One of the perks of being pregnant is that I’ve been politely banished from the bathroom during the messier parts of the renovation. I miss swinging a sledgehammer now and then, but the boys — John and his tile-savvy dad — took over the heavy lifting.
They even sealed themselves behind a big plastic tarp to keep dust and debris contained, which had the extra effect of keeping me out of the action.
Luckily I could still hear bits and pieces through their plastic bubble, so I caught fragments of their back-and-forth. Their banter was oddly entertaining.
Here are a few memorable lines I overheard:
- “It’s like a baby saw. Not a saw you would give to a baby, but it’s baby sized.” — John
- “Oh man I hope this works.” — John’s dad (I admit I held my breath after that one)
- “Fire in the hole!” — John
- “(Muffled) I’m glad we have these gas masks on.” — muffled, possibly a joke)
- “I feel like the Queen of England.” — John
- “Hi honey!” — John’s dad (probably answering his phone)
- “Don’t cry for me Argentina!” — John’s dad, delivering a punchline
It was strange and amusing to overhear isolated lines about the reno, life and the occasional bad joke. Have you ever caught a snippet of conversation and tried to piece together the rest? It’s surprisingly hard to make sense of fragments.
But I know you’re curious for photos, so here are some tile teasers from Operation Subway Tile. We still need to grout the joints with bright white to finish things off, but this shows the first phase:
Next, John tiled all the way up to our slightly uneven ceiling:
Here’s a shot after we primed and painted the walls and laid the new floor tiles. Those floor tiles still need grout — we’re planning a rich chocolate color to complement the dark mocha marble tiles. It’s amazing how much more like a room it looks now, and we’re thrilled with how the wall color (I’ll share the exact shade in a later post) plays with the marble.
Not long ago the space looked like this:
Stay tuned for the full tiling play-by-play once the year settles down — I’ll also share the exact paint color and the finishing details. In the meantime, what’s the strangest thing you’ve ever overheard? I’d love to hear your stories.