McBerkoBlog

The original clawfoot tub now has a new faucet and a shower!, which gives us a full working bath upstairs. We first thought the tub would require professional reglazing, but it turns out that some sanding/painting on the outside and a serious cleaning on the inside was all it needed. Shower conversion kit arrived last week and Bill set about the super-fun task of removing all the old parts and hooking everything up. Boy, does he love plumbing! Old faucet and previous "shower", a short length of garden hose with a plastic sprayer on the end: New faucet (which is so bright and shiny, pic doesn't do it justice, love it): Ready for shower curtains and final touches: It did take 5 trips to Lowes and 3 trips to Home Depot IN TWO DAYS (damn those old, non-standard plumbing sizes), but it works! In other news, I think the second color on the hallway is going to work (first one = too beige), so Bill will start on trim this week.

Do you know what this picture means?: That's right - there is now A/C (and heat) in our second floor! HVAC guys were here Wed-Fri installing a heat pump/A/C unit in the attic. We were really pleased with them, less so with the (expensive) electrician who had to hook everything up. Bonus: upgrading from the standard unit to the energy efficient one cost $1,200 extra but qualifies for a $1,500 tax credit . Thanks for paying part of the A/C, government!

We were all excited this week to finish the nursery. After finishing the final coat on the trim, we removed the blue painters tape from the walls. Sheets of the wall paint came off with the tape. In all the years we've been painting, I've never seen that before. Maybe related to the humidity when we were painting? The trim itself is fine, but we've got a LOT of touch-ups to do this weekend. Hopefully scraping, sanding, and touch-up paint will do the trick.

Bill's been plugging away on the nursery while I've been alternately sick and out of town. Last weekend, he added a ton of shelves to the closet so there's more storage in this small room. We're sure an older baby will see it as an exciting ladder, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. The top shelf you see in the picture that wraps across the corner has a matching second shelf above it. Bill also finished painting the walls this week, a very pale lavender (slightly less pale than the pic, but barely so). It's a bit lighter than I was shooting for, but will do - very calm. Bill's finishing up the trim on baseboards, door, and closet door today, then hopefully we can get all that trim and the shelves painted this weekend. Much closer to a room! Final step will be the trim on the windows, but we'll have to find replacement window weights first. (If anyone has suggestions about good sources for those, let us know!)