Okay, peeps.
It’s been a SOLID day (or two, if I’m being honest):
Amen, Hallelujah!.
Chica had a beautiful lazy Thursday/ Friday, after several days of orchestra commitments at the High School.
Chicklet also had fun lazy time—along with a lengthy pool party/ hang session at a friend’s house to wrap the summer.
And Little Man had a buddy over and his own swim time/ hang session Thursday, and permission for a bit more video gaming than usual.
As most parents of teens/ tweens can attest: the moods of the kiddos often set the tone for the entire household. We wish it wasn’t so—especially in these years of ups, downs and all arounds—but it’s just the cold, hard truth.
So a rare (super rare!) day or two like this when all my kids are stable and happy is a pretty massive miracle.
So miraculous, in fact, that I even agreed to host another girly sleepover last night and, despite what sounded like rhythmic gymnastics happening upstairs well after midnight, I still have the mental bandwidth for a post right now, ha. ;)
This one just so happens to involve my favorite subject: house happenings mixed with crossing things off a to-do list!
I give you…a reveal of Little Man’s refreshed (by force, not by choice) bathroom.
Drum roll, puh-lease!
Back when we moved to San Antonio, my babies were tiny, they were all still actively bathed at night (yes, bathed) by us parents. Little Man wasn’t even officially out of diapers and was still using a pacifier. Wild.
Needless to say…when we gutted the bathroom that adjoined his room, we had fun with the aesthetic and didn’t at all think about a future when he’d be a tween, utilizing the shower in any practical way, ha.
This was his bathroom before we moved in:
And this was the fun refresh we did and really loved. :) Back when Little Man was
obsessed with superheroes! I spy Spiderman. Awwww.
That crazy, black hexagon tile was such a unique statement piece for so many years—especially since the bathroom is right at the top of the stairs, so it was nice to have something coolio within line of sight.
Welp.
Fast forward many, many years, and about two years ago (give or take) Little Man finally got to a point where he wanted to shower up there in his own bathroom instead of partying in our primary bathroom like he’d done for years and years, ha.
It was a fun rite of passage (the girlies started showering in their own zone at that time, as well), and one we were ready and willing to dive in to. And it worked really well until…
A few months into his new showering process, when we discovered a leak that had manifested in the downstairs ceiling, just below Little Man’s shower.
YIKES.
It took some creativity and a snaking camera through the attic (that backs up to that shower) to eventually discover that the leak was in the drip pan of the shower, thanks to an old and rusted nail.
And…cue extreme disappointment.
For anyone who’s dealt with something like this, you know that the only fix is to rip up the shower floor—and likely a foot or so of the walls, as well—to properly repair and replace all of those important, foundational components.
So.
We were looking at sourcing new flooring tiles (not too terrible), but also, a handful of the black octagon tiles (quite a bit more terrible).
And, booooo.
Bottom line: the tile was unique, it had been too many years since we originally sourced it, and we were having a hard time finding an exact match.
We got close with size but not with texture or sheen and all sorts of other problems. And the process took quite some time to track down options and wait for samples to be shipped for inspection.
Welp, right as we were crossing off so many options that just weren’t matching perfectly, I had a moment where I had to stop and sit with the decision and the process as a whole.
One of the things I kept mulling over: the fact that we have really hard water down here. And despite water softener systems and what not, the hard water residue and build-up is real and as I thought about it more and more, I realized that the cleaning lady (ahem, ME) wouldn’t exactly love the task of scrubbing and keeping that black tile hard-water-grime clear moving forward.
So…if we were going to have to incur a significant cost for the leak repair and it was just a moderately incremental cost to redo the whole, dang shower…maybe that’s what the universe was telling us to do.
Now.
Even when my brain and my gut were both telling me a total redo would be best…the pocketbook didn’t exactly agree.
Enter: about an 18-month period where we didn’t deal with at all and just kept the shower out of commission.
Until finally, this past May, we had a stretch of time that made it clear that we were fed up with having a great shower out of order, and we decided we had to PONY UP and pay for the rip out and just get it done.
I’m sure you’ll recall all manner of renovation heinousness we’ve experienced down here in SA, so it goes without saying that it was a bit of a mental hurdle to rip off the bandage, as well.
But.
We utilized a great handyman/contractor who works with just one other gentleman, and this duo has completed all manner of projects in half the homes in our neighborhood, so there was some great comfort there, as well.
They were kind, clean, efficient and kept their mess contained, and the whole thing took about 6-7 business days.
I took pics most days and it was really satisfying to see the slow, steady, meticulous process toward getting this shower back up and running!
I’ve gotta say: it was a huge relief to feel
relatively (I’m never totally) comfortable having these gentleman in my home. They were clean, unobtrusive, and non-threatening, and that’s a big deal for me.
And, in the end, because we just couldn’t go from a wild, black, hexagon tile to something white and boring, I’m SO GLAD we kept some of the crazy in the bathroom with this really unique grey tile. It’s the perfect blend of old and new, worked seamlessly with the existing floor tile and cabinetry, and it felt like a HUGE SIGH of relief to have it done!
So, here’s to having this shower back in working order! I’m so behind on posts, it’s been a couple of weeks, now, but it’s been
amazing to have Little Man back in his zone and to get through the nighttime routine even faster and happier.:)
More catch-up posts, soon!
Happy Weekend, peeps!
Over and out.
