Before and after

This past weekend, James finished the remodel of our master bathroom and wow, is it beautiful!

Our house was built in 1988 by crack addicts. How else to explain some of the weird "features" and half-assed construction? The master bath, while no slouch in the size department, was poorly designed with a mile-long vanity with only one sink, a tiny shower stall and a large, leaky garden tub that blocked the only window.

This before photo was taken from the doorway into the bathroom:

The cramped shower stall was on the immediate left, the toilet around the left corner (the top of the tank is just barely visible in the mirror) and the mile-long vanity was lit by the light bars that James despises.

Just to the right of the area shown in the previous photo was the gargantuan garden tub:


It blocked access to the room's only window and the only time we ever tried to use it, we discovered that it leaked underneath. The faucet also dripped, causing water spots in the tub that were almost impossible to remove, if nothing else because I had to climb into the tub to clean it. I loathed the thing.

And did I mention that the entire bathroom was CARPETED? Ewww.

James gutted the room down to the bare floor and, in some cases, the bare wall studs. We dragged out the garden tub, the vanity, the shower stall. I decided that the whole layout of the room should be changed and once James opened up the walls, we learned that the room had originally been plumbed for the layout I suggested. WTF? So why didn't they go with that layout?

It took him well over a year to complete the project, since we waited until we saved the money to start the next phase. But the wait was definitely worth it!

Here is the new view from the doorway:


The toilet is hid behind the wall on the left, where the shower stall was previously. We have a gorgeous soaking tub, with lovely tilework done completely by James.

To the right of the room, previously the domain of the garden tub, is a vanity with two sinks:


You can see the light coming in from the window on the left. As I stand at the sink, it is so nice to turn and look out the window. And although you cannot see the floors in the photos, James put down lovely Pergo laminate tile, which we used in our kitchen and bathrooms in the Apex NC house, and hauled the remaining few boxes with us here.

The room is light, bright, feels spacious and finally has a great layout. And, no, James is not available to be hired for your bathroom remodel!

A fine line between caution and panic

In spring, it just doesn't just rain in Georgia - it storms. And I don't mean your basic garden variety of thunderstorms, either; I mean the kind that Jim Cantore of The Weather Channel cautions us about.

Note: I adore Jim Cantore. The voice, the science, the swagger - whoa, Nellie. Thank goodness that The Weather Channel (TWC) is located on the north side of the perimeter surrounding Atlanta and I am on the south side, because if I ever just casually bumped into Jim at my local Publix grocery store, I just know that I would be stupid.

Anyway, back to my story. Yesterday's forecast was for severe thunderstorms in the evening hours, so I was already on edge. With a gazillion tall pine trees surrounding our house, severe thunderstorms and the usual accompanying strong winds scare the bejeebers out of me. After dinner, I turned on TWC to see what was going on and there it was: a strong cell just across the state line in Alabama, due west of Hooter County.

Dr. Greg Forbes of TWC, for whom I have no groupie-like fondness and frankly, reminds me of some strange kind of homely insect, said it was a severe storm and would impact the south side of Atlanta in about an hour and a half. Holy moly, that is all I needed to hear.

We had Aidan get an early bath and as we were getting him out of the tub, we heard thunder. As we checked TWC for the latest info, the Emergency Broadcasting System broke in and notified us that a Tornado Warning had been issued for Hooter County. Moments later, we heard the warning sirens sound. That was all we needed; we grabbed Aidan, mobile telephones and my laptop, and headed for the basement.

Note: Spenser the Cat was nowhere to be found. At the first sound of thumder, he found a place to hide and those of you with cats know that if a cat wants to hide, there is no finding them. And there was no finding Spenser at 7:25 pm last evening.

With a young child in the house, it is a very fine line between being cautious and prudent, and causing undue distress for the child. We usually try to downplay bad news or threats of severa weather, but last night Aidan needed to know that the danger was real and that we needed to act accordingly to stay safe.

So there we sat in the basement/garage for about 45 minutes as the storm cell passed overhead. We were not able to hear much except the rain pounding against the two windows. I was able to monitor the storm both on TWC radar and by watching 11Alive.com, which had broken into regular programming to monitor the weather situation, although 11Alive was far more concerned with the weather's impact on the Braves' home opener than it was with the tornado threat in Hooter County.

At last the cell passed and we went back upstairs. Another slightly weaker cell soon passed through and we kept Aidan awake and out of bed for that one, but we did not retreat to the basement. He finally got to bed around 9 pm, a little over an hour past his regular bedtime, and I kept an eye on the weather the rest of the evening. Another smaller storm came through just as we went to bed around 10:30, but it apparently did not bother me much since I fell asleep almost immediately.

We awoke to a clear, fresh, green morning, with no apparent damage in our neighborhood or our corner of Hooterville. I just wish that rain in Georgia was just plain ol' rain, without the fireworks and drama.