A month or so ago my parents were coming out to visit me. We always do a lot of things that I think my mom and I are totally into. And I feel like my dad just sorta gets dragged along...so I had this brilliant (hopefully you can feel the sarcasm there) idea that I would think up a "Dad Project." Thus the idea was born that my dad would help me refinish the upstairs guest bathroom.
While I'm not a project manager, I work on projects all the time at work and I'm familiar with risk analysis, boundary conditions, scope creep and all that.
And every single home improvement escapade I have been involved with has had issues with planning, scope and how to define when you're done.
So before proposing this fantastic bonding experience idea to my dad, I decided to set the boundaries.
Me: Dad - would you be interested in helping me with a little home project when you guys visit next month?
Dad: What do you have in mind?
Me: The upstairs guest bathroom. You know how I called you 15 times to help me through replacing the sink faucet, fixing the tile in the shower, re-grouting the shower tiles and re-caulking everything around the shower a year ago?
Dad: Yes...
Me: Well, I thought you and I could re-do the floor -- just linoleum like you showed me how to do in my old condo and put in a new vanity. So sorta finish out the renovation. And I thought it would be faster and more fun if you were here to show me how to do some of that -- like remove the old vanity and help me do the linoleum around the toilet since that seems more difficult than what we did last time. And I replaced the toilet seat recently so it's new.
Dad: That sound do-able. How big is the bathroom?
Me: Gosh. Hang on, let me get the tape measure out. But I can almost touch all the wall when I stand in the middle. Except the shower wall.
Dad: Ok. 6x9 probably. Are there issues with anything? Like plumbing leaks? Or cracks anywhere.
Me: Hey, yeah, 6 by almost 9. No, I, er, *we* fixed that moldy tile and the stuff we did last time is holding up fine. Except I really should clean that gritty stuff off the tiles still.
Dad [pointedly ignoring that I didn't finish the grout job]: Then should we paint too and put a frame around the mirror? You know, just to really spruce it up.
Me: No, I don't think so. I want this to be something we can do on Sunday and Monday while you're here and then you guys can go up to your cabin in the mountains.
Dad: Ok, sounds fun. Take an inventory of your tools and let me know what I need to throw in the car on the way our there. But think about the paint. It's relatively cheap and it makes a lot of difference.
I did think about the mirror frame. So much so that I found a lovely example of what I wanted: teal frame around the mirror, brushed nickel hardware and dark woodwork. Since our house has dark walnut finish on all the doors, floorboards and accents it seemed like a natural fit. And a way to save some money.
But that mirror thing ended up costing about $300 more ($80 for the new mirror to be cut down since the home-improvement store won't cut mirrors they didn't sell, $50 for paint and chair-rail type boards to do the framing and drywall screws to hang it, plus $180 for a new mirror and $20 for hanging supplies).
And inevitably the project took an extra day of my parents' vacation. Then it took an extra 3 weeks for me to fiddle with the mirror frame and finally decide it wasn't going to work and 1 more week of dragging Iggy to several stores to find a replacement mirror since the old one turned out to be way too big and I couldn't make the new one work.
On the up side it turned out really well. It inspired Iggy to want to do more. So this weekend we bought His-N-Hers projects. Of course, Iggy's project (replace the kitchen light that broke last year when the new roof was installed) is done and my project (paint the dining room wall) is still in progress.
Clearly we know why I'm not a project manager now...
In case you're wondering, here's the before:
And the After:
