Newly resurfaced counter with new hardware.
The guys came Tuesday to resurface the tops of the vanities in the guest bath and the half bath, as well as the counter of the wet bar. I had arranged with them to come Tuesday morning, thinking I would have ample time on Sunday and Monday, after returning from our trip to Arkansas, to remove the faucets and sink hardware.
I had time, I suppose, but not the wherewithal. When I began to attempt to remove the faucets, it became apparent I wasn’t sufficiently strong nor sufficiently limber to get the job done. Lacking the proper tools did not help the situation. So my wife called a plumber on Monday morning. He had a hell of a time removing the faucets; his struggles helped relieve a bit of my embarrassment at my inability to do the job. He’s back today to replace the faucets, installing the new ones we bought to enhance appearance and functionality. It’s a good thing I didn’t decide to try to do any of this myself; he had to replace the water valves, as well. Fortunately, he had enough extra valves in his truck to do the job.
We’re doing this now to make the house more attractive to prospective buyers. That is craziness; we should have done this years ago so we could enjoy the results of this work. Instead, someone else will get the longer-term rewards (we hope, assuming the place sells when we put it on the market). Many of the upgrades and touch-ups and painting, etc., etc. that we kept deferring until later are now being done for the benefit of someone we don’t even know, buyers who might decide they don’t want resurfaced vanities but, instead, Italian marble or polished zebra wood.
Wherever we next move, I intend to act quickly to do what I must to make the place “right” for us. I won’t wait until I feel comfortable spending the money on the changes we want. I’ll never feel comfortable spending more money than I think a project should cost, but I’ll overcome that discomfort, getting the best price I can after doing my research to find out realistic cost ranges.
The idea of performing house surgery on our “new” place, whenever we find it, is appealing to me. I’d rather find an old place, with good bones, in need of renovation than a new place with no experience building character. I’ve lived in houses old and new. Older places have coped with time and the inevitable pains that accompany aging; experience humbles them. New houses burst with the arrogance of youthful inexperience, knowing nothing of the certainty of decay.
Houses. rebuilt and repaired and restored, can reclaim their former grandeur ad infinitum. There are days I would like to parallel that capacity, Monday being one of those days. My arthritic wrists and knees and hands wanted to be rebuilt, repaired, or restored on Monday. Lacking the ability to have that done, I had to outsource my house surgery. And I want to do what with our next house?
