Monday, January 31, 2011

How to Remodel a House - Without Getting a Divorce - Part 1

My husband was 20 when we got married.  Our first house was a "fixer-upper" starter home.  He didn't care what color the walls were - as long as they didn't have wallpaper on them, he didn't care if the kitchen cabinets matched or not, he didn't care if we had curtains or not.

We are now remodeling another house.  I had this house decorated/redone within 5 minutes of finding it. I have spent many years cutting out pictures, searching out products, and creating my lovely vision.  Now I find out he cares.  He.cares.a.lot.  He cares about everything.

We are currently working on the bathroom (because with a working bathroom we can recruit more volunteers to help!).  My dream is all white, very spa-like, with a walk-in shower, and a jetted tub.  Yesterday my husband (or the person who is impersonating him) was looking through one of my decorating books and found "his" dream bathroom.  Yes, white and spa-like. Good, we agree, right?  Nope!  He wants little octagonal floor tiles; I want big, oversized, stone-looking tiles. He wants tile on the walls, I don't.  

Giving up on the tile, we start to talk about the layout (because until you can get the plumbing in, the tile doesn't matter).  We both agree on the walk-in shower.  He want's it to have a curved wall with 7' columns on the ends.   With this design, we can have a room with a shower.  Nothing else will fit.  No problem, he's found me a claw foot, slipper tub that's small enough to fit.  Jets?  Nooo, it doesn't have jets, but you know most people who get jetted tubs never use them.  I.will.  I want a tub and a shower.  No problem, he says, we'll move the door.  (When I want to move a door, it's impossible.)  However, this time, if we move this door it will affect the way the hall looks, since it will be moved to a corner where another, angled, wall is.  No problem, we'll build a shelf over the door to create a larger angled wall - but just over the door.  The door will still fit in the corner.  While this is a good idea and would look really good in a contemporary house, ours is 1800's, slightly Victorian.  After several days hours of 'discussion', we decide to move on to the living room ceiling. 

I guess eventually we will have to get back to the bathroom, but by then I'm sure there will be tons of other issues in the remaining rooms that we are avoiding discussing too.  

But we'll still be married.

3 comments:

  1. Ooh, tile on the walls makes my skin crawl. I don't know why I have that reaction, but I really hate the idea, even of tile on the walls. On the other hand, I am the magic person who melts the paint off the bathroom walls, so maybe I should get some tile on my walls.

    Good luck!

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  2. I found a claw foot tub with the high back for only $800! I want it but have no where to put it! :(

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  3. Jessi - I don't want to have to deal with outdated tile on my walls in a few years. When it comes time to redecorate I just want to paint and forget it.

    Ady - I would love a claw foot tub, but I would love jets more! And yes, you can get claw foots that are jetted, but I don't think they look as nice. They're too thick - because they're hiding the jets, I guess.

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