Aside from painting, 3 steps forward, 1 step back.

Finding other things to do last Saturday so I could wait for the paint sale wasn’t much of a problem. One annoying job that’s been looming over me for a while was that grout haze gunking up my bathroom floor. About a year ago. I hired people to tile my bathroom floor. They effed up, then they redid it, and it still wasn’t perfect the second time but I called it good enough. But what was not good enough was that they never came back to buff off the grout haze. I got a few false promises, and then and they said that they couldn’t get it off because I tracked dirt on the floor. I don’t know how they thought I’d be dumb enough to believe that. I fired them and pocketed the extra money. I tried fixing their mess by using ScotchBrite pads, but I was working up a sweat without seeing any improvement and then the blue dye from the pad started staining the grout! I gave up and ignored it for a year.

Finally, my dad found a YouTube video that showed how to do it. I used a nylon cup brush that you put onto a power drill. Also a mask, goggles, and ear plugs. Here it is now! Not perfect (yet?) but much improved. There are still a few bad stains from duct tape residue. Don’t worry, those will be easyto get rid of. This job made my hands sore, but in the end I saved a couple hundred bucks by getting screwed over, so it all worked out.

Then remember how I sent out two of my grottiest radiators?

They’e back! Blasted and primed white. I’m glad only primed because they’re already a little scuffed up. I’ll have to take better care of them when they’re painted for real. But also I’ll have the paint to touch them up so I guess it’s all good anyway.

So I’ll give my metalworker an endorsement. Larry at Wrought Iron Revivals in Conshohocken. I like him and the price was more than fair.

And then… a more mixed success story. My parents’ neighbor offered me the granite top from her kitchen island. My top priority for Phase 1 countertops is that they must be free. Second after that, I want them to be food safe and sturdy enough to last 2 years or so. So obviously I said I’d take it. And so her contractor dropped it in like the worst place possible.

Do you see that poor unfortunate day lily in the sink hole. He told me we had to move the top. But it was a little heavier than Daddy and I bargained for. It was a struggle, but we did get it off the perennials. Here’s the result:

Why yes, that dent is new! My dad was angrily looking at dent pullers when I left today. Even though he did it (thank God!!!) I feel a little bit responsible. So, it goes without saying that we will be cutting this up to fit my kitchen BEFORE it makes its way into the city.