Just One Thing . . .

After the big, beautiful, accessible shower was completed, Team Galdamez (Contractor Juan and his assistant Noe) moved on to the vinyl floor, the toilet, and the vanities. That’s right, vanities, plural. This bath is a huge room, so there are sinks and vanities for each end because I wanted a place to wash a few dishes downstairs, but didn’t want to give up the fancy sink I had fallen in love with. But, after all the demolition time that had necessitated closing off the whole area, first priority was installing the new toilet, since this is the only bath on this floor of the house.

Since I was tearing out or moving pretty much everything in this bath, it made sense to get a new toilet. The special features of this one are chair height (so I could ditch the unstable booster seat), “power flush” (no more jiggly handle and multiple flushes) and a hand-held, temperature-controlled bidet sprayer (see the sprayer clipped on the side of the tank). This is a new product from Shattaf (the temperature mixing valve is the new part) which I bought from Amazon. Note: that route had annoying, repeated delivery issues. The first order came incomplete (missing the sprayer part). The replacement orders (yes, I had to reorder THREE times) kept being redirected to my PO Box instead of the street address I specified on the order. I’d recommend going direct to Shattaf or another merchant if you can. For those with mobility issues, I can confirm that getting chair height instead of standard height toilet is very helpful. One more accessibility option added is a new grab bar installed on the wall.

Next priority after the toilet was putting in the vanities and sinks. In the process, I discovered a neat fact about online shopping. If you put an item on a shopping list (or put it in your cart and then hit “save for later”), within a week or so the store usually puts it on sale or offers some sort of discount, like free shipping. I put several choices for vanities in a wish list at Home Depot, and sure enough they got put on a “one day only” 60% off sale! That’s when I made my final choice and purchased them. So it is really a plus to pick some possible choices early and then watch to see if the prices change.

I was able to get cabinets from the fancy-shmancy “designer collection” for less than the basic plain offerings because of that sale. One is 48″ and the  other is 60″ wide. The shorter one has drawers on the sides and the open space with doors in the middle — I chose that to accommodate placement of the planned double sink. The longer one has the doors on each end, because the plumbing for the sink was planned to be at one end. For both I ordered the new “Thinscape” composite countertops. These are engineered solids made from layers of paper, so the pattern goes through and the edges can be cut or routed and shaped as needed. It comes in 48″ and 76″ lengths with backsplashes included. They looked good, but plans changed.

Because I was unfamiliar with the differences in which sinks work with vanity cabinets versus base cabinets, the double bowl, stainless sink I had ordered did NOT work.  It was HUGE and would have taken up the entire 48″ cabinet top. So, we had to ditch that counter (i.e., return to store) and get something that would work with a smaller sink. I asked Juan (my contractor) to pick a top that would work while he was at Home Depot getting other supplies. He picked a gray and white stone pattern that works great. It came with the sink built in (which speeded up the installation) and it works fine for my purposes (being able to wash out the few dishes I keep downstairs). It’s difficult for me to climb the stairs to the kitchen, so I tend to cook in bulk, load up the downstairs fridge, and then microwave small portions later. That’s why this sink has the pull down sprayer type of faucet — to make it easier to wash those dishes.

The other vanity cabinet was delayed because of delivery issues — basically Home Depot’s website was having major malfunctions. Stuff would show up as “available in store”, but when I’d place an order it would switch to a projected availability of weeks and weeks away. Sometimes Juan would go to Home Depot and find out that the item was actually there, but the online ordering just didn’t show it. Other times he’d go to pick up an order the website said was ready and it would not really be there. When I’d call the 800 number for Home Depot the staff would confirm that their system was messed up, that even they could not see the correct status of items.

The main vanity (the one I use for traditional purposes (getting ready, brushing teeth, doing hair, etc.) has a lovely glass vessel sink that I got from Wayfair, along with the farmhouse pump type faucet in “oil rubbed bronze” finish (looks black with brass highlights). The mirror is framed with the same finish. The black Thinscape counter was picked to showcase this sink. The red and gold colors will be complimented by most of the artwork I plan to hang in this space. This also allowed me to unpack a blown glass art sculpture I bought 15 years ago, but have had packed away for 10 years. The colors match perfectly. I love it when a plan comes together.

I had originally purchased an identical bronze-framed mirror for the other vanity/sink, but when Juan opened the box, the mirror was shattered. He commented that the bronze color frame wouldn’t work as well over this vanity now that we had changed the counter color. I agreed and asked him to pick one that would work. He planned to get a white or gray frame for the replacement, but found one in brushed nickel that matches the fixtures on this sink. The chest of drawers and pie safe that I use for storage were also moved back into place (I have plans to refinish the chest). The door you see in this pic leads into the crafts area, which is another installment in my remodeling story. There will also be more about this room once I get all the artwork hung (some I already have, but some of it is new — bought just for this remodel — and still in transit from the artists to me).

New accessible shower

For my 69th birthday, I embarked upon a major home redecoration/rearrangement. The whole idea was sparked by a piece of artwork I saw online (that’s another story that is coming — look for “Crimson Rose”) and purchased. Putting up that first piece of new artwork changed my whole mindset — letting me realize I could control my environment to improve and enhance my mood, as I learn to deal with my new widowhood.  This rethinking and redesign includes a major remodel of the bath area in my home.

The original downstairs bath area included a tiny stall shower, a tiny vanity with a shallow oval basin, and a huge hot tub that I never used (and in fact due to my  medical implants, am never supposed to use). Those had to go! The first and most critical part of the big bath remodel was putting in an accessible shower. This 4’x6′ space was once a 4-person hot tub, with a row of wall-to-wall steps to climb in. Used only once since I bought this house years ago. it was a big waste of space. I wanted a much more usable option that would accommodate future medical needs. But, since I am an artist, a key in all my remodeling choices is that functionality can be beautiful!

It is inescapable that with age and disability come the need for more space (for example, so that a home nursing aide has room to assist if needed). Things like grab bars and non-slip surfaces become primary considerations, along with the need for accessories like shower chairs and/or stools. For some people (including me), glass doors are too restricting to use for access. So, every option picked for this remodel was done for a combination of reasons that include accessibility, safety, ease of cleaning, and esthetics! No reason functional should have to be boring.

Team Galdamez — see instagram.com/supergaldamez

From the ground up (literally–the team had to jackhammer old concrete to install a new drain!), the project started with selection of a pebbled floor tile. The pebbled tile gives some texture, so that the wet floor is not slippery. Home improvement stores (most of my stuff came from Home Depot) offer a variety of pebbled tiles, mostly in neutral colors. Shop with care. Some tiles with this look are just flat slices of rock or marble–those give the same look, but don’t have the texture I was looking for to provide a non-slip surface.

Jeffrey Court brand, Bailey Grey Pebble Tile

Because several people have told me they are in the midst of planning their own accessibility remodels, I’m including info about products I used. This  is  the  tile  I picked for the shower floor.  It  is Jeffrey Court brand, Bailey Grey Pebble tile.  I had originally selected a different  tile (from the same company) that had some darker pebbles, including brown tones. Changed to this because of better availability/faster shipping. That tile change resulted in switching to a different sheet vinyl for the room flooring.  So glad that happened, because I just love the new vinyl, AND it was less expensive than the original choice.

The final vinyl is Trafficmaster Grayson Wood sheet vinyl, shown here.  It  is usually available in stock  for low prices, and is a nice, thick product.  In  addition to the bathroom, I’m having it installed in my adjacent art/craft room, which previously had only a small vinyl area (with the rest carpeted — not so good when working with glue, paint, beads, etc.).

For the shower itself, I decided to go with a fancy, spa-type fixture. I found a combo from Pulse where ONE fixture combined a “rainfall” type showerhead  with a handheld spray and three directed body spray nozzles. It is possible to relax under the “rainfall” and still have jets massaging your back. Or you could sit on a shower chair and  use the handheld spray, with or without the “rainfall”. There are grab bars installed on each side of the shower, and an extra one to aid in stepping over the shallow threshold.

Making all these changes was not simple. The first step was a lot of clearing stuff out and de-construction. In the process, the contractor found that the preexisting ceiling fan was not properly vented–it just went into the space between the ceiling and the kitchen floor above. Good thing I hadn’t been using that fan to vent moisture! He routed a new vent to the outside and put a protective cage over the exit flaps to keep birds from getting in when the vent was open. Making sure the drain was properly placed for the shower required busting up the concrete floor under the old hot tub, then repouring a small section. For the beauty aspect, he added a run of pebble tile up the shower wall, highlighting a niche shelf for shampoo, etc.

The contractor really showed his awareness of accessibility concerns by spotting an issue I had forgotten about–the door that led from the bathroom to the bedroom was only 24″ wide — too narrow for me to use with a walker. I remember how awkward it was after surgery to push the walker through that narrow opening sideways while hanging on to the door frame for balance. He widened the doorway and put in a 32″ door, matching the other entrances, and pushed back another wall to match. It really opened up the space.

The other accomplishments in this first stage including adding extra electrical outlets, removing unnecessary switches,  and replacing the old standard height toilet with a “chair height” toilet.  The height change really makes a difference for folks with mobility issues. There had been a “booster seat” on the old toilet, but it never felt stable (and that combination made cleaning the bathroom more difficult). Got an extra grab bar installed on the wall beside the toilet as well. The new toilet is a “powerflush” model  — the ads show it flushing a set of pool balls LOL. Sure beats the old model with the jiggly handle that often took multiple flushes. It has a “skirted” base (instead of being shaped like the pipes inside, the base just goes straight) which also makes cleaning easier.

There are still some minor items to be completed in this space — installing mirrors and outlet cover plates, and some minor paint touch ups. Next blog  installment will include the vanities, sinks and décor items. Coverage of the decorations will include profiles of the artists whose work I’ve chosen for this space. Meanwhile the remodeling team moves now to the adjoining room, where they are doing new flooring, and installing base cabinets, including a small bar sink (so I have a convenient place to wash out my paintbrushes).