There are always surprises in home renovations. Some are serendipitous, like the time in our last historic renovation when contractors uncovered a quaint, intact set of beadboard shelving that had been plastered over for years. We reused them in the boys’ bathroom to give the space some charm and storage. There are also some inauspicious surprises that are known causes of gray hair acceleration. It’s nothing that a good contractor and bottle of hair dye won’t fix. At least that’s what I’m telling myself as I listen to my inner pep talk about what the contractor called to tell us while we were on vacation.
See those arched windows in the 1920 house we just bought?
It turns out they are doors.
Some clever (or not) DIY hack craftsman had the cockamamie inventive idea to use glass pane doors as windows and just build an arched frame to get the look the homeowner wanted. Can you see where the extra bit of door was covered up with plywood and drywall? Lord knows when this was done. This sort of makeshift stuff is to be expected, I suppose, especially in an old home that was once a fraternity house (Thank goodness these walls can’t talk!). So here we are, waiting to see what our options are and mentally seeing the adding machine tape clickety clack in our heads. Every surprise expense means that something on the list must go (please, nothing in my kitchen or closet!). Renovations would be a whizz bang blast if there was no budget.
Mac Daddy and I just embarked on our third historic renovation (and fourth renovation in total) in 11 years. We might be crazy. We are still married. Happily. This time we are engaging the boys. We took a family field trip to Wilkinson Supply and marveled at the displays of sinks (speckled glass, hammered copper, industrial metal, all works of art), faucets, shower heads, counter tops, and yes, toilets. There are apparently toilets smarter than my phone. Bird and Deal settled on a bright orange sink for their bathroom that is high on Italian style and not for the design risk averse. It is funky and fun, just as a boys’ bathroom should be. The bathroom in our first historic renovation was painted orange. The painter offered to repaint it for 100 bucks, but we all liked it. He shook his head and mumbled something about there’s no accounting for taste. Orange is Bird’s favorite color. I like to think that’s my Wahoo influence. They boys are wanting to throw in their own design sensibilities and taste into this renovation, and truth be told, they lean more toward tacky than tasteful. This mama’s got her work cut out for her, but the orange sink is a fun addition. Painting their bedrooms yellow and black respectively is another story…
We’ve just wrapped up choosing our doors (doors intended to be used as doors!). Who knew there were SO MANY blasted options?! Next on the list: the kitchen (insert fanfare here)! We have not started the hard, yet fun, work of picking appliances, cabinets, and countertops. My brain is close to fried. We spend our evenings on Pinterest and Houzz. Who says the sparks don’t sizzle after 13 years of marriage?
It’s going to be beautiful. This is so interesting. What were you going to do with that wall?
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