Plan E

They say the fifth time is a charm.


OK. Maybe they don’t say that, but it seems to be the reality for trying to finish the bathroom. “Plan E” is what I’ve settled on, having gone all the way through Plan F with options.

The weekend was gorgeous. Sunny. Dry. Highs near 70. Saturday was a little blustery with winds gusting up to 30 mph but Sunday? It was perfection.

The mother wanted to scrub the house down (an annual occurrence) but it was too cool in the early mornings (45-50) to play outside with water and I needed to catch up on the recently reappeared yard AND cut the final trim boards for the bathroom. (I would like to finish it this century.) I spent all weekend outside. The weather made me not resent that too much.

You may recall that the trim along the top of the shower surround is the LAST job of any real consequence (besides hanging a few of the mother’s manillion decorative items).

You might also recall that Plan A was to use porcelain 1x6 tiles to both fill the corner gaps and to give a finished look to that edge. I wisely changed my mind. Plan B was to use the trim that I’ve use in myriad other ways throughout the bathroom. (Thin wood trim that matches the chair rail I put up.) The mother put the kibosh on that.

Plan C was something else I don’t even remember but something that never got out of my head. Plan D was “cellular vinyl” exterior trim. My plan was to use it, miter the corners, the thickness of the two boards, ideally filling the rounded corners of the surround. Except that didn’t quite work.

Plan E then become a combination of Plan D and an abandoned element of Plan: corner joiners. This little blocks, which come in a variety of materials, shapes and styles, allow you to join up two corners without mitres. I didn’t mind the mitering; it just left an awkward gap. The joiner fills it pretty close to perfect.

On Sunday, I managed to get the odd little trim pieces cut AND the three pieces for the shower. Carelessly, I left the one that I had carefully cut to allow for the showerhead, temporarily in place while I measured and then cut the longer piece that it will join. I came in from cutting the long piece to find my perfectly-fitted piece laying in the bathtub … and neatly snapped in two where it fits around the showerhead. So, I’m hoping that when I install that part, I can meld the pieces back together with some caulk and a little paint.

For now, Plan E is still the plan. Plan F involves pieces that won’t work. So, should my nifty little knit together idea fails, I guess there will be a Plan G.