TL;DR: Analysis paralysis!

Okay, so I need to face reality concerning the bathroom. One thing is that I was recently informed by the contractor that I still have an outstanding invoice on the work that was done this spring. Yikes! I was sure I had paid all the invoices, but apparently not, so I need to take care of that right away, and unfortunately it’s a big chunk of change.

Another thing is that I had an electrician from another firm stop by to give me a bid on finishing off the job, but he said he basically couldn’t do anything until the wall surfaces were finished. I had called him in to see about moving some of the wiring that I wasn’t happy with, but I’m realizing now that I maybe should just go with how it is for the sake of making progress. It may be that I can’t have the washing machine in the bathroom after all, but maybe it isn’t such a bad thing to plan for keeping it in the kitchen. It’s not the most aesthetically pleasing thing in the world, but i’m pretty sure I could make it work. And as for the weirdly placed outlet for the ceiling lamp, the new electrician mentioned that it might work to install a fixture with track lighting instead of the simple round ceiling fixture I had been envisioning; maybe something like this?. That suggestion kind of unlocked things for me mentally.

So, really the next step is getting the damned floor and walls plastered. I’ll readily admit that I am terrified to do this job, even after having taken a class earlier this summer. There are so many steps and logistical hurdles to overcome, and the plastering itself is an art form that requires a high skill level.

To take one step in the right direction, I went back to the microcement place in Oslo today after work to look at color samples. I still can’t quite shake the notion of having a kind of soft pinkish beige color in the bathroom. They had a sample there done in a color called “Duft” (“scent”), which is NCS 1606-Y75R (shown here next to the pink sample I’ve been carrying around with me for a while now):

It’s a little too gray and cold for my taste, so I’m not quite convinced. I put it next to a microcement sample done in the “Eggwhite” color I’m using for the bedrooms and trim throughout the house, just to see how it worked:

That made it seem a lot warmer, but it’s still too grayed out for what I have in mind. (It also convinced me not to do the bathroom in white microcement; I definitely want a color.) So, I went digging around on the internet and found another option, a color called “Deco Pink,” which is NCS S1510-Y70R. I think this is more what I have in mind. You can see the two next to each other in this picture from a Swedish (hence the alternate spelling of “Duft”) color chart from Jotun:

The more I look at them, the more I think “Deco Pink” might be what I’ve been looking for. I noticed too that Jotun recommends “Egghvit” as one of the whites that coordinates with “Deco Pink,” but not with “Duft,” probably because of how grayed out “Duft” is.

So, it’s not like I’ve made any real progress on the bathroom. As soon as I pay off the last invoice I need to figure out how much it will cost to get all the microcement supplies, and also a way to transport it all up to the farmlet. I wish it were realistic to start on this during fall break the first week of October, but there’s just no way. Instead, I’ll try to spend that week completing the painting of the north bedroom, including the floor. I’m super excited about the blue that I’ve decided on for that (Gjøco calls it “Sky” and it’s NCS 1215-R76B, which appears to be the same as Jotun’s “Risør,” though I’m not 100% sure), and it’s also a project I know I can complete successfully, so there’s that. Here’s the Gjøco color sample:

Hmm. I never thought I’d be going for pastels like these. Seeing them together for this post kind of makes me not want to have baby pink and baby blue in rooms right next to each other. I may have to go back to the other option for the north bedroom floor, which is now a kind of sand color calle “Skimmer” (NCS 2004-Y50R):

Gah, I don’t know! Analysis paralysis, much?

Pushing through

One of the things about living with a chronic illness, even a super mild one that is supposed to subside over time, is that it forces you to re-think your limitations. I was really hoping to get a first coat of paint on in the north bedroom this weekend, even though I knew that was probably overly ambitious. This morning when I woke up, however, I knew there was no way I had the energy to do it, even though strictly speaking I do have the time. The reality is, I actually did get a lot done this weekend. In addition to working on exposing the beadboard paneling in the kitchen, I:

• Pried up the last bit of flooring that was wedged under the stairs

• Cleaned up the shopvac, which was completely covered with fine dust from the big floor sanding job a few weeks ago, and changed the bag (this is a bigger job than one might think!)

• sanded the rest of the painted floor in the north bedroom

• caulked (most of) the gaps between the walls and molding in the north bedroom

• bought more primer, paint, and caulk and got some questions asked at the local hardware store

• Had a nice long conversation over tea with the neighbors

• Cut down the line on the clothesline because it was breaking and needs replacing (I bought new line for it, but wasn’t up for stringing it up)

• primed the walls in the north bedroom

I mean, that’s a decent amount of work, and every little bit helps. Here’s what the bedroom looks like this morning, after last night’s marathon session with the primer:

I didn’t end up priming the ceiling because it was already getting late by the time I had finished the walls and trim. Not sure whether I’ll bother to do it. I kind of think it doesn’t need it.

One neat thing is that yesterday afternoon I was poking around in the barn and on a whim opened up the door to a little room that is basically empty except for a table and a few random things. Much to my delight, I discovered that there was a step ladder in there that I had somehow failed to notice the other times I’ve looked in that room. It was exactly what I needed for this paint job:

Yay! I’m super excited about it (and, of course, about getting this much closer to finishing the north bedroom).

The reason I went into the barn was to look for the old windows in the chicken coop. Sure enough they were there, but I have to admit they were a big disappointment. Here’s one of the casings (check out the folded up spark behind it):

And here are the window themselves:

There’s nothing very exciting about these, and I doubt there’s any point in restoring them. I would probably be better served by getting new, more energy efficient windows. At least now I know that the casings are all about 110cm tall, compared to the 100cm of the current ones. Oh well, my fantasy of charming old windows was fun while it lasted, and these are now calling out to be made into a little greenhouse or cold frame!