And then we had a flood…

The day after my last depressing post about how the Goff family was really struggling this happened while Lou and I were eating dinner on Friday night.

Me: “Lou what is that sound?”

Lou: “I don’t know.”

Me: “It sounds like water.”

I jump up from the table and head towards the whooshing sound coming from the bathroom.

Me:” Oh my God, Help! The bathroom is flooding.” I scream as water is pooling up towards my ankles.

I pull open the cabinet doors under the sink and try to turn off the valve which is apparently broken so I can’t turn off the water. I start screaming at Lou to turn it off.

Lou:” I can’t turn it off, you are in my way.”

Me: ” We need to turn off the main water valve. Do you know where it is?”

Lou: “NO.”

Me: ” Of course not. I’ll do it.” I yelled very rudely and ran out the garage to the front where I thought the water main was located. Luckily I found it right away.

I went back into the house and started toweling up all the water that had seeped under the floor boards into the kitchen, the hallway and my office. I then asked Lou to call the plumber who agreed to come in the morning. And now it was 7:00 pm and we were without water until the morning. After Lou brought in the few small water bottles I had in the garage for hand washing, he realized he better make a trip to the store for more water while I continued to clean.

After the clean up I was forced to forgo my Friday night facial routine and started worrying about mold and water under the floors. We contacted our landlord to let him know what was going on and my brain started formulating a plan for redoing the bathroom which was too old and gross. I refused to use this bathroom, it was used solely by Trin and Lou and embarrassingly enough by company.

After Cory our plumber fixed the broken hose and value in the morning and I assessed the damage I knew the cabinet couldn’t be salvaged. I ran a fan all night but I could smell dampness and gunk. I emailed my landlord with a proposal for replacing the cabinet and resurfacing the bathtub. Once I gave him my estimated budget he agreed and I immediately started on the project. I then decided that if I did all the labor myself I could add in a new toilet, and new trim for the shower. Once I sent my landlord the picture of the cabinet I was buying he suggested I look into redoing the flooring which was twenty years old. YAY!!!! I adore my landlord!

I decided to so with a classic gray shaker cabinet with white quartz. I had the cabinet, countertop and sink in my prius within an hour and was heading home to unload and start my demo. Once I started the demolition I found mold, wet baseboards and soggy floors. Without even thinking about the cost I took out the floors along with everything else.

Once I got everything out and cleaned up I realized I needed help with drywall. I called several handymen and all of them were busy in the next few days. OKAY, that means I am going to learn drywall and save more money on labor. I researched the how to patch and repair drywall and was to complete the job but it took me much longer than it should have because I’m terrible at measuring.

Once I finished the drywall and started sanding I realized all the old paint, at least 3 layers, needed to be stripped off. That process took me lots of hours. Once that was done and I sanded and sanded and sanded more, it was time for the primer. I had decided at this point that I would also paint the shower tiles, which I had also researched. I love to paint so this was the easy part.

While waiting for the primer to dry on Sunday night, I started to assemble the cabinet because my plumber was arriving Tuesday morning to install the toilet, faucet and new shower fixtures so I needed to have the floors and cabinet installed and all the painting done. Once I opened up the cabinet box and realized I would need to “customize” the cabinet by jigsawing out several areas to accommodate the plumbing I panicked. I texted one of the handymen and asked if he was available to help me on Monday. By a miracle he said yes to Monday afternoon. YIKES, I didn’t have much time!

That meant I had to install the vinyl plank flooring and get two coats of paint over the primer before he arrived. I had already purchased the flooring and knew how to install it but I wasn’t sure if it was the perfect wood color. Monday morning I was at Lowe’s by 8am and once I looked at every possible option I realized the flooring I already purchased was the best option. I rushed home and put a coat of paint on the walls and then put in the flooring. I then put a second coat of paint of the walls and a half an hour later the handyman texted to say he was on his way over. I made it! He was fabulous and got the cabinet installed.

The next morning Cory showed up to finish all the plumbing installation and by late afternoon the bathroom was mostly done! I felt like I had climbed Mount Everest.

And then I added the backsplash, did all the caulking, put the mirror back up and all the accessories and I’m done! It was exhausting but just what my mind and body needed to help me deal with the stress I’m currently dealing with. This weekend Lou is going to help me add the baseboards and that’s a wrap.

I took this picture before putting the electrical plates back on, but did you really even notice ?

Anyways, that’s what I have been doing for the past few weeks. I hope your life has been a little less chaotic than mine.

xoxo tiffani