Paint and a Leak

Our current project is painting the bathrooms. After priming the "Lettuce Alone" bathroom in November, we took a break for the holidays and travel, but it's time to finish up the project.

The main bathroom is now "Roadster Blue," a deep sky blue color, chosen to match the color of the sky in our photos of Rocky Mountain National Park. The paint feels like a drastic change, and I'm still getting used to it, but I think I'm going to like it once the touch-ups are done. We also painted the trim, the door, and the cabinets (plus new hardware). Painting the trim made a big difference. Using my best observation and deduction skills, I think the trim history is as follows: 1.) bathroom carpet installed, and carpet is glued to trim; 2.) carpet is removed, possibly in a water-related event, which requires removal of the trim; 3.) laminate flooring is installed, and old trim is recycled. Whoever reinstalled the trim did not fill nailholes or paint, so the trim really needed a facelift.

The smaller bathroom is "Oatlands Subtle Taupe," a latte or mocha color. Since the flooring, cabinet, sink, shower, and toliet are all from different eras and don't match, I tried to pick a color that would tie everything together. The paint essentially matches everything except the flooring, and the color unfortunately makes it look even more yellow. Ugh.

Non sequitur alert: Darnit. The Cyclones just lost a close one.

So. the bathrooms are still in need of an overhaul, but new paint helps.

The leak in the title is a leak in the small bathroom. I'd noticed a couple of weeks ago that there was water dripping from the toliet shut-off valve. It was a slow leak and hadn't worried about it much yet. Regular mopping did the trick and Emma the Cat really liked her new source of water.
Sometime last night the slow leak became a significant leak. I realized what happened when I stepped into the closet this morning, which is right behind the bathroom, and the carpet was soaked.

The valve is attached by solder to the inlet, so I can't (easily) remove it to figure what isn't sealing, and the packing nut won't budge. That, and the fact that Jason and I can't agree which valve is the main shut off valve for the water to the house, and when we tested (anticipating an emergency) both valves, neither valve turned off the water to the house. Yup, we're in over our heads on this one. Oh well, it's probably time to make friends with a plumber.

A new year, a new attitude towards the fireplace

Yesterday we gave the fireplace a second chance, and after a good burn, the woodsmoke smell is gone. Dunno whether we finally burned away whatever it was the smelled or if the big H that is currently floating on top of our house had something to do with it, but the fireplace has redeemed itself.

We didn't spend the entire weekend lounging in front of the non-smelly fireplace, however. The Christmas tree was stripped bare, ornaments stowed, and hauled away. I installed a broom/swiffer hanging thingy in our kitchen closet yesterday. Best $7.52 we've spent so far on the house. J bought a shephard's hook and installed our new birdfeeder next to the patio. And I installed two-thirds of the outdoor solar lights that we received.

I'll have no photos for several weeks. I left my camera in my mom's car and I can't retrieve it right now. D'oh.