Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Renovation

When we moved to South Carolina we bought a little bungalow on a historic street. It was practically perfect except for the main bathroom.

We felt like we could take on the the task of renovating, with the help of a contractor, since we had a little extra money from the sale of our condo in Atlanta and and a second bathroom to get us by while the work was being done. I interviewed a few people and found the perfect guy. He could do all of the work himself which would save us the hassle of hiring out painters, plumbers, and tilers separately.

Our contractor got to work ripping out everything down to the steal bar reinforcements under the concrete. We kept the tub, and had it buffed and reglazed. I couldn't see much of what was going on, but I could tell he was making progress, putting in beadboard, adding custom shelving, installing the vintage inspired tile, putting in the new pedestal sink. Finally he was nearly finished and taped off the room with sheets of plastic to begin painting.

That was when he mentioned, casually, that he was almost legally blind.

'Scuse me?

Sure enough, he finished the job and I started noticing things. The floor was unevenly tiled, the sink a little off, the paint job not so precise. Our new antique inspired bathroom looked a little too authentic. As in it looked almost exactly like the original bathroom, minus the Waverly wallpaper.

All that time and effort, and we were almost back where we started. I don't know what made me think about that bathroom, except I guess it describes exactly how I am feeling about my writing right now. I had a rhythm going before the summer and now it is all uneven, sloppy, and far from what I imagined it to be.

And this time I am the half blind contractor.

2 comments:

latisha said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
latisha said...

too funny. love the literary connections. toilet, water, renovation. such great writing here c!

yul get it back, MWW and deadlines. ya know it's key.

have you tried other writing promts? there are some fun communities out there on the web. i don't always share them on the sites, but it sometimes sparks the imagination.

I also use the prompts on photoblog sites sometimes too. whatever it takes to get the flow going when i'm feeling um... a little flushed creatively.