Legacies

Because we're going to have a professional do the sheetrock work (Randy knows how to hang it, as well as mud, tape, and sanding, but he doesn't trust himself to do the texture well enough to have it not look like a DIY job), I told Randy I wanted to fix something in the bathroom, to have it flawless on that side too.  I told his like a million times that I realized that it meant that we'd live in "construction" for a bit longer in the bathroom, but I wanted the wall more than I wanted flawless tile surrounding my glorious tub.

 I have to giggle at Randy ingenuity.  We'd been using this box in-between the tub and the fireplace glass for a while now because 1) the sunshine in the morning was bright, 2) the sunshine throughout the day would bake our room, 3) it was always a stress if I was taking a bath or someone was using the toilet that someone might accidentally stumble across therapy-inducing images (not even a locked door could curb my anxieties about this one).  When he realized that the box, once opened, would fit perfectly in the size of the hole we had, he patted himself on the back and called himself a genius.  Well, I think he did in his mind because he didn't really do that for me to see.

 BEFORE

With a 6' shelf around the entire perimeter of the tub, plus the actual shelf space on every corner, I couldn't figure out why they'd want that little bump near the door.  It always just felt like that bump closed off the entrance to the bathroom.  We want to one day do updated tile work around the entire tub, as well as the shower, and I didn't want that bump.  If it was going to be gone someday, I wanted the wall behind it to be drywall, which I wanted to be done by the professional when he took care of the rest of that wall.

 4:14PM

 Randy teaching his boys about leverage and fulcrum.  I love that the legacy of Dad teaching Son about construction is continuing through Randy.  Some of Randy's most treasured memories are from helping his Dad build a home after his mission.  Randy knows so much about electrical, plumbing, framing, and concrete (Casper, circa 2008) because Darwin and he worked side-by-side building a home from the ground up.  I love that!

 It was about this point that we realized that the wall behind the bump was actually already drywalled.  That means that it was after the house was lived in for a while that they decided to build out the tub surround.  Truly, there is SO MUCH space around that tub, I cannot fathom why she felt she needed more, or why she needed that angle in a room where everything else was 90-degree corners.  I guess I shouldn't try to understand a woman that didn't even want to have a kitchen in this house in the first place...

 5:03PM

The kids have had a blast bashing things.  Heck, even I loved the few swings of the hammer as I broke up the tile!  Demolition is FUN!  It's fun to be able to stand back and envision how it will be when it is done, to stand back and see how much it opens things up in the way you'd hoped.  My goodness, I love this house.  How grateful I am to have a husband that can do so much work himself, and that he always does things with his perfectionist abilities.  I may get annoyed when projects take a bit longer than anticipated because he has to have everything so perfect (he will cut a "saw blade" width off three or four times just to get it so that he doesn't even need caulk at the seams), but I have never had an instance where I hoped people wouldn't notice something that he's messed up on.

I'm the luckiest girl in the world.