One Step Forward....And Two Steps Back

Ah, Mondays! Initially, I was really looking forward to this evening. Instead of taking something apart, we were actually going to start work on reconstructing the basement stairs. The plan is to build some doors for under stair storage and a closet. Plus, we were going to add balusters, 32 of them, that we were going to make ourselves out of some of the wood that we removed when we took down the paneling.

Our basement stairs get a lot of traffic and are not made of any really nice wood. Our plan is to paint the treads a nice dark, warm mahogany brown with white risers and balusters, topped with a painted banister the same warm brown.

This picture most closely represents what we are envisioning. Something with nice clean lines, but that can handle a lot of wear and tear. I was so excited because I felt as though we were going to move from destructive to constructive....but then I came downstairs to this....

 

At our house, Monday is laundry day....and so is Tuesday and Wednesday for that matter. With a family as large as ours, combined with children that change outfits at the drop of a hat, I seem to have a never-ending supply of laundry. Unfortunately, laundry is currently on hold.  A quick look prior to running out the door for work this morning led my husband to believe that the rubber coupling (?) that joins the original clay sewer pipe to the modern PVC pipe is failing. But he's not sure and won't know until he looks at it closer. After work. Tonight. And he has to work later than usual.

So now I cringe every time a toilet flushes, or we use the sinks, or, actually, anything that requires us to use water. Apparently, the clay pipe is the main sewer line for the house. Which means two toilets, one tub, three sinks and the washer are now on a limited use basis.

Great.

Just great.