We haven’t gotten much realized since the last post, but much thinking and figuring shit out has been going on.

Last week’s post was all about the work to pass our first inspection. However, J was busy doing lots of other things too while I was having an incredibly busy month at work.

Like installing some new switches and outlets!

Half the lights in this house are attached to dimmer switches. But they only kind of work, even with the use of dimmer bulbs. And sometimes they would make strange buzzing noises at half-light.

But the real reason for the change was to use a rocker switch to match the exhaust fan/light triple switch installed on the other wall. J also thought it would look nicer if the GFIs were all white instead of with the black and red buttons.

Also, I think the switch and the GFI are on different circuits. Because why not? Why would anything be easy in this house? Or make sense? And yes, they attached that to a random assortment of blocks because making a cross brace with one block for attachment would, I don’t know, make sense.

You may have also noticed/remembered a weird outlet that was behind/inside the old vanity cabinet. Because, sure, we need to plug things in down there. Maybe they thought they were going to install a garbage disposal or something.

I originally thought maybe there was just an existing outlet there the first time I noticed it. And since they half-assed the original conversion, I thought maybe they just put in a GFI and called it a day. But no. That outlet had new wiring. It was done on purpose. For a reason. Like, they couldn’t be bothered to put in a double vanity after installing all the plumbing for one, but they put in a damned outlet inside the vanity? Lord.

And more things they couldn’t be bothered to do? Tie in this ABS vent stack/drain to the existing cast iron. Because (as you’ll see soon), we have discovered that they tied in the toilet to the cast iron…. BUT NOT THE SINKS. Yes, they created a whole new system in a faux wall so as not to have to deal with taking down some plasterboard and removing some galvanized pipe. Still, it’s done. We’re keeping the wall and new lines where they are.

What else did J get up to? Taking out some blocked off old ducts in the wall and an unused outlet box.

That ducting was already blocked off, so he pulled it out. As well as the one outlet that wasn’t being used and ran the line directly to the outlet on the adjacent room.

But wait, there’s more! He decided to replace a few more planks he didn’t like.

Only to decide after all that that we really ought not tile on dimensional lumber. Or it will crack. I admit I was ignorant about that. All my research was about backerboard and self-levelers and such. So, up it’s come.

Just the joists now until we go get some OSB to lay down. While the subfloor is up, J is taking the opportunity to sister up some of the joists that need a little extra. I’ll use the pulled up plank to add some extra support under the tub, so it won’t go to waste.

He also took the opportunity to retape the existing ducting to seal it up a bit better while I was out doing some much needed last minute Christmas shopping. (Did I mention, it’s been extra busy at work the past few weeks?)

So, I’ve felt pretty lazy regarding the project. But we are moving forward. Meanwhile, no large home improvement project is complete without a mishap.

Yeah, scaffolding on the joists might have helped avoid this. J suffered a bruised hip, but luckily, no other injury. We have some patching to do. So much patching to do.

I’ve been joking that he just wants to be Clark W. Griswold, but he just said it’s all about the leg lamp. You decide.

All this while I was trying to get my pinterest on with some holiday gift baskets to give to my friends when we met up for the Zoo Lights.

That’s artisan bread, garlic & herb compound butter, pickled red cabbage, and bourbon pickled jalapeños. I did not decorate the baskets. I found them at goodwill that way.

During all of this, we’ve also been having a discussion about what to do about the door into the bedroom. I hate the big door swinging in. The original idea was a pocket door. But then I discovered what was beneath the drywall.

So, it occurred to J (and I can’t believe it hadn’t occurred to me at the time), that the solution to the pocket door was staring at us. Just remove the wall below the window like they did for the door half and install the pocket door there! Voila! And so we set to measuring and looking at pocket doors and sizing and whatnot. Only to be thwarted. While we could fit a 24″ pocket door in the width of the space, we did not have enough height clearance by about 2 inches and change.

Bugger.

So back to the drawing board. Because before walls can go up, we need to decide what to do about the door. J’s mentioned barn doors to me several times, but I just hate them. I don’t like the rustic look.

But then Pinterest showed me the way.

The barn door doesn’t have to be a barn door. Or show the hardware.

So we’ll be doing something like that. Only the header will match the other trim in the room. And the door will feature a full-length mirror on it because you need that to answer the question, do these shoes really go with these pants?

So, we’re taking the rest of the holiday time off to kick back and relax. I did pick up some paint stripper to start the laborious work of stripping down the vanity cabinets we picked up last weekend.

Next weekend, we’ll put down the OSB. Based on current checks, we shouldn’t even need to use the self leveling stuff. Came as a bit of a surprise to me, but that’s what the level says across the joists. J did go and hit a couple of high spots where they had sistered joists, but it was mostly good.

A lot of the original house was done pretty well. It’s all the addition/conversion stuff over the years that’s been crap. One project at a time, though. One project at a time.

Until next week, Merry Christmas!