Bathroom: DONE

I've recently decided that I'm going to refer to these past couple of months as The Lost Summer. The week before Memorial Day was lost to the bathroom remodel. I lost Memorial Day week to painting cabinets at the cabin, and the entire month of June to the kitchen remodel.

I don't remember exactly when the massive "derecho" hit the DC area, but during that storm a huge tree came down at the cabin, cutting off the driveway. We saw it and have managed to not deal with it for the last three weeks or so. Major heatwave hasn't helped. This is also why the cabinet kitchen has seen no progress.

It's a lot bigger than it looks.

Anyway.

The first half of July was lost to organizing. And then, just as I was getting ready to hunker down and start actually using my new kitchen, our AC died. We're in our second week of trying to suck cold air in from the exterior hallway with a fan. Fingers crossed that it gets fixed as scheduled the end of this week!!

So because I am insane, I figured that now would be the best time to paint the bathroom at the condo. I spent the day Saturday vacuuming out disgusting vents, spackling, and starting the taping process. Sunday I spent sanding, taping, and painting. And sweating. A lot.

I used the lightest color on the same paint chip as the kitchen color. It's a light green that verges on white and is super subtle.

Kitchen on the left, bathroom on the right.

The main selling point for me is that I didn't need to use primer, despite the fact that I was going from a super high gloss to a matte paint. I can't stress enough how awesome this paint is: Aura by Benjamin Moore. It's expensive but totally worth it.

I really, REALLY hate high gloss paint.

I have never figured out the function of this vent. Apparently back at the dawn of time someone tried to cover it up, then tore the cover off and left a nasty residue of some kind, and I just never bothered to paint over it until now.

Discoloring from some long-ago wall hanging.

I've very much been looking forward to putting in my new switchplate covers. A ridiculous amount of taping was required to paint a not huge amount of wall.

As I said, it's subtle. But it's matte! And it covered everything over.

New slate covers to go with the faux slate floors.

Better.

All together now

So! It's been a couple of weeks, and we're finally all put together. As predicted, there were multiple trips to Ikea and the Container Store, but I think we're finally set. Naturally, the very second I was ready to finally bake a damn cake the air conditioning crapped out on us. It's supposed to hit 101 today, and finally the AC repair guy is supposed to come and assess the situation. I want cake!

Anyway.

We got art put back on the walls.

We found this awesome chalkboard/mail and key storage thing at Ikea for $15. It is, miraculously, the exact right size to cover up the hideous breaker box panel.

My black and white wall looks so much better against the green than it ever did against my old dirty "white" walls.

My favorite piece of art in the world has escaped the confines of the bedroom because it fits perfectly between the fridge and the pantry. Glare be damned.

And my colorful little prints pop much better now too.

I am now unbelievably organized.

The cupboard above the pantry. Not even half full.

The Mighty Pantry. It doesn't look like it but there's also a ton of space left here.

Mixy things.

Boozy things.

ALL plates and bowls and mugs in the same space. I never thought I'd see the day.

My big-ass Fiesta silverware fits! And no more big ugly knife block for us.

But the crowning glory is, of course, the deep drawers. Pots and lids all fit. YAY.

GAH! I can't even stand it.

This started out as the baking drawer but somehow an ice cube tray and the Le Creuset and the colander snuck in there.

And all the glass bake ware.

Lovely, no??

Day 22: Th-th-that's all folks!

Microwave is finally in, handles are on everything, bumps and scratches are taken care of, and now we'll spend the next several days cleaning up and putting things back together. I have no doubt there will be trips to Ikea and the Container Store.

Microwave! I was worried that it would overwhelm the space but it seems to be doing just fine. Also: it totally works.

Oooh, the "extend-a-vent," to catch steam from the front burners.

FINALLY, handles on the fridge and the pantry.

And as requested, a shot of the inside of the pantry. All those drawers slide out, and they're two feet deep, plus there's the two shelves up top. It's so much storage space my brain can't even comprehend it.

So there you have it. In 22 short (and also very long) days, we went from this:

To this:

To this:

I'm sure I'll do another post when the kitchen is well and truly settled, with drawer dividers and stuff back on the walls, but it won't be a daily occurrence. Thanks for following along!

Oh, and a huge shout out and thank you to Carlos, Guido, and Victor at Impact Construction. They were awesome from beginning to end.

Day 21: It's Friday, I'm in love

OH MY GOD.

LOVE. Love love love love love.

So it's not totally done, but I have running water, and I can bake cookies if I want (once I figure out how to use the Oven From the Future), and the dishwasher is running and I can't even hear it. They're coming back Monday to finish up with all the little details and whatever we see over the weekend that needs touching up, and finally install the damn microwave. But holy cow do I love my kitchen!

So pretty.

I mean...SO PRETTY.

The back of the sink. Tom likes it more than I do, but I think it's fine.

And ok, maybe the space between the fridge and the pantry is a little cramped but you know what? I DON'T CARE. I have a pantry!

Yay faucet! Yay running water!

Let's just take another look, shall we?

I am going to use the HELL out of this kitchen.

Day 20: The home stretch

Most of the living room is now painted, the grout arrived and went in, and the pantry moved to its new home. Sort of.

Now that the front wall of the kitchen/island isn't stark white, I think that mutes the green a tiny bit.

The Mighty Pantry. Apparently the feet are missing so it's not jammed all the way back and the doors and shelves aren't in place yet.

All of the baseboards in the whole apartment are brown. It really ties the room together, Dude.

I will, reluctantly, admit that the new paint lines are straighter and cleaner than I managed. I need to find out how they did that.

Glass grout is in. We were told that as it dries it will become more translucent.

Look at all that room! I feel like playing tennis or something.

Today the electrician is back, which I assume means that the breaker box will be put back together and all the lighting will go in. I'm pretty excited about the prospect. Not sure if they'll have time to hook up the gas and water.

Today is "officially" the last day of the project, but it seems pretty clear that it's going to go into the weekend, or possibly Monday, since tomorrow's high is projected to be 106 and nobody wants to work in that kind of heat.

Day 19: I see your true colors shining through

This is the point where a love/hate schism might occur. The kitchen is painted! I love it. Tom ... doesn't hate it. The contractors were really skeptical when they opened the can, but they're coming around.

They started painting the ceiling. Clearly it needed to be done. I guess this is what comes of living in a city. Or maybe what comes of living in general. I really need a new smoke detector.

They took down the containment wall! It's a huge psychological boost to have a free entryway to the bathroom and bedroom, even if the rest of the place is still covered in plastic.

And here it is ... Pear Green, at your service.

I will admit that it's perhaps a bit more vivid than I thought it would be, but the more I live with it the more I love it.

And it'll work well with the lighting and the counters, and it'll also be muted somewhat when we put all the art work back on the walls.

The microwave has been delayed YET ANOTHER day and will arrive Friday. UPS lost the grout, so that's still not done. I suspect that the fridge and pantry might move into their homes today. I will do a little happy dance if that happens.

I think we're dangerously close to being done with this thing. I am very much looking forward to walking around in bare feet again.

Day 18: Handle it

I had hoped the painting was going to happen yesterday, but instead all the door handles got put on, yet more spackling was done, and some minor adjustments were made.

Yay handles! I think they look great.

Handles, handles everywhere.

They also closed up the gap to the left of this cabinet. It's fine I suppose. I think I might have preferred to lop off the baseboard at the end of the cabinet, but hey, this way at least I don't ever have to worry about the dust buildup back in there.

And the under-cabinet thingies started going in. I have no idea what those are called. They'll hide the puck lighting.

I'm told that painting will happen today. The painters told Tom that my living room paint job looked "old and tired," so I've been outvoted on that and they will repaint the entire living room.

Our fancy grout has been en route via UPS for a week, I found out yesterday. Theoretically it arrived yesterday so maybe that will get done as well. And the elusive microwave should arrive Thursday.

So still to do: finish the backsplash; paint the ceiling, kitchen, and living room; finish fiddling with the cabinets; install the microwave; hook up the gas and water and install the faucet; install the lighting. I'm not convinced they can get all that done in three days (obvs not working on July 4). But they've consistently surprised me, so I remain cautiously optimistic.