goes by with the work not yet done, and I grow weary of waiting. It's gotten to where I could almost do the work myself with a little help from my brother or someone who would know how to finish the work to my satisfaction. I've been more than patient but it gets old having to leave the house to go take a shower. I just want it done - is that too much to ask? I can't even take a bath because he put in a new drain that is impossible to stop up to create a bath, and he tells me that I should just put a washcloth over the drain and that should do the job, but that's not good enough. I want it done right, not just some half-hearted job that won't quite work. I'm about ready to go through the yellow pages and call a contractor to come over and finish the work, because at the rate things are going, it could be spring before I have a functional tub and shower. And I'm just not that willing to wait anymore. My landlord told me recently that where the house in which my apartment is located is no longer really a priority to him, which is why we always seem to fall to the bottom of the queue where repair work is concerned here. Well, if you own property, no matter how much of it, every house or building or piece of land must be a priority. You can't let any of it go to waste. The only reason I got a new bathroom was because the floor in the old one had rotted out under the toilet, which put the floor in danger of caving in and sending my toilet crashing down to my downstairs neighbor's bedroom. If that had not been discovered, I'd still be using the same old ugly bathroom I have had for 25+ years, but at least I'd still have my own shower. Now I may be stuck waiting for a good long time since I have once again fallen to the bottom of the queue and must once again wait my turn to move my way up the priority list. Since the work is so minor, that could take months, since my landlord owns extensive amounts of property. In the meantime, I sit and wait.....and wait.....and wait........
Although it's not quite done yet, my bathroom construction that began on Christmas Eve is about three quarters done, with towel racks and the shower yet needing to be completed. When it all began, my landlord tore the bathroom down to the studs, as you can see in this picture. It was quite a shock to see that kind of demolition done on one room of my apartment, but also slightly gratifying to know that what once was a pretty ugly room would soon be transformed into something I could be proud of. The only problems with the whole thing were the timing - demolition began on Christmas Eve, hardly my idea of the best time to work on apartment renovation - and the fact that my landlord neglected to use drop cloths to protect my apartment from rampant amounts of dust from the demolition process, necessitating a massive clean-up effort that took my brother, his girlfriend and I about six and a half hours this past weekend to complete. I was forced to sort of move out of my apartment during the construction process and to go live at my mom's, which was fairly pleasant in that I got a good amount of daily cat fixes since I am deprived of being able to have cats where I live. But after a while, I began to crave my old life back and wondered what on earth could be taking so long. Construction still isn't finished but it's completed enough for me to move back into my apartment and use part of the bathroom that is done. I took advantage of the bathroom's new look to do some redecorating, so I have bought new bath mats, new towels, new shower curtains and new window drapes for the bathroom window. This is what my bathroom now looks like in its almost completed state:
I must say it's a significant improvement over how it used to look. The walls used to be half institutional green and half white, with forest green duct tape accents where wall problems had developed years ago. The trim used to be dark brown. Where the toilet is now used to be a counter next to the sink that had brown and white counter covering on it, and below them was a large storage area that was hidden by an old green and white bathroom window valence held on by thumbtacks. The shower was built out of wood frame and metal rods and the old shower was constructed out of an old garden hose connected to a shower head and duct taped on to the wooden frame around the bathtub. I like to call the style of decor "Early Student", as in, quite makeshift. Now, at least, the bathroom is an entirely new room - new floor, new 
vanity, new sink, new toilet, but I wanted to keep my beloved old iron bathtub. My color scheme for the decor is periwinkle and midnight blue. I have bought midnight blue bath mats, and the new towels are midnight blue and periwinkle. The shower curtain, whenever the shower is finally completed, will be periwinkle blue. The window drape is midnight blue and periwinkle stripes, and my shower puff for bathing is even midnight blue, so everything is color coordinated. When the bathroom was institutional green, the towels were forest green and light mint green, the shower curtain was sage green and the window drapes were olive green, so nothing quite matched. This way, everything will be completely color matched. I hope that my landlord will install the shower soon, but at the rate things are going, I am not going to hold my breath. He's given me completion dates for three weeks now that were not met and now he says that he's got other projects to do at other properties and that it may be a while yet before my bathroom is completed. I don't know why he can't just come over here and spend a half day completing the work he began on Christmas Eve. Why leave a job incomplete to go on to another job? Every time he gives me a prospective completion date, that day goes by with the work not yet done, and I grow weary of waiting. It's gotten to where I could almost do the work myself with a little help from my brother or someone who would know how to finish the work to my satisfaction. I've been more than patient but it gets old having to leave the house to go take a shower. I just want it done - is that too much to ask? I can't even take a bath because he put in a new drain that is impossible to stop up to create a bath, and he tells me that I should just put a washcloth over the drain and that should do the job, but that's not good enough. I want it done right, not just some half-hearted job that won't quite work. I'm about ready to go through the yellow pages and call a contractor to come over and finish the work, because at the rate things are going, it could be spring before I have a functional tub and shower. And I'm just not that willing to wait anymore. My landlord told me recently that where the house in which my apartment is located is no longer really a priority to him, which is why we always seem to fall to the bottom of the queue where repair work is concerned here. Well, if you own property, no matter how much of it, every house or building or piece of land must be a priority. You can't let any of it go to waste. The only reason I got a new bathroom was because the floor in the old one had rotted out under the toilet, which put the floor in danger of caving in and sending my toilet crashing down to my downstairs neighbor's bedroom. If that had not been discovered, I'd still be using the same old ugly bathroom I have had for 25+ years, but at least I'd still have my own shower. Now I may be stuck waiting for a good long time since I have once again fallen to the bottom of the queue and must once again wait my turn to move my way up the priority list. Since the work is so minor, that could take months, since my landlord owns extensive amounts of property. In the meantime, I sit and wait.....and wait.....and wait........
1 comment:
Looks good, but will look even better when he finally puts your shower back.
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