When we left off, I had finished the floor and needed to wait another day for the grout to set up. D— jumped in to help me with the painting and the moulding. He painted all the bead board panels and moulding. The biggest tip I have for anyone who takes a room down to nothing like this is to paint all your moulding before you install it. It’s far easier to touch up nail holes and caulk than it is to paint it on the wall.

This all took several days and wasn’t real exciting to see. It was, you know, like watching paint dry! One of the most challenging bits was making sure I drilled all the holes for the water lines in the right places. I only had one chance at it, so I couldn’t screw it up. I measured AND made a paper template. Between the two methods, I was right on the money. And the drilling kit that you can buy for installing door knobs was exactly the thing to use. It comes with a hole saw (worked for the sink drain hole) and a 1″ drill bit (perfect for all the water lines, toilet too). I did have to shut off the water to the house and remove the quick shut-off valves, so I did this wall first.

Once all the wood was done, the plumber came back out and installed the sink and the toilet. I got really lucky, because I hadn’t measured the height of the sink before I cut any of the paneling. If the sink had hit the chair rail, I would have had to cut a notch out. Cue a big sigh of relief when the sink landed about 1/4″ below the chair rail. >Whew!<

Now I, too, can flush golf balls. Supposedly that’s how powerful this low flow toilet is. Not that I would ever try it. Here’s the done deal.

Don’t you just want to camp out in here all day? Let’s no one ever feels like that. But at least we’ve reduced our water usage and eliminated another vestige of ’70s decorating.