Our house is in a mess, with renovation of bathrooms going on. We are doing this not by choice but by compulsion.
The reason: the water pipes running inside the walls have to be changed because they have corroded over the past 20 years since the building was built and water is dripping into the storey below.
The pipes then were GI (galvanised iron) pipes. They are now being replaced with PVC (polyvinyl chloride) pipes.
We were told that the entire bathroom would have to be broken down and rebuilt with new tiles and fixtures/fittings/accessories.
Actually, only one wall and the floor would have to be broken to replace the pipes.
But then it would have looked really bad to have just one wall and floor with new tiles and others with 20-year-old ones.
We had no choice but to go for a complete renovation, though even after 20 years, neither the wall/floor tiles nor the bathroom fixtures were in such a condition that they had to be replaced.
Felt quite bad at the thought of the bathrooms being broken down. We had no choice.
After the new pipes were laid, the time came for us to buy the tiles and bathroom fixtures.
It's the first time in our life that my wife and I were visiting a showroom to shop for such things!
When the flat was built, unlike some of our neighbours, we went along with the choice of the builder since they were good.
At the showroom, we were spoilt for choice.
The washroom fixtures/fittings were of various sizes and shapes in all sorts of designs. The tiles were more difficult to choose because there were too many combinations of colours and designs.
We realised it was pointless to spend too much time looking at everything. We quickly narrowed down the entire range to a few that served the basic functional purpose of those fixtures and fittings, which came within our budget and which looked good.
The whole exercise must have taken at most 30 or 45 minutes.
We were surprised when the showroom executive told us that some customers took three or four days to make their choices!
I don't think we would have made any better choices if we had spent three or four days!
What about you? Have you been in such situations? Do you make such choices quickly, or do you take a very long time?
Smiled at the last paragraph. My late wife always took less than 5 minutes in selecting Rs.35 k kancheepuram silk saree. The sales guys could not believe because others took 4 hours and leave without buying to shop in some other store.
ReplyDeleteThat's quite fast. But I am sure she must have been very sure about what exactly she wanted.
DeleteHari OM
ReplyDeleteI am pretty decisive - but then again, I will spend quite some time online researching colours or models of things so that when actually shopping it is for specifics and all the bamboozlement removed! YAM xx
Hi Yamini - Doing a bit of homework is always helpful.
DeleteI could SO relate to this Pradeep - we had to choose new tiles for our kitchen renovation and ended up choosing between two that we liked -then we found one was unavailable - so that brought us to just the one, and we're very happy with it. Sometimes your first choice is your best choice - the same thing happened with paint colours....SO much choice and I ended up settling on the first shade that appealed. Too much choice makes it really confusing.
ReplyDeleteHi Leanne - Not just with paints and tiles, for almost every product, manufacturers nowadays offer a lot of choices. Probably, they think it increases the chances their products being sold. But then we end up getting confused.
DeleteI am glad you were able to get the right choices for the tiles and the paint.
Over the course of twenty years, styles and fashion will have changed. Look at it as an opportunity to modernise and make the bathrooms look so much better. We did so about eight years ago with our then seventeen year old bathrooms and were and still very happy with the result. Although, I must add our tiles are nice and they weren't touched.
ReplyDeleteHi Andrew - That's precisely what we realised. We saw how our earlier fixtures were now looking ancient! Had we not been compelled to change, we would never have done it. So, it's good it happened!
DeleteEarlier, while shopping on Amazon, I used to take a long time reading many reviews, etc. But nowadays I am faster.
ReplyDeleteHi Rajesh - For me if I keep researching, it's never going to end. I might end up not purchasing anything at all! So, I set a deadline and get done with it.
DeleteBravo pour ce choix rapide et efficace ! Refaire une pièce n'est pas drôle, surtout la salle de bain, et plus vite tout est opérationnel, mieux c'est. I can easily get overwhelmed by the variety of choices, and spend a lot of time in a store...
ReplyDeleteHi Frédérique - C'est vrai. Il faut refaire parfaitement la salle de bain car c'est la pièce que l'on voit le premier et le dernier chaque jour. N'est-ce pas?
DeleteOof, renovations are such an ordeal. Especially when they "have" to be done. Hopefully these pipes last a while.
ReplyDeleteYes, Jeanne, these PVC pipes are long lasting. Also, in case they develop a problem, one need not break the entire wall. Only a few tiles need to be removed to replace the problematic portion of the PVC pipe.
DeleteMy husband and I had one bathroom renovated many years ago. It's a shame we didn't do the other one to match. Oh, well. Both back then and in 2011 for our kitchen, we chose quite fast and remain content. Best wishes!
ReplyDeleteHi Darla - It's okay, even if they don't match. If you preferred that way, it's fine. Nothing to feel bad about it. After all, style and design are very subjective, is it not?
DeleteI'm sorry you had to change out your bathroom, but what fun since you're at it. I know, it feels like a waste, but it's a great way to update your look. I'm impressed that you managed to make a choice that quickly. There's nothing wrong with taking your time to get just that right look.
ReplyDeleteHi Pradeep - I make instant decisions ... it's the easiest and I'm not usually wrong, maybe not artistically clever - but honestly one can change things around with loose furnishings etc ... well done you - time wasting otherwise!! I hope it's all fixed and getting smart by now ... cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteTrue, there is no point in spending hours and hours in finding the choicest goods. Eventually we may pick the ones we dropped first. We too are not in the habit of losing our valuable time on such things. Serving the purpose is the need of the hour. Nice snippet.
ReplyDelete