Best Day Ever?

I got an e-mail message today telling me that the bathroom renovation was complete!  Yippee.  Becky and I headed over to the condo after lunch to take a look.  Here are the “Before” pictures.

The tiling was hideous, a large threshold blocked access to the shower, and the bathroom door wouldn’t close.

Today…

we have a beautiful bathroom.

with wheel-in shower,

adjustable hand-held shower,

and barrier free access.  The bathroom door even closes.  Becky will be able to take a stress free shower in a couple of days.  The only thing that hasn’t been completed is the bathroom threshold.

The contractor wants it to look nice, so he is searching for a piece of matching hardwood flooring.  As if that wasn’t exciting enough, my new fireplace arrived today too.  It is replacing a wood stove that I disconnected last summer due to insurance difficulties…that and I hated it…dirty, smokey, horrible thing.  I think I used it maybe ten times in six years.  It was in the basement, very North American, where I have my television.

This is what I’ve been looking at for nine months.  The problem was that the stove was so heavy, I could’t move it.  It literally weighs a ton.  I also phoned around to find someone else to move it.  Apparently scrap yard service has gone downhill.  I thought, if I can’t move it, I’ll reuse it, so I tried to get the stove converted to gas.  I had one guy ready to do the job, but then the van, fridge, and computer broke in January, so I didn’t get back to him till March.  I was too late.  He had left the firm, and the new guy was not as good.  He wanted to rip everything out, including the chimney, which was the opposite of what I was trying to do.  And, I was still stuck with this pile of mess.  Anyway, a couple of weeks ago, I had a burst of energy (anger and frustration) and flipped the stove over.  I flipped it over again, and onto a large tarp.  That way I could drag the stupid thing out of the way.  It took two days to clean up the mess.  I was covered in soot, my fingernails were black, and my hair looked like a bird’s nest.  During that time, I ordered an electric fireplace, and today it arrived.

I was able to use the existing chimney pipe for a bit of authenticity.  It needs a bit of finishing, but I’m happy with it.  I have a remote control that switches the fire on and off.  I get instant heat, and look how clean it is!

It’s funny; Becky and I have both spent months on these separate projects, and yet they both came to fruition on the same day.  Weird and wonderful.  I have been freezing the last few winters while watching T.V.  I can’t wait to switch on the heat tonight.  Best day ever; oh yeah!

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