Thinking Outside the (Money) Box

We’ve all done it; needed a repair, or wanted to make a small improvement, then, before we know it we are surrounded by contractors and applying for another line of credit. The possibility of what we could have, has steamrollered over what we originally needed, and our heads are filled with dizzying thoughts of how we can finally create the home of our dreams.

Lucky for me, this is often where my job begins; another opinion is needed, and the homeowner wants to talk through all of the options before they go ahead. I would never tell anyone not to spend their money, but I do believe in considering every possibility before going ahead with a project.

Recently, I was asked about a Bathroom; it was leaking into the room underneath, and the tiled shower floor needed to be replaced. The discussion quickly went from repairing the floor (which was over 20 years old, and would be difficult to match) to redoing most of the bathroom.

The quotes started to come in, and, like many of us, the thought of a new bathroom suddenly sounded better and better. But, as the changes started to add up, it became clear that it would cost far more than anyone anticipated.

After a lot of consideration, the homeowner decided to go ahead with the repair, and asked me if I could help her choose some new tiles to coordinate with the old. Adding to the challenge was that the shower also had a stone bench, and the bottom eight inches of the wall had to be replaced. I knew I couldn’t match the tile, but my goal was to make it look like it was deliberately designed that way, instead of a quick repair to a leaky shower floor.

So, armed with some colored photographs of her the shower, we met at the tile store on a Saturday morning. Still not sure how, but within forty-five minutes I had found a subway tile that was almost the same color as the existing wall, and a multicolored one for the floor that coordinated with the wall and the bench. A week or two later I got this email:  “It’s done, Wendy. I can’t use it till next weekend. Nonetheless it is done and looks beautiful.  Thank you Wendy”.

What I love about this story is, unless we had told you, you would never even know that this shower had been repaired...

Before                                                                       After 

Wendy E. Wrzos  http://wendyandthebluegiraffe.blogspot.com/