There is progress on projects already so early in 2009.  It’s a good beginning!

Since buying this house last year we have planned to rebuild the bathroom.  For one reason and another, we haven’t done it yet.  We moved in in August and thought that we would have the bathroom finished at the end of October.  Ha!  Reading what I’ve just written, you might think that we are doing the work ourselves.  Again, Ha!  We wouldn’t have a clue how to do such serious work.  The entire room needs to be stripped to bare walls, plumbing rearranged, electrics added, and an old chimney broken out and the ceiling reinforced so that the attic doesn’t cave in.  Possibly the kitchen ceiling will be ripped out as it is directly below the bathroom and there might not be room otherwise to move the plumbing around.  Not to mention the big  window that needs to come out and be completely rebuilt.  So.  Obviously a contractor and crew are required.

It took us a while to find a contractor who would take on this small job for a big contractor, but too big a job for a handyman.  “Wij zitten er net tussen in”.  We sit in the middle.  Eventually we found someone who sounded like he knew what he was doing.  We agreed that we would pick out the fixtures and tiles during the holidays and the contractor would begin work as soon as everything has been delivered.  We’re looking at end of February (fingers crossed).

Today we went shopping for said fixtures and tiles.  For the first part I feel like we’ve bent over and been royally you-know-what-ed.  Do you know how expensive f*cking faucets are?  A shower?  It’s obscene is what it is.  Unbelievable.  But what can you do, besides driving to Turkey and buying stuff cheap and driving it back?  With the cost of gas there’s no savings with that plan anymore either.  Sigh.  We’re trapped in an affluent country with no gas to get out.  We picked everything out and made a list.  The salesman made a quick 3-D drawing on his pc that spins around and shows you every angle.  I guess that’s what we’re paying for.    

After that we went to the tile store to find some tiles.  Here’s where the story gets brighter.  I loved this place!  We went to Kol Tiles in Haarlem.  It’s a huge place with loads of choice.  We pretty much knew what we wanted so it didn’t take long to find.  Dark grey tiles for the floor, very light grey/white-ish tiles for the walls, and small stripy tiles to go up the wall in a narrow band behind the toilet, behind the shower, and on one wall.  Very chic.  It will be lovely.  The BEST part is that the tiles came in 1,000 euros UNDER budget. Hurray!  That made the earlier screwing feel a bit less painful.

But the best part of the tile shop was the art inspiration it gave me.  Lovely tiles.  Huge mosaics on the walls.  I’ve been wanting to do some kind of tiling, even if it’s only plant pots, for a while now, but like the tag-line on my blog says, “too many interests, too little time”.  NOW, after visiting this shop, I’ve got a great idea for our little WC on the ground floor that also needs complete renovation.  A mosaic of a huge fish with opalescent fish scale tiles and tiny details that will keep your eyes occupied while you do your business.  Summer 2010.  It’s in the project queue.

Back to the bathroom…. these days the radiator doesn’t work and the ill fitting windows mean that in this very cold winter weather it’s cold as HELL in there at 6:30 am and I’m the first one up to get ready for work.  When the wind blows from the east you can see the curtain blow.  I turn on the hot water and make it into a steam room before I dare get undressed to shower.  Brrrrrrrr.  I will now sleep better knowing that soon we’ll have no money left in the house fund but a shiny new bathroom will await me in the morning.

In other progress, and the only photo I have to share, are my La Digitessa socks that I’m well on track with the KAL.  Tomorrow we should all be starting the gusset section.  I’m really happy that I’m doing these in tandem (not really a true “2 at a time”).  At the end of the KAL I’ll have them both done and can wear them the very next day. 🙂

Toes and Feet - La Digitessa