I’m going to say this right now, so no one gets the wrong idea. I HATE REMODELING PROJECTS.
I just want them to go away. Quickly and quietly. So it was with that attitude I went looking for a general contractor this past month. Someone to make my headaches go away. Just fix it. Here. I’m going to give you money, and you give me my new bathroom. But, it doesn’t work that way.
See, we’d been putting off remodeling our bathroom for a long, long time. Too long. We knew the tub was dripping down inside the wall & floor, and that we were going to need to pull up the (cheap) vinyl flooring and mostly start over, but each time, the first item on the list was to find the remodeling software, and that’s where it stopped. Because I can’t get my head around how these programs apps work. Don’t get me wrong. When it comes to three dimensional thinking, I’ve got it made. I consistently and even recently tested off the chart in what used to be called “space relations.” I can look at a flat piece of paper with dashes on it, and put it together in my head, then rotate it in my head so I can see the different sides.
Perhaps that is part of the problem, I already know what I want to see, and the app doesn’t want to do it the way I want it done. But now, after almost hiring someone to come take care of the exterior of my house when we started off with doing the bathroom, (WTF?!) I realize that I can’t just give someone money and they will do it the way I want. *SIGH*
But, it has to be done now. I can no longer use the shower in my bathroom at all because it leaks/drips onto the ceiling below, which has turned to moldy mush from all the dampness. The walls in the bathroom are also going soft, a result of too much mold (even though I have bleached the bejesus out of it) and no venting. And when this bathroom is done, Ian’s needs to be done too, not to mention the kitchen. So I bit the bullet and went looking (again) for interior design/remodeling apps for my Mac. And came up with one that seems to kind of sort of work: Live Interior 3D. It gets good reviews on c|net and the App store, and people seem to like it. And, it does do what I want it to do. I think. maybe.
So, I try to get started. First, I actually go through the tutorials. This is all new, and I want to give myself as much of a hand up as I can. After listening and watching the tutorials, I am ready to start. The bathroom temple they have is for a bathroom that is at least four times as large as my puny bathroom, so I decide to go with a blank page. Mistake! The schematic top view looks OK, but if I try to look at it in 3D mode, all I can see is a small brick square. I guess that would be OK if I was designing an outhouse, but umm, no. I did manage to learn how to resize things things like doors, tubs, and the vanity/sink. SO, having learned that much, I go back to the kitchen-sized bathroom, and bring it down to the size of my little 5 foot by 9 foot bathroom.
Next, I have to go and measure everything - and not just length and width. How high is the window off the floor? And the vanity? Where does the tile enclosure start? And stop. How high is the edge of the tub? Where are the light switches and power sockets. And don’t forget about where the toilet fixtures and towel racks go. And what about the door. I can’t get it to go the right direction, and, and, and…… I think I may have encountered the second program app that is going to make me cry in frustration. Which is saying something since I have been working with computers for almost 40 years! (The first one was excel, btw).
I finally got so frustrated trying to see what the walls looked like in 3D (the cameras kept going to funky places), that I had to get up and walk away. Doing the dishes was better than trying to fight with that program any more. I realized that the only way that I was NOT going to get agitated was to have enough wine to not care, by which time I wouldn’t be able to use it anyway.
But, unlike the other times, I must go on. I have to get it figured out. And I have to start going to kitchen & bath places. And to the big box stores to see what’s out there. And reading the magazines, and all that crap. Because I don’t really have a choice. It’s either that, or I’m going to end up having my house repainted when I’m trying to get the bathroom done.
I just want them to go away. Quickly and quietly. So it was with that attitude I went looking for a general contractor this past month. Someone to make my headaches go away. Just fix it. Here. I’m going to give you money, and you give me my new bathroom. But, it doesn’t work that way.
See, we’d been putting off remodeling our bathroom for a long, long time. Too long. We knew the tub was dripping down inside the wall & floor, and that we were going to need to pull up the (cheap) vinyl flooring and mostly start over, but each time, the first item on the list was to find the remodeling software, and that’s where it stopped. Because I can’t get my head around how these programs apps work. Don’t get me wrong. When it comes to three dimensional thinking, I’ve got it made. I consistently and even recently tested off the chart in what used to be called “space relations.” I can look at a flat piece of paper with dashes on it, and put it together in my head, then rotate it in my head so I can see the different sides.
Perhaps that is part of the problem, I already know what I want to see, and the app doesn’t want to do it the way I want it done. But now, after almost hiring someone to come take care of the exterior of my house when we started off with doing the bathroom, (WTF?!) I realize that I can’t just give someone money and they will do it the way I want. *SIGH*
But, it has to be done now. I can no longer use the shower in my bathroom at all because it leaks/drips onto the ceiling below, which has turned to moldy mush from all the dampness. The walls in the bathroom are also going soft, a result of too much mold (even though I have bleached the bejesus out of it) and no venting. And when this bathroom is done, Ian’s needs to be done too, not to mention the kitchen. So I bit the bullet and went looking (again) for interior design/remodeling apps for my Mac. And came up with one that seems to kind of sort of work: Live Interior 3D. It gets good reviews on c|net and the App store, and people seem to like it. And, it does do what I want it to do. I think. maybe.
So, I try to get started. First, I actually go through the tutorials. This is all new, and I want to give myself as much of a hand up as I can. After listening and watching the tutorials, I am ready to start. The bathroom temple they have is for a bathroom that is at least four times as large as my puny bathroom, so I decide to go with a blank page. Mistake! The schematic top view looks OK, but if I try to look at it in 3D mode, all I can see is a small brick square. I guess that would be OK if I was designing an outhouse, but umm, no. I did manage to learn how to resize things things like doors, tubs, and the vanity/sink. SO, having learned that much, I go back to the kitchen-sized bathroom, and bring it down to the size of my little 5 foot by 9 foot bathroom.
Next, I have to go and measure everything - and not just length and width. How high is the window off the floor? And the vanity? Where does the tile enclosure start? And stop. How high is the edge of the tub? Where are the light switches and power sockets. And don’t forget about where the toilet fixtures and towel racks go. And what about the door. I can’t get it to go the right direction, and, and, and…… I think I may have encountered the second program app that is going to make me cry in frustration. Which is saying something since I have been working with computers for almost 40 years! (The first one was excel, btw).
I finally got so frustrated trying to see what the walls looked like in 3D (the cameras kept going to funky places), that I had to get up and walk away. Doing the dishes was better than trying to fight with that program any more. I realized that the only way that I was NOT going to get agitated was to have enough wine to not care, by which time I wouldn’t be able to use it anyway.
But, unlike the other times, I must go on. I have to get it figured out. And I have to start going to kitchen & bath places. And to the big box stores to see what’s out there. And reading the magazines, and all that crap. Because I don’t really have a choice. It’s either that, or I’m going to end up having my house repainted when I’m trying to get the bathroom done.
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