Renovation Surprise #1

We had our first renovation hiccup today.

I got called to the basement for a meeting this morning. I walked down the stairs wondering if the conversation was going to cost me $10k. Or worse. Gulp. I could almost hear the doom and gloom music. Had a little conversation about plumbing. You know you're in trouble when your plumber says, "I've never seen anything like it." Yeah, that's not good news. Not good to be unique in the plumbing department.

Bottom line, we have to put the bathroom on the other side of the house. (Which is funny, because that was the initial drawing waaaaaaayyyyy back at the beginning of this process.) We held an emergency designer/contractor/client meeting this afternoon to figure out what to do (they called it, not me!). Our first instinct was to tear out the existing storage closet in one corner and plunk in a bathroom there. The issue with this idea is that there is a beam running across, reducing the ceiling height to about 6' in the area. Not a huge deal, since we're all short, but not ideal. We'd need to work around the water meter and sump pump as well, and we'd lose a really nice closet.

Alternatively, we could put the bathroom against the laundry room wall. The plumbers have checked everything out and say there is enough room there to work their plumbing magic. The bathroom will jut into the play zone of the basement, but not by a lot, and it's actually in a great location for a quick basement bathroom trip. Instead of traipsing through an entire house on either level, it'll be a simple dash down the stairs. Much more convenient for when we're outside, for example. So, it looks like that's where the bathroom is going to go. The new plans will be drawn up and we'll go from there.

What surprised me most today? Well, it's weird, when I got the news it was kind of like, sigh, yup, this house loves to surprise us, let's put the bathroom somewhere else then. (To be honest, my biggest concern was that if we put the bathroom where the storage closet is, I'd have to move all the junk in the closet - and there is lots! I've counted on storing a LOT of our belongings in there during this reno. I really don't want to move it all and figure out where else to store it.) Anyway, apparently this reaction is called "taking the news well." The contractor thanked me several times and said I was being very gracious about the whole thing.

I'm pretty sure that's the first time in my life I've ever been called gracious. Sarcastic? Yes. Funny? That's happened a couple times. Totallyandcompletelyanaltype1wouldyoujustrelaxalittletakeadeepbreathandchillout? More than once. Gracious is a new one.

I guess some people would yell? Blame the plumbers or the contractor? Because seriously, how could I possibly get mad over this? It's not any fault of theirs. Am I supposed to cry? I'm not crying over moving a bathroom at the rough-in stage! It's a renovation, shit will happen, we will soldier on. I am much more annoyed at how difficult it's been to get a front door (and, again, not annoyed at any person in particular, just at the general door manufacturing process and their standard sizes that don't match my door).

Not like I didn't cry today, I cried hard, but it was because I watched this video on Facebook about refugees landing in Greece and oh my goodness I can't believe people pile into those little floaty boats and show up cold and hungry and wet, with only the clothes on their back. All in the hopes of a better life. Holy crap, we are so fucking lucky and we don't even appreciate it most of the time.

Anyway, I digress. Back to my stupid little inconsequential plumbing issues in my house with running water and food in the fridge, located in a non-war-torn area of the world. The trench the guys dug out yesterday? It's filled in now. De-trenched, as it were. We had some family fun putting our initials in the fresh concrete. I will spend some time this weekend moving stuff out of the way of our new bathroom location.

All for now! Stay tuned, I do have some "during" pictures to share. Our addition is looking very torn apart right now, the difference is amazing already!