Finding Small Pleasures to Stay Patient

We are stuck in bathroom remodel limbo...short on time and short on cash. There we hang. Projects came to a screeching halt. The beadboard walls to a chair rail height are incomplete, but promising. The floor is in various stages of major and minor disrepair. I have grown deaf to the parts that shout "Finish me!" But some days, like today, I become impatient with the process and tired of the waiting. I just wish the bathroom looked more like what it does in my dreams. That day is not in sight yet.

So today, I figured out some little steps I could take to make a big difference. These steps will buy me more time and keep me patient. I started by using frames I already own to display the California vintage postcards and orange labels we want to display in the bathroom. Two sets of four prints in brown frames are now ready to hang. They will look great, and personalize and warm up the space, adding some visual interest (and distract from the ravaged floor and partial beadboard walls). I'm excited about that.

Next, I took some birthday money and headed to the store. One of our two tan bath towels has basically shredded, giving me permission to replace it. I started out buying two new white bath towels. Finally! Towels that match the bathroom colors! I feel a sense of relief and simple style. White towels bring hotels and spas to mind -- a sense of ahhhhhhhhhh.

Then, I bought a white shower curtain -- again to match the bathroom colors. We currently have a tan shower curtain, and I cannot even remember why we thought that was the color direction we wanted to go. It just doesn't work. Anyway, the new white on white stripe curtain is classy, but too long. If my tall husband approves, we'll just raise the shower curtain spring-rod -- easy enough.

I also got two curtain rods, one for the door window, and one for the wall window. My mom and I made curtains on Saturday when I was visiting in Ohio. We picked out fabric and she worked her seamstress magic. I got the curtains I'd pictured in my mind -- simple, crisp, clean, private but letting in light. Very happy!

My mom is 87 and still sews like a professional and her mind works with measurements like an engineer. I feel the love come through in the projects with which she helps. The curtains cost less that $6 total and that beats anything I saw in catalogs. I had a hard time finding simple white cafe curtains in stores, so it worked great to make them.

So, just a few little changes start to tie the room together and help me gain a sense of hope and peace as I wait patiently for circumstances to change, permitting the room to be completed. Ah, the joy and challenge of caring for an old, charming home.