very simple

Not as delayed as last time. As always, there are cats and coffee. Plus some (sort of) kosher baked goods and it was primary day here in NYC, as you may have heard. The weather started cooperating a little more, but not as much as one would like, and I’ve begun experimenting with an antique film camera that I found at a tag sale, but since that requires film, you’ll have to wait even longer for anything other than a picture of the actual camera (so far I’ve shot 2 out of the 3 rolls of film I bought, and so I’m looking for something interesting to use the last 12 shots on before I send everything in together to get them processed).

I’ve posted all of these individually, but I thought it would be good to round up the entire chronology of the bathroom renovation in one place. here it is from beginning to end…

I missed a few days over the last couple of weeks, with the renovation and the massive work project that finally came to fruition after months of work (months on my part, years on the part of others who have been there longer), so I’m finally taking a breath and catching up. Here’s what I managed to capture over the period, including the finished bathroom.

One more day of work on the bathroom, to touch up paint and grout, install the shutters and seal the tile. That will be Monday, and the contractor will also remove all of his equipment that day as well. Then cleaning on Tuesday and I can live there again. Then the only item will be to install my new bedroom radiator cover/cabinet piece which they will do off-site and just bring in to install.

So here are pics of the whole thing, from multiple angles. Again, these are stitched together from multiple photos, so there’s some fisheye warping going on, but you’ll get the idea.

The photo stitching is getting weirder as I attempt to get odd angles. But look! The door has been reinstalled, and it’s painted!

I have officially arranged for a cleaning service on Tuesday, so there will be sleeping in the apartment by Tuesday night. A full month after this started.

Lovely things we discovered during the course of this project included the fact that the original tile was adhered directly to the building masonry, and the interior walls are not anything simple like wood, or drywall, but rather…poured concrete. At least I know the building isn’t going anywhere.

If you can’t tell from the lack of useful titles, I’ve run out of descriptors. Yesterday saw completion of the cabinetry in the bathroom, and today they will be painting. They will be largely done by tomorrow, and will get their equipment out on Monday (and then I can bring in cleaners on Tuesday, thank god).

The one remaining item they will need to do is the cabinet/radiator cover I wanted in the bedroom, but they are going to build that off-site and just bring it in for installation. I don’t want to jinx anything, but I’m really hopeful that I will get to sleep in a real bed again early next week!

Shower bar is up, and apparently all of the plumbing is functional again. I don’t want to jinx things, but I may be able to start moving back in at some point this weekend. Not entirely, but somewhat.

Not counting weekends, yesterday was day 16 of my “no more than 10-day” renovation project. But I feel like reaching the point where they’re installing decorative moldings might be a sign that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.

Moldings went up today. Plus some replastering and priming of the walls. Picking up paint this weekend.

I really hope this finishes up this week, or that it’s close enough to finished that I can move back in. I’m stretching my parents’ hospitality to the limit.

Plus, I’d really like to sleep in a bed again one of these days.

more progress. The floor is done, the plumbing is slowly getting reinstalled, and they’ve started installing the wood paneling (which will look much better once the trim and paint is added today and next week).

Now to just get the 800 tons of construction equipment out of every spare corner of my apartment. Very grateful to my parents for letting me crash for as long as I have, but the air mattress is not doing my back any favors. The money I’ve saved on a hotel may end up getting spent on traction by the end of this!