Projects, Why?

This is a bit of a rant about home projects and how they never seem to go as planned.

The New Guest Bathroom
Elkridge, MD
August 26, 2020

Yesterday, I made 3 trips to Lowe's for supplies to complete the bathroom project that I started on Monday. And they were all trips for one or two items. This is after going to two separate Lowe's to get the sink, faucet, paint, and mirror. Thankfully, we are blessed with multiple Lowe's in the region.

It started out as a simple project--replace the outdated pedestal sink. Oh and paint the room while everything was out of the bathroom.  And replace the shower curtain and rod. And replace the towel rack. And replace the mirror above the sink. And . . . fortunately the toilet was deemed to be acceptable. In the image, the miser is not yet installed, that is part of this afternoon's work along with a towel rack.

It was the "Ands" that made the project tough. Something seemingly simple became complex and without a PERT chart to guide me, the project devolved into anarchy. That the bathroom is large enough for only one person to work comfortably did not make the situation any better.

The delay last evening was plumbing related. Somehow the parts I needed to finish the drain on the new sink got confused with trash and yesterday was garbage day so there was no way to even dig through the trash to find the missing parts. Although, I did dig through the refuse anyway holding out a narrow hope. That was my third trip to Lowe's at 8 PM--to get the parts necessary to complete the drain. 

A project that should have taken not more than about 2 days is now heading into day 4!

Projects! Something to keep busy. Too busy.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD