Wednesday, July 3, 2024

It always comes in threes

It's been quite the week in this house. Let me tell you how my time off has gone so far:

We decided to repaint the bathroom, since we both had grown to dislike the coral color we painted it last year. The weekend was spent matching color swatches to the tile, picking out the paint, gathering (and purchasing) supplies, and finally, a lot of careful prep work. We sanded walls, taped corners/edges/windowpanes, and covered everything in plastic drape cloths. Last time we didn't prepare carefully enough, and it showed. We were determined to do a better job this time! On Monday morning, all the preparation was finally done, so we started applying the first coat (primer) to the walls. An hour or so into said application, I started to drip sweat. I had an uneasy feeling....and went to check the thermostat. 

The air conditioning had quit working. Horror (mostly on my part) ensued. 

All work on the bathroom came to a screeching halt. I called around until I found an HVAC repair service that could come out in two days, on Wednesday. The office person I spoke to assured me that if a technician had an opening sooner than that, they'd call. Of course I told her we'd take what we could get, especially with the holiday coming up. 

So.....we had no air conditioning. In South Carolina. In July. Add to the fun the fact that the entire main bathroom (our only source of a bath or shower!) was draped in sheets of plastic and tape. It looked like one of Dexter's kill rooms. 

Y'all. I nearly cried.

But the fun didn't end there, oh no! After setting up fans around the house and opening windows, we sat down to watch some tv for the distraction. As soon as we turned it on, there was a weird flash, and the screen went dark. 

For no apparent reason, the tv had just up and died! We couldn't believe it. There's something else we'll end up replacing sooner or later. *

That was Monday. We were fortunate in that Monday night the low temperature was lower than it had been in weeks...67 degrees. It could have been so much worse. Then we got lucky again and early yesterday morning the HVAC place called and said they had a technician who was free to come by before lunch. Hooray! It ended up being a relatively simple repair, and our unit is still under warranty for defective parts, so for less than $200 we had a/c again. And had only been without for 24 hours. What a relief!

Well, back to business, right? We finished the coat of primer in the bathroom and were waiting for it to dry...when we noticed water seeping out around the toilet. A lot of water. It was immediately obvious that we were going to have to find a plumber. F*ck! 

At least this time I wasn't too worried. We have another half bathroom we can use, so there's that. But it was sure aggravating after everything else that had happened. 

A plumber came out this morning. It was a really, really simple fix and ended up taking the guy maybe 10 minutes. It was also very cheap, something I've never had the privilege of saying about a plumbing repair before. Again, it could have been so much worse. 

Moving on.......

Last night we stayed up until after midnight, painting. It's all done now save for a few minor touch ups, and today after the plumber left it was dry enough that I could finally take a long, hot shower. We're really pleased with how the paint job turned out, too.

Tonight I'm grateful for a working air conditioner, a non-leaking toilet, and a finished home improvement project. 





This paint color is called "River's Edge".


*We're not in any hurry to replace the tv. There's a smaller one in the spare bedroom that will do just fine for now. 

28 comments:

  1. Who would have thought that painting a bathroom would turn out to be such an adventure...! But you did it, and apart from the TV, everything was fixed quickly and not overly expensive.
    It would have been interesting to have "before" pictures for comparison. A coral-coloured bathroom sounds actually quite nice - which is probably why you chose that colour last time you painted it.

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    1. We liked the color itself, but in our tiny main bathroom that only gets very limited natural light, it was too dark and just didn't work. I posted pictures of the last paint job if you're interested. Just type "Tomorrow's Coral" into the search bar. That's what the last paint was called.

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    2. I've just checked your post from 12 September 2023; I never saw it - probably because I was on holiday at that time. I quite like Tomorrow's Coral, too, although I would have never guessed it looked like that from the name - I associate a more orange-pinkish shade with coral.
      Anyway, the new colour is beautiful, too, and I perfectly understand about the need for something lighter when the room itself gets little natural light.

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  2. But I’m so glad the dripping sweat wasn’t because you were ill. My first thought. What a cluster! Amazing you were able to get things turned around so quickly. The bathroom looks great. Very elegant in combination with the tile. And all done in time for the holiday!

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    1. Thank you Mitchell! I don't have to be ill or have a broken a/c to drip sweat these days. I guess it's a natural consequence of being overweight and a middle-aged woman.

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  3. Ha-ha! Looking back it is kind of funny! I hope that the paint does not smell like a river's edge!

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    1. Gregg said, "River's Edge"? Does that really mean "Mud"? Haha!

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    2. Which river are the manufacturers referring to I wonder?

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  4. Love the new color! It pairs well with the tile. Lord, I know how things can go south, quickly, when deciding to do a "little remodeling." We gutted our house in 2017, and the washer and dryer died, one of our cars died, and the damned the dishwasher died, all at the same time. We spent those days saying, "WTF?!!" Fun times.

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    1. Omg...you had it worse than me! Wow. Sorry about all that!

      Thanks for the compliment on the color.

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  5. At least the A/C was fixed at an affordable price. As for the bathroom? I've never picked out a color that I learned to hate so much I felt the need to repaint, but then, in my mind, it is just a color after all.

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    1. The last color just ended up not working in the space. The bathroom is small and doesn't get much light, and it ended up being unexpectedly dark.

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  6. I feel, felt, your pain, literally.
    I came home from work yesterday and Carlos told me our AC wasn't working. We called our repair who is coming out today--we got lucky--but then late last night the AC suddenly started cooling again. We'll still have him look at it, but at least we have The Cool.

    Hopefully your Threes are done for awhile.
    Love the paint job!

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    1. Ours started to work a little bit late at night, too, but there was still a part that had gone bad. Don't dare cancel the appointment! I'm glad you got someone to come out--on the Fourth, no less!--so I hope everything ends up working out as well for for you as it did for us!

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  7. If you didn't laugh, you'd cry, I guess. Bless y'all's heart. That is just too much in a short amount of time. Glen did a much-needed repair on some ductwork on the AC at our house and it's working so much better. I consider him to be my resident wizard but he's not able to fix some things and it's so frustrating to have to wait for something you really need to be fixed by a repair person.
    Your bathroom looks really good. You should be proud!

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    1. You're so lucky to have Glen! It sounds like he can repair almost anything!

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  8. My goodness, Jennifer, that was A LOT! Thank goodness it is all working out and it didn't take forever. I love that color, so pretty with your lovely tile!
    May you have a peaceful 4th!

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  9. Fuck is right, but you got through it and your bathroom looks great. If my AC went out now and I couldn't get Dean the AC man right away, I'd be looking for a hotel that accepts doggies.

    Love,
    Janie

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    1. Thanks Janie. I understand considering a hotel to escape to. I'd do the same if we ever had a/c problems for more than a day or so.

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  10. That new color is great. Glad the terrible threes are done!

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    1. Me too! And thanks for the color compliment. We're much happier with the bathroom now.

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  11. I do love the new bathroom color. But...oh my gosh...the disasters! One right after the other. At least they were fairly inexpensive repairs.

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    1. We were so lucky that we didn't end up spending a lot more. And as for the tv, we're already planning to buy a new tv in a few months as we redo our living room, so that's not really an unexpected expense.

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  12. The new bathroom color looks great. But boy what a saga! Today's high here in central VA is 97 degrees with high humidity. I cannot imagine life without AC!

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    1. Hey Michael! That's about where our highs are every day right now, and also with very high humidity. It's miserable outside.

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  13. Oh my gosh. That is an INSANE level of household malfunction! Are you living on top of a graveyard or something? :) Seriously, I'm so glad you got the a/c solved promptly. The new paint job looks great, and a neutral probably won't get old as fast as the coral did.

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