I didn't really know about that part of moving because my parents had always rented (at least in my memory to that point) and renters aren't typically too big about changing out mismatched doorknobs or whatever.
My friend's mom told us that we shouldn't do what she was doing (frantically making improvements on her house so that the next owners could enjoy those changes) but should instead make the improvements for myself so that I get to enjoy them.
Cool advice, but perhaps not ultimately practical.
We've tried to make changes that we might be able to enjoy here, but mostly we just tried to keep up with the upkeep. I would say that we did get to enjoy the newly renovated basement (that was a good move) and the upstairs hallway bathroom has also been quite lovely.
Because remember that one time when the upstairs bathroom fell into the downstairs bathroom?
That was back in 2021—in case you're keep track—so quite literally five years ago.
We finished fixing the upstairs bathroom but have not touched the downstairs bathroom.
Except to install a $600 towel rack in 2023. We patched up that issue and painted the bathroom walls yellow and then I bought a shower curtain that I felt kind of tied in the yellow walls, purple cabinet, and blue (raw drywall) ceiling and we called it a day...for another three years.
Our realtor strongly advised us to fix that bathroom up before listing our house, so that's what we did this week! Because we know nothing about fixing things (see: $600 towel rack) we hired our favourite handyman and let him work his magic.
He actually laughed when he was our bathroom floor, which has been crumbling under our feet for the past seven years (and which has always been on our list of things to fix but which has always been bumped down on our list of priorities).
"Who decided to use wall tile on the floor?!" he asked.
Honestly, I have no idea because it was like that when we bought it! But its rate of deterioration sure does make sense now. Wall tiles and floor tiles are designed quite a bit differently (and while you can always use a floor tile on a wall, you cannot always use a wall tile on a floor).
He retiled the bathroom, finished drywalling the ceiling, installed a new ceiling fan, painted everything and...it's a whole new world in there! Not only does it feel strange to not have the tiles crunch beneath our feet anymore, but the floor is also about half an inch lower than it used to be so our internal gyroscopes are thrown off by the new floor and we feel a little bit like we're sinking into the floor when we walk into the bathroom.
At least we'll get to enjoy a nice tile floor for a few weeks before we let someone else enjoy it!
And speaking of floors and cracking tiles, I found a framed picture in the basement that had been broken—quite recently—while we were moving things around.
We had a hunch about who might have broken it.
This person really likes to stand on stuff. If something is on the floor they will go out of their way to stand on that item just because it's there. One of my most used phrases is: "That's not meant to hold the weight of a human!" So I probably should have known better than to leave a pile of picture frames on the floor...but sometimes you have to leave a picture frame sitting on the floor for a little while, you know?
These frames had been sitting on a box, but I wanted to take that box upstairs, so I put the picture frames down and...anyway...
I couldn't get anyone to admit to breaking the frame, so I took a picture of it to show at the dinner table while we were eating.
"I have never seen that picture in my life!" Alexander said (Zoë was equally adamant and Benjamin had barely been home). "I swear it wasn't me!"
"Okay," I said. "I just...wish whoever did this would have told a grown up because having broken glass around is dangerous."
"Well, it wasn't me," he said.
"I believe you," I said. "But do you know who could have done it?"
"I dunno—maybe Phoebe?"
"I have never seen that picture in my life," Phoebe mumbled into her chest, refusing to look me in the eye.
"Hmmmm..." I said. "Perhaps you've never seen it, but did you stand on it?"
She shook her head no.
"Well, I hope you didn't because it looks pretty sharp. Whoever broke this could have been hurt pretty badly. They should have told an adult so that adult could look at their feet and make sure there wasn't any broken glass stuck in their skin or anything."
Phoebe tucked her feet up underneath her on the bench.
"It wasn't me," she mumbled.
"Phoebe," I said. "No one cares about that picture frame. We have never displayed it in our house. We've always just had it sitting in the storage room gathering dust. I've been meaning to take the photos out of it for years! No one will be mad if you happened to break the frame—although I do wish you would stop standing on stuff—but we do want to make sure that you're okay. Did you break the frame?"
"I didn't mean to!" she protested guiltily.
"I'm sure you didn't mean to," I agreed. "But, again, I implore you to stop standing on stuff. Can I look at your feet?"
She had a number of superficial cuts on her foot, the silly goose.
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