Days 8 & 9 have been a blur...

My goal was to update this blog daily with photos and descriptions of what had been accomplished, but Days 8 and 9 simply got away from me. As some of you already know, we are taking our dog Samson to an intermediate obedience class, which meets on Wednesday nights. Well, by the time I got home from class and had dinner on that night it was almost 9PM. I planned on updating my blog Thursday morning, but that time, too, got away from me. I spent the morning conducting some computer training with one of the employees of HWC Homeworks, then I went to the HWC home office to show another employee a few tricks in Gmail. Well, Dave (the owner of HWC) saw me and said, "Paul, do you have a few minutes?" So, I spent half an hour showing Dave a few things as well as importing his contacts into his Gmail account from his old e-mail application. It was time well spent as Dave was quite pleased that I was able to help him import all his old contacts into his Gmail account. Enough of my excuses, I need to tell you about the project!

Days Eight and Nine were pretty much all about the tile. Jim's craftsmanship and attention to detail were very obvious. I never realized how much work went into finding just the right pattern and cut for each tile. Sure, in areas that are not marked by corners or funny turns, putting up the tile is straightforward. However, the shape of this shower is out of the ordinary. Most showers are either a square or a rectangle. Well, this shower is neither. It is essentially square, but one corner is cut off so it is actually a non-linear pentagon. Thus, Jim's skill and experience were constantly used to fit each tile into place.

Day 9 was also the day that Paul from Roper Electrical returned to wire in the controllers and switches for the lights, fan and heater. Again, I am constantly amazed at his quiet professionalism as he crawls around the attic, getting the wires in just the right place for the electrical loads in this renovated bathroom. Paul will return next week to install the light which will go over the sink.

One unexpected benefit from this project is that it is introducing our rescue pup Samson to all sorts of new people, sounds and smells. During the first renovation project, Samson spent most of the time HWC was here in his crate. There was just way too much excitement going on for him to remain calm. Well, he has mellowed considerably and he has spent the day by my feet, sleeping and basically "chillaxing." Of course, at one point Samson needed to supervise Jim while he was putting up the tile. The original plan was to complete the renovation by Friday, 25 January, but the tiling in the shower took a little longer than expected. Today (25 January) Jim will put the tile down on the floor and finish applying mud to the walls. Once those two evolutions are complete, I will be cleared in hot to paint. I plan in painting the entire space with two coats of Kilz on Saturday morning, then I will paint the ceiling sometime late Saturday afternoon. This will then set me up to paint the walls on Sunday so that I will be ready for the plumber to return and the electrician to return early next week. Updates to follow as conditions warrant.