We have lived in our home for 17 years now. We recently decided that we were going to tackle a few home renovation projects. Since I’m recently retired and jumping in to the world of real estate, we decided to turn one of our extra bedrooms in to a home office.
Now, my husband thought this would mean moving OUT the bed that was in that room and moving IN a desk. Oh, to live in such a simple little world!
The carpet was 17 years old, so it was time to change it out. I decided to go with tile; much easier to clean. He agreed to that. However, new tile with dingy walls: “We need to repaint.” “Fine!” But, the bedroom that is now going to be the home office has an attached bathroom. How can we just stop the new tile? Let’s take it on in to the bathroom.
New tile just doesn’t work with the old countertops in the bathroom, so we really need new countertops as well… AND let’s continue the new paint color in to the bathroom area as well. Cohesive is all the rage! Reluctantly, Jerry agreed. I was like a kid in a candy store. I picked my tile, my paint color, my countertop. This bathroom is going to be so beautiful.
Just one issue: The bathroom getting redone isn’t the one we use as a guest bathroom. Now that bathroom looks old and tired.
As the conversation about the home office/bathroom remodel was taking place one evening at the beginning of all of this, I sweetly fixed a meal of chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, milk gravy and, for dessert, “Jerry, can we repaint, re-tile and get new countertops for the guest bathroom also?” He didn’t put up much of a fight because I think he knew that was probably coming.
We got the new countertops. They are gorgeous! We got the new flooring. It looks amazing. The painters are coming as you are reading this!
However, as with all good home renovations, no matter the size, they seem to grow as they happen; kind of like eating liver in brown gravy.
When I was growing up, I always loved when we could afford liver and mom would smother it in brown gravy. But, as you chew liver — it grows. Literally. This is how the simple remodel is going at this point.
We planned to use the existing faucets in both bathrooms because they are still in excellent shape and in the finish we still love. However, with new countertops that are thicker, the stems on the faucets under the sink aren’t long enough. Our sweet plumber has tried everything: extensions, smaller washers; yeah, nothing worked. So now, we are getting two new faucets in the bathrooms.
The hardware on the cabinets just looks dated with the new countertops so… Amazon to the rescue. And while we are replacing the cabinet pulls in the two bathrooms, why not spruce up the kitchen and master bath just a bit with new hardware! Can you feel the bite of liver growing?
And, of course, with new paint, floors, countertops come new décor.
It’s going to be beautiful when it’s all done, but I think I will have to wait a while before I ask Jerry about any further remodels in the house.
What’s on the menu for Labor Day weekend? Not chicken fried steak because Jerry would smell a rat. Liver? Nah! I think we’ll stick with burgers!
— Dawn Dillard is a proud East Texas gal who loves all things southern especially cooking, music and family. She can be reached via email at [email protected].