Disarray!

The Pepto Bismol Bathroom is no more.

Magic Alan and his sidekick Marcello have had at it and stripped the bathroom to the nubbins.  Actually I think maybe the nubbins are gone too.  When we first saw the house with the Pepto Bismol pink master bathroom, circa 1954, I knew we had to live here.  Just to save the house from the bathroom.  Alan Claros and team moved in on Monday and have stripped even stuff we didn't think was going to go - like the white water-saving toilet that went into the dump ruck without so much as a 'by your leave': Alan just decided it was going.  And it did.

I kind of miss showering in the pink walk-in shower.  When you opened your eyes after letting the water run off your head, it suddenly looked like you were submerged in a gastrointestinal cleanser!

Guest bedroom with new holes

We've only been in the house for two and a half months but we are so settled that having the bathroom disappear and all of its contents go into assorted plastic bins has been unnerving.  We have spent months living in the "it must be somewhere" state of disarray.  And now we can't even find spare toothpaste, deodorant, and all those little things like floss and nail scissors that always seem to be out and about except when you really need them.  Does anyone know where "somewhere" is?  I usually can't find it.

Family room stripped of paneling and with new perforations

And just in case we haven't had enough self-inflicted disarray, Alan's friend Francisco (from Argentina, not the Bolivia that is home to Alan and Marcello) has arrived to help set the electrical system in  the house to rights: there were only three grounded 3 prong plugs in the house (and the overhead fan in the family room provides a nice tingling electric pulse when you touch it).  So Francisco and his team member are performing laparascopic incisions on the walls and ceilings to repair the electrical system.  Our freshly painted rooms are taking on the look of Swiss cheese -- BUT grounded plugs are appearing where there weren't any.

The dining room with new Swiss cheese holes

My mother always used to say that things had to get worse before they got better.  It must be just about time for them to get better because we are pretty near the "worse" part.  As they said so memorably in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, "It will be all right in the end, and  if it's not all  right, then it's not yet the end!"

I hope so.