In the garden, and RAIN!!! (2) by SIGNYM

REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

In the garden, and RAIN!!! (2)

POSTED BY: SIGNYM
UPDATED: Wednesday, June 24, 2026 01:06
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VIEWED: 291490
PAGE 152 of 152

Tuesday, June 23, 2026 12:55 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Yeah, SIX. I think a darker colour would work. A wood tone would be good to my eye.

Wait... what???... no!!!!

I didn't mean to have a 4th option added into the mix here.

I think maybe you seeing the wood handles on the faucet may have made you think that, even subconsciously? Good eye, if that's the case, because if I were keeping that faucet I believe I may have thought of doing that myself already.

I may not have mentioned it at all before, but I'm replacing that faucet. It's broke, and so is the drain in the basin. I will be replacing all of that with Oil Rubbed Bronze finish.

There is no wood grain tone anywhere in that picture in the future reality. Just a larger oil rubbed bronze faucet that matches my vanity light and the cabinet hardware.

But...

There is the wood grain on the backer board for the mirror inside the medicine cabinet...

No... that's pretty light wood in there. Much lighter than wood that I'd want to put on the wall there, so I couldn't even use that to justify it.

I'll have to sleep on it. Wasn't going to stay up all night painting anyway. But I should have everything that still needs to be painted the dark grey ready for their final paint and any touchups tomorrow. That should theoretically be everything once I've finished that and hung the towel rack shelf.

I am considering the possibility of adding several "holders" underneath the medicine cabinet and above the faucet. I always had them in my houses growing up and just kind of took them for granted until I was living here and didn't have them.

But I'll have to see if that's a bad idea that might take away from the value of the bathroom. I don't know about people's personal tastes on things like that when they're buying a home. I know I'd take good care of them, but even if they look great at selling time, unless you put it in there yourself or paid somebody else to do it for you, you know that other people have had their mouth germs from their toothbrushes in there. Especially after everybody endured Covid, I think these are good questions for me to be asking. I think if I find that issue is even 50/50 online I'm going to do without it and maybe buy something that can just sit on the basin or be hung temporarily that won't damage the wall long term.

ETA: Hey Brenda.... I didn't realize we were starting a new page, so I'm re-adding the picture for you to look at again to imagine the faucet being oil rubbed bronze metal with no wood on the handles.

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Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.

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Tuesday, June 23, 2026 1:13 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK

To help you visualize it further, this is kind of what I'm thinking for the faucet, Brenda.

I actually really like that design vs. the first 3 or 4 pages of results I looked at, but the price is way too cheap.

I already kinda cheaped out with that kitchen faucet and consider myself pretty lucky how good that faucet has held up over the years so far, but I know not to abuse it. As cheap as I am, $35 for a bathroom faucet in a world where I couldn't go to McDonalds and not leave hungry unless I spent $10 doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.

I absolutely hate, hate, hate, hate, hate plumbing and I'm only doing this once!

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Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.

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Tuesday, June 23, 2026 1:26 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK

Electric is fun. (At least in America it is...)

If you're playing fast and loose, you might decide that the time and effort spent finding the right breaker and flipping it first isn't worth it and you're making a gamble that everything goes smooth and you don't don't teach yourself a good lesson that you still haven't learned from the last time or two or twenty-two that you were taught it and it didn't stick.

But as long as you aren't standing in a puddle in your basement or ankle deep in tub water while you're doing it, you're probably going to be alright.

And if you screw something up, as long as you know the basics and have been putting safety and code first, the worst thing that happens is you have to do figure out what you did wrong, connect up all the bits the right way and fire it up again.

You mess up plumbing???... now you've got a big wet mess on your hands. 100 times as bad if we're talking about drainage or toilets and not just the clean supply-side water for the faucet.

Everything about plumbing is just awful. I still do everything myself up to and including swapping out sump pumps in my boxers, knee deep in freezing cold water, because that's how cheap I am.

But nearly every time I've ever have had to deal with plumbing, it was a different problem that required learning something new I'll probably never need to know again, and it's rarely ever been something I can bring to the next plumbing issue I've had to deal with. And at least half of those times it was in the middle of a goddamned mini-catastrophy too, so the added pressure is always fun.

Me? I'll take the occasional stupidity-reminder zap over working with water any day. I tip my hats to plumbers. I know it ain't rocket science and after 20+ years of mastering the trade it's all super easy to do, but for those of us who don't have those skills what you do is a godsend.

People don't really know, until they really know.

And most of 'em will never know.

PS (OR PSA): I do not suggest or condone swapping out any outlets or switches while the breaker is still on. Do not do that. It's something that a guy taught me a LONG time ago and how to do it carefully, but 20 years later it didn't miss me that he never worked on electric without the breaker being off first.

Not gonna lie... I thought about doing it today. In fact, I did get the old switch off with the breaker on, and I was 2/3rds of the way getting the old outlet off too... but the reason I turned off the breaker was hidden in that unexpected fraction...

Because, ya see... I should have only been 1/2 way done with the job.

But they did that thing I HATE (and should be against code if it isn't) where they just remove some of the coating off the neutral wire and wrap that around one single screw on the outlet and just continue to fish it down the line without ever cutting it.

Why shouldn't you do that if it works?

First off... Stop being lazy and just do it the right way.

But for real, Because, just as I knew was going to happen, I had abnormally short neutral wires I now had to tie back into the new GFCI outlet. And they NEEDED to be separate on the GFCI because the LOAD lines to the light and 2nd outlet are run from an entirely separate point on the back of the outlet from the LINE in hot/neutral on a GFCI. It's not just two separate screws that attach to the very same metal bar on the Neutral side of a normal outlet (the very reason it works just fine the wrong way on normal outlets).

I still did it without making pigtails since I've attached outlets to wires much shorter than this before (not in my house or of my own accord), but seeing stuff like this in old houses is what's so annoying about doing electric work in them.

Although... it is fun too.

That's why I've always liked working with it.

It's always a puzzle that needs solving and I've never encountered a time where I felt the difficulty of solving that puzzle was insurmountable, and it was always worth the payoff in the end.

But anyway... yeah. That stupid doubled up wire put an abrupt end to my attempting to switch the outlet to a GFCI while the power was on, but the good news is that the tension level while doing the work was downgraded from "Diffusing a Bomb" to only "Changing the Oil".

Yeah... My thrill-seeking days may have come to a middle, but Trust Me...

It was Game Over.

You do NOT want to find out what happens when you cut a neutral wire on a live circuit.

I may or may not still have a tool that could help you visualize what must have happened for it to come out of the fight looking like it does.

Poor thing never stood a chance.

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Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.

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Tuesday, June 23, 2026 3:17 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Nearly everything you wrote about wiring went by me. But I hear ya on the plumbing!

Oh, I'm 100% on dark color for the trim! It'll look like it's an intentional part of the cabinet.

And I like the look of the faucet that you're aiming for too. I hate those midget faucets that were so common back then. IDK if there's much difference between vanity faucet models, but when we had to replace the kitchen sink faucet I looked pretty hard at the dimensions and specifically bought one that not only had a high arch but also came out over the sink farther. That way, there's less splash behind when you put something into the stream. And BTW Delta won by 1".

*****

I thought last month was bad! Back in May, hubby had a trial spinal block and a followup, a Zio monitor for 2 weeks, a couple of presurgical appointments and serious sinus surgery. Daughter had a telemed and an ultrasound, and the van went in for service.

THIS month was worse! I developed a big lump on my leg, hubby's root canal crown fell off, our AC started leaking thru the ceiling, I had a followup with my internist and oncologist, two knee injections, foot X-rays (arthritis in both feet, which explains why they hurt), the van crapped out, the dog had a prolapse and required an emergency spay, the AC people found rats in the attic crawl space, hubby had another spinal block, and a sinus surgery followup. I have the pest control people here today, and long overdue followup with my nephrologist tomorrow. Hubby and I have dermatology appointments at the end of the month, and I'm due for an abdominal ultrasound same day.

Some of that is my fault. I am determined to get all the family ailments and complaints addressed to the best of my ability. The regular followups were just coincidental scheduling, and then there were emergencies.

But boy, I am so glad this effing month is almost over!

Maybe now I can stop the backward trend on everything else (decluttering, yardwork, financial plan) and maybe start making progress!

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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger

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Tuesday, June 23, 2026 6:42 PM

BRENDA

Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
To help you visualize it further, this is kind of what I'm thinking for the faucet, Brenda.

I actually really like that design vs. the first 3 or 4 pages of results I looked at, but the price is way too cheap.

I already kinda cheaped out with that kitchen faucet and consider myself pretty lucky how good that faucet has held up over the years so far, but I know not to abuse it. As cheap as I am, $35 for a bathroom faucet in a world where I couldn't go to McDonalds and not leave hungry unless I spent $10 doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.

I absolutely hate, hate, hate, hate, hate plumbing and I'm only doing this once!

--------------------------------------------------

Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.

Sorry about that SIX. Now that I see what you are going for maybe a gray colour would be better.

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Tuesday, June 23, 2026 6:44 PM

BRENDA

Back and in for today. Tired, tired, tired. Computer temp reads 33C which is 96F. So, yeah. A little toasty.

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Tuesday, June 23, 2026 7:21 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Nearly everything you wrote about wiring went by me. But I hear ya on the plumbing!

I'll put it in real simple terms...

Most electricity in most homes in America is very likely to give you shocks for being a dummy, but it probably won't kill you. Electricity flows like water and switches are Dams. GFCIs are dummy-proofed and automated dams. But unlike water, electricity doesn't make a big gross effing mess if you screw it up.

Quote:
Oh, I'm 100% on dark color for the trim! It'll look like it's an intentional part of the cabinet.

Nice. That's exactly what I was thinking. We know it's just trim, but that could look like there's an entire backsplash on the side of that wall for all anyone knows.

Quote:
And I like the look of the faucet that you're aiming for too. I hate those midget faucets that were so common back then. IDK if there's much difference between vanity faucet models, but when we had to replace the kitchen sink faucet I looked pretty hard at the dimensions and specifically bought one that not only had a high arch but also came out over the sink farther. That way, there's less splash behind when you put something into the stream. And BTW Delta won by 1".

Maybe if it's further into the bowl like you suggest, that won't be such an issue.

I'm also hoping that it's easier to clean back behind the new one than it is the current one. It's really designed poorly all around before you even talk about how the drain pull is broke. And the gap behind the faucet and the back of that basin is too small for me to put anything but my pinky finger back there when I'm cleaning with rags.

Would you know what a good price point for a bathroom faucet is today?

Unfortunately, I had a look at all of the faucets that I've saved and none of those are going anywhere in my house. The few that are in great shape and appear to be good quality are nowhere near the right color. So I am going to have to buy one of these.

I could take the oil-rubbed bronze faucet off of the pedestal sink my friend gave me if it fits, but then when I do the basement I'll have to buy a new faucet anyhow, so I might as well shop for the one I like. I don't know why I didn't factor in this cost at all on the job when I knew I needed to do it. Probably because I had so much of what I needed and just assumed the faucet was covered too until I figured out it wasn't.

I'm still at only around $50 for the whole job so far though, and over $30 of that was the 50 feet of 3/8" flex pipe I needed to buy for a 3 foot length. (Don't worry... most of the rest if not all of it will be used in the crawl space when I work on my dual sump pump solution).

Quote:
I thought last month was bad! Back in May, hubby had a trial spinal block and a followup, a Zio monitor for 2 weeks, a couple of presurgical appointments and serious sinus surgery. Daughter had a telemed and an ultrasound, and the van went in for service.

THIS month was worse! I developed a big lump on my leg, hubby's root canal crown fell off, our AC started leaking thru the ceiling, I had a followup with my internist and oncologist, two knee injections, foot X-rays (arthritis in both feet, which explains why they hurt), the van crapped out, the dog had a prolapse and required an emergency spay, the AC people found rats in the attic crawl space, hubby had another spinal block, and a sinus surgery followup. I have the pest control people here today, and long overdue followup with my nephrologist tomorrow. Hubby and I have dermatology appointments at the end of the month, and I'm due for an abdominal ultrasound same day.

Some of that is my fault. I am determined to get all the family ailments and complaints addressed to the best of my ability. The regular followups were just coincidental scheduling, and then there were emergencies.

But boy, I am so glad this effing month is almost over!

Maybe now I can stop the backward trend on everything else (decluttering, yardwork, financial plan) and maybe start making progress!

Damn... When it's raining it's pouring.

I hope July is a better month for you, Sigs. Been noticing how little time you've got to come around here these days, so I know you must be really busy.

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Tuesday, June 23, 2026 7:29 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK

Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Sorry about that SIX. Now that I see what you are going for maybe a gray colour would be better.

Oh... don't apologize, Brenda. I was just laughing because I already had 3 choices and now I had 4. It only bothered me because it wasn't a bad suggestion and it was something new to think about when I already had a big choice to make.

I think I am going to go with the dark grey, but out of the 4 choices I think that staining and putting some shiny poly on it would have been my 2nd choice in the end. White would be 3rd place. It would have really let everyone know that sink is very off-white and the light grey on the walls was in last place because I hate having any trim and wall colors that are touching with the same color paint.

--------------------------------------------------

Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.

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Wednesday, June 24, 2026 12:29 AM

BRENDA

Well, I'm still sorry about adding to your dilemma.

Hey, I'm Canadian. What can I say?

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Wednesday, June 24, 2026 12:35 AM

BRENDA

Now, I know why the dishwasher at the house. My boss has given up on washing dishes by hand but the kicker is she hasn't read the directions for using it.

Her hands must be bothering her. Her knuckles on both hands are at least 3 or 4times normal. That is arthritis.

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Wednesday, June 24, 2026 12:51 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK

Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Well, I'm still sorry about adding to your dilemma.

Hey, I'm Canadian. What can I say?

Nah... Think nothing of it. Could have just as easily been an idea I hadn't thought of but I ended up going with.

I just like it when I put a question out there and it is pretty unanimous.

I actually got a different answer from everyone on this. You said wood. Sigs said dark gray. My dad originally said light grey to blend it into the wall, but when I later showed him the pic with the primer piece in there and explained why I didn't like light grey or why the white wouldn't look good up against the sink, he said he thought the white would look great (and added "Don't hate me" with a smiley face).

So between 3 different people the three options I originally had and a new option were all picked.

I don't think i could have planned that to happen, and it probably will never happen again.

In the end, I just told him. "Whatever I do, I'm sure it's going to look good. Really, really good.".

I think I am going with the cabinet dark grey for sure now. When I pictured what that would look like in my mind, and even when I was right in the room but looking at it all from way above it, that didn't click in my head.

But when I showed that last picture from a much lower angle and had a new perspective on how that trim is actually going to look with it, it all kind of clicked for me.

It's hard to explain what I mean sometimes until after it's done, but I think that Sigs got exactly what I mean in her reply. What I first saw when thinking about going dark grey with that piece was just a little oddly shaped snake that came from the front of the cabinet and worked it's way along the wall like ivy and up the back of the basin where it ended.

I was still considering it while looking at it this way, and figured it would probably end up tying nicely into the medicince cabinet above in an interesting way... but I wasn't sold still that I wasn't going to regret it after I put it up.

But then when I saw it from that lower angle in that last shot I took after I finished the electric and looked at it after posting it here, it all clicked for me. It's not going to look like an interesting little snake that people wonder why I made that choice. I mean, from one angle I do believe that is exactly what it will look like, but from almost any perspective once it's up there, it should look as if that either was a part of the cabinet itself, or there was a quarter inch thick piece of wood as a backsplash along that entire wall behind the cabinet. That the tie in, and now that I see this in my head I know it's going to look great and nobody will be questioning that color choice.

This is one of the great things about posting this stuff here, I think. Even if you don't think you're helping out, any input that you do give is helpful even if I don't go with it. This whole thing is an exercise in trying to get info from different perspectives, and that's even my own. I've solved a lot of my own problems here over the years simply by having a place to write them out. I wouldn't just sit there in front of my computer and write things out to myself in word, so you just being here helps out even when I ended up answering my own question.

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Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.

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Wednesday, June 24, 2026 1:06 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK

The crazy thing about those two pieces of trim up there is that they're still up there exactly where I put them yesterday and there's not a single thing holding any of that up other than friction. It's not as tight as it was, but the first time I got it in there I was worried I wasn't going to be able to pull it back out and that was it. I shaved it down a little bit, but I'm going to have to be mindful of the amount of paint I put on it. Need enough to cover everything so I'm not cutting in touchups right up to the basin, but I can't have so much on it that it all peels right off as I put the piece in where it belongs.

As nice as it is having that thing in there tight and not ever in any danger of falling back there where I would literally never be able to get it back, I may have to consider doing a bit more wood removal so I don't have any post-paint problems. This could actually end up being a fairly difficult piece to hang since there is nowhere I could put a nail for support and the fact that it's wide in the back where it could fall and never be retrieved, but it's tight in the front. Everything has got to be level to the surface of the sink or it's going to look terrible.

I'm not going to enjoy doing it, but I might end up drilling a pilot hole in the back toward the top so I can have a screw in there to prevent my trim from ever falling back there. I don't think I could get it high enough to actually support the piece where it needs to ultimately be, but at least with that back there it takes away the stress of the possibility of losing the piece when I only have enough of that trim to make one more piece if I screw it up.

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Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.

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USER	POST DATE
Brenda	06.24 00:29
Brenda	06.24 00:35
6ixStringJack	06.24 00:51
6ixStringJack	06.24 01:06