Home Improvement Part II

Merrillee here. The above photo is the mess in our master bathroom. And this looks better than it did ten days weeks ago when there was no tile in the shower at all.

About a month ago, Leann posted photos of her newly remodeled closet with everything neatly in its place--a joy to behold. She posted because a week earlier I had posted a photo of the new tile in our guest bathroom, which was part of a major home improvement that included new tile in all the baths and new carpet throughout the house. Would you believe that six weeks later this project is not done? Yes, my house is still in chaos and looks nothing like Leann's neat, neat closet.

While they were finishing the tile in our master bath, they discovered a leak in the shower stall. We weren't going to replace the tile in there because of the expense, but the leak made it necessary. When we got the estimate, we were right about the expense--twice as much as replacing the tile in two and half baths. But we are thankful that we caught the leak, or it could have been worse. We picked out the tile for the shower stall, then discovered that half of it was back ordered. Since the old tile had been torn out, that left the studs exposed and insulation raining down from the attic.

When our carpet finally arrived, they did install it in the two guest bedrooms, family room and living room. Since we both work from our home, we saved our office until the weekend when my husband wouldn't be working. Our office is the bonus room over the garage, and we have a lot of stuff in it. We had to break down the two computers and attached printers, etc. We had to remove files and books from the bookcases and closet. Believe me, this was a major undertaking. Putting it all back together was a whole day's project. I'm still not through sorting my stuff. I've been discarding things as I sort and taking a vow not to collect so much. We'll see how that goes. I'm a saver, not a thrower. Thankfully, my husband is a thrower, unlike my parents who were both pack rats. I guess I come by it naturally.

Because of the mess, we're waiting until the tile work is done to install the carpet in the master bedroom. After six weeks, we are getting very used to sleeping in one of the guest rooms. We are still on hold because they miscounted the number of tiles and had to order more. Of course, the tile that was supposed to be here on Tuesday or Wednesday was misrouted and wound up in Miami. Murphy's law strikes again.

Maybe by the next time I post, this project will be done. Have you ever had a project or event that didn't go quite as planned? Tell us about it.