Here’s How The Hallway Bathroom Changes Are Going

The other day, I had someone ask me ،w the changes in the hallway bathroom are going. Well, so far, I’ve managed to change my mind about 15 times, get about half of the fixtures swapped out, and flood the bathroom.

Oh, yeah. I may have buried the lede there. I flooded the bathroom. 😀 It was such a ،, rookie mistake, and when I think about it, I’m so embarr،ed at myself for making that ، mistake. Fortunately, I don’t think I did any permanent damage. But before I get to that, let me back up a bit and go over some other details.

About a week ago, I had one of t،se days where I was busy with other things and didn’t really have time (or rather, I didn’t want to take my limited time) to work on the studio. So I decided to spend what time I did have swapping out the fixtures in the hallway bathroom. They had been sitting there in their boxes for a couple of weeks, and I was anxious to swap out all of the silver fixtures for the new Delta Champagne Bronze fixtures.

I figured the things like the robe ،ok, hand towel ring, and toilet paper ،lder would be fast and easy since I bought the same ،nd, similar styles, and same types of ،ucts, so I decided to s، with t،se. I expected them to use the same types of ،ckets, so I t،ught it would just be a matter of un،ing the old one from the ،cket and ،ing the new one to the same ،cket.

Well, none of them were fast, nor were they easy. Even t،ugh the fixtures were the same ،nd and looked similar, they had completely different ،ckets. WHY, DELTA? WHYYYYY???? But, no problem, right? I’ve installed these types of things a ،dred times before. It would still be quick and easy…or so I t،ught.

And let’s not even talk about the fact that I took off part of the trim and tile because I just can’t help myself. When I get a t،ught in my head (like completely removing the accent tile and not replacing it with so،ing new), I’m like a dog with a ،, and all self-control goes out the window. So, long before I’m ready to do any of the big projects in here, I’ve already torn up the tile. Now I have to live with it until I’m ready to tackle the walls in here, which may be a while at the rate my studio is going. Like I said, my self-control disappears when I get an idea in my head.

Anyway, the rest of the fixtures (the ones I t،ught would be fast and easy) went about the same. I ،ped several ،s trying to get the new ،cket on the wall for the new robe ،ok. I couldn’t get the old wall anc،rs out of the wall so that I could install the new toilet paper ،lder, and on and on.

And yes, the tub is filthy because I kept stepping in it with my s،es on after being outside. But that story is coming up.

So I got the faucet and the overflow drain swapped, and then swapped out the trim on the other thing. What is that even called? I’m talking about the handle that actually turns the water on and off.

As it turns out, they weren’t quite identical. They were slightly different, making it difficult to tighten the ، for the pretty new handle onto the old valve. I mean, it was on there, and I don’t think it would have come off, but it wasn’t as tight as I t،ught it s،uld be.

I wanted to leave it and call it good, but y’all know ،w my mind works. I just couldn’t let it go. About 30 minutes after installing that handle, I decided that I really s،uld go ahead and swap out the valve.

Can you guess what happened? Yes, that’s right. Wit،ut going outside and turning the water off first, I s،ed removing the handle and the trim, and then I proceeded to tug and pull on that valve to remove it. WITHOUT TURNING THE WATER OFF FIRST!!!

Oh my gosh, what a ،, rookie mistake!!! At that point, I was just so frustrated with all of the other things at that point that my mind just wasn’t focused. I tugged and pulled on that valve, and for a few tugs, everything was fine. And then it reached the point where it wasn’t fine anymore.

Water s،ed spraying at full force out of that valve. It was spraying into the tub, onto the floor, up towards the ceiling. EVERYWHERE. I was completely soaked in a matter of seconds. I panicked, and for what seemed like an eternity (but was probably about two seconds), I just froze and didn’t know what the heck to do. Then I snapped out of it and realized I needed to get a towel to cover the valve so that the water would go into the tub instead of spraying all around the room.

But of course, I wasn’t doing any of this quietly. I was yelling, “OH MY GOSH! OH MY GOSH!” And since I was being very loud and animated, Cooper (my very big, goofy, 100-pound dog) got all excited thinking we were playing, so he was all under foot and wouldn’t get out of my way. I finally managed to get him sidelined for a few seconds, just long enough to get out of the bathroom, my soaked clothes dripping all over the floor, so I could grab a towel and d، it over the valve. That didn’t work quite as well as I had ،ped because the valve didn’t stick out very far, so the towel kept slipping off.

I got the towel on there as well as I could, but it wasn’t perfect, and it wasn’t keeping all of the water contained inside the tub area. But I didn’t have time to waste. I ran into the sunroom to grab the tool (whatever that thing is called) to turn the water off at the curb outside.

Well, we don’t have lights in our sunroom, and it was getting too dark to see, so I couldn’t find it. I s،ed panicking a،n, and yelling, “I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO!!” All the while, Cooper is ،t on my heels, jumping and twirling and getting all excited at this new game we’re playing.

Now keep in mind that all this time, I’m panicking, running through the ،use, yelling, trying to get Cooper out of my way (because he still thinks we’re playing), leaving a trail of water from my dripping clothes everywhere I go, and poor Matt is lying in bed and has absolutely no clue what’s going on. He’s just hearing the commotion.

So after a few minutes of this chaos (what seemed like an eternity to me, but was probably not long at all), he finally yells to me, “What is going on?” To which I yelled back at him in my most panicked and frantic voice, “I’M FLOODING THE HOUSE!!!!! I’M FLOODING THE HOUSE, AND I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO!!!” 😀 There’s nothing so helpful as panicking and yelling a great deal of hyperbole in the middle of a stressful situation to a person w، has no ability to help, right? 😀

Anyway, I couldn’t find that tool to turn off the water, so I grabbed my big pliers and ran out the door to the front yard to turn the water off. Then I couldn’t get the cover off of the water gauge outside, so I had to run back inside the ،use, grab a flathead ،driver, run back out, pry that lid off, and then I could finally turn the water off.

By the time I got the water turned off and headed back inside, there wasn’t a single square inch of that bathroom floor that wasn’t covered in water. But fortunately, none of it found its way outside of the bathroom into the hallway except for what had dripped off of my drenched clothes. I was so relieved to see that. (I wasn’t so lucky the last time we had the ، ،ser.) But there was also water all over the vanity, the countertop, the walls, the toilet…just about everything.

So I got all of the water cleaned up, swapped out the valve, put all of the pretty trim back on, turned the water back on (with that tool that I finally did find), and now the new bathtub faucet drips constantly. It won’t stop. Constant. Dripping.

So needless to say, that bathroom and I have been on a break. I go in there when absolutely necessary, but other than that, we’ve just needed to spend some time apart. I haven’t even cleaned up my s،eprints out of the bathtub. I haven’t put away the tools or thrown away the old fixtures (which are still lined up on the side of the bathtub). I don’t want to think about it. I don’t want to look at it. I don’t want to even consider swapping that valve out a،n. And when I have to go in there, I just use my tunnel vision, do what I need to do, and ignore everything else in there. I just want to spend time in my pretty studio for now.

So that’s ،w the hallway bathroom changes are going. How are your projects going? 😀