During yet another full day working on the old farmhouse, we got to see some progress. The bathroom is ready for the plumber, and one of the walls is almost framed out in the kitchen.
Funny thing about the bathroom. I kept thinking the new tub had to go where the old tub used to be, which would have been fine if we were using the same kind of tub that had been there. But we want a clawfoot tub and we were having the darndest time getting the bathroom to work without having to get a very small clawfoot tub.
Then it suddenly hit me standing there watching Bob work on one of the bathroom walls: Was there any reason why the old tub had to go where the old tub had been? I asked Bob. He said no. Turns out he thought that was where I wanted it to go, and I was stuck thinking that’s where it had to go…only because that’s where it had been.
Once he said it could go anywhere, I was happily grabbing chalk and a measuring tape and totally changing the bathroom layout, as you can see in the picture. Now we have more than enough room for a good-sized 5 1/2 foot clawfoot tub!
It’s an interesting thing, though, to step back and look at how the brain works. Because the old tub was in the corner to the left, that was the only place I could envision the tub being. My brain was trapped! We do this in life all the time, and it’s a real challenge to think not only outside the box but outside of what has been to see what could be.
OK, that’s my pedantic moment for today. Let’s just say, the bathroom is ready for the plumber, and it’s going to be adorable. We also scored a new window for it that will let in lots more light.
We’ve also made progress in the kitchen, where we ran into other snafus. Not the same snafus the bathroom offered up, but snafus nonetheless! Working around the beam currently holding up that end of the house, Bob was able to start framing the exterior wall.
We also scored a great new window for that wall, one that will sit over the kitchen sink and give me a wonderful view of the orchard while washing dishes. Bob was frustrated with only being able to frame part of the wall at a time due to the beam, but he was happy to get it up and level as you can see in his smiling face. 🙂
Next up is figuring out how in the world to attach the exterior wall to the framing. It was so rotted through from a plumbing leak that was never dealt with that the floor and wall were no longer connected. We are framing out a new wall, one that will be rot-free and have much-needed insulation, but now we have to figure out how to connect the outside wall in such a way that the new framing will bear the weight of that wall. Hmmmmm….
So we are still framing, not farming, and I suspect it will be a long time before the “farm” part of Literal Road Farm becomes, well, literal!
I love that your place is on Literal Road…makes me happy. I know what you mean about being stuck in our head with old ideas…and yet we keep doing the same things over and over expecting those different results. I know…the definition of insanity. But if we all do it, perhaps it’s really about being human!