Well, there was no work done on Monday, so it's time to look back and take a gander at the one critical area of the bathroom that has remained unseen ... until NOW!

Yes, I'm talking about The Toilet. In this fascinating journal entry, you will see pictures of the toilet before work started, after day one, and finally, after day two. Are you ready for all this excitement? Well then...

( Click here to see what you've been missing! )

So begins a new tale. A new experience. A new journey.

Since I moved into this house two years ago, I've been wanting to remodel the master bathroom. It's the only room in the house I absolutely hated. There are a lot of things I'd like to do to make this house 'mine', but that's different from wanting to change a room because I hate it. From the ugly-ugly wall-paper, to the shower built for someone six inches shorter than me (it was two months before I stopped banging my head getting into and out of the shower). From the idiocy of carpeting in the bathroom to the cheesy lighting. There's simply not one thing about this bathroom that I like. It's all wrong.

Well, the time has come to start to do something about it. I'm really bad at starting things. I have this huge amount of inertia in almost every area of my life. It's nearly impossible to start things... and equally so to stop them. But I made the effort, and now it's starting. Finally.

Let me make one thing perfectly clear: I am not going to be doing any of this myself. I am all thumbs. I am NOT good with my hands. The very idea of me doing any of this myself is simply laughable. I'm hiring someone to do it all, because I want it done right, and I don't want to lose any fingers in the process. So with that said, I used the power of the internet to find local contractors with good references and reviews, and came up with two.

I interviewed the first contractor on Thursday. I shall interview the second on next Tuesday sometime (I hope, it's not firmly scheduled yet and won't be until Monday).

I've got a vision in my head of how I want things to be, and already I'm finding it difficult to communicate. I need to try and get something down on paper to help me out here, because it was agony trying to get them to 'see' what I see so clearly in my head.

Anyway, I'm going to have to pick between these two by the end of the month, with work to begin sometime in March I'm guessing. And then god knows how long it's going to take. I mean, it's an entire "gut this room and start from scratch" thing. Thank god I can move into the guest room and use the guest bathroom for the duration.

I've heard so many horrible nightmare stories of people's interactions with contractors and getting remodeling done right, that I'm more than a bit apprehensive. I figure I'll just blog my stories here, as it'll give me a nice place to vent my inevitable frustrations, and hopefully someone else will get a little entertainment out of it. And of course, I hope my experience won't be as bad as I always fear things like this will be.

The biggest part of the remodel is that I'm planning on replacing my water heater with a tankless variety. I hope I can afford it. And I hope it's not a mistake. But it's supposedly far more efficient and environmental, and I think it's the right thing to do. The problem? The water heater is up in the attic (houses in Texas don't have basements), and there's really no way to get it out. It won't fit through the small attic access. This should be fun.

So I'm off now to go to Home Depot and Lowes to start looking at materials, tiles, fixtures, and other things, so I can be a bit more explicit in what I want, in order to help the contractors make a better estimate. I'm cringing at the thought of the price they're going to come up with. I've saved up a lot, but I know I'm going to end up having to take out a home improvement loan. Those are at least tax deductable, right?

Wish me luck... luck for making good decisions the first time, luck for having a successful bathroom model, and luck for seeing a happy end to this tale some months down the road.

I'm going to need it.