A Sinking Feeling

For those of you who are familiar with this blog, you know that two years ago when Rick and I purchased Gladys, one of the first things we did (within the first week) was to gut the entire kitchen.  Cabinets, dishwasher, sink, old plumbing, ceiling fan, and countertops were all gone. Rick built me a "temporary" kitchen that consisted of a new plastic kitchen sink supported by a 2 x 4 understructure.  We added a Home Depot cheap countertop, and we used an old countertop that was left with the house as a shelf underneath.  That "temporary" kitchen lasted two years until we were able to afford the new kitchen that we had installed this past summer (2012).

Why do I mention that? Rick offered to put in my new laundry room utility sink with a temporary 2 x 4 understructure until we could get the new tile floor and the new base cabinet in to support the sink.  I now know what "temporary" means in remodeling vernacular, but having the sink in place to wash out paint brushes, to soak soiled clothing in, and to wash dirty gardening hands won over my objections to anything else labeled "temporary."  Rick took the aforementioned left-over countertop, cut a hole in it for the utility sink, and constructed a 2 x 4 frame for the sink.  The framing actually took a little more planning than we thought since we had to take into account a very tight space, somewhat unknown plumbing configurations, and strategically planned bracing to make it both hold a heavy sink and stand up at the same time.

The pictures show that we eventually had success with the sink.  We did not caulk it in place, but since the sink is 14" deep, we have no fear that it will flood over the sides.  Even if it does, the water will simply seep onto an old countertop that we will throw away after we are finished with it, onto a solid concrete floor below.

The new utility sink on a "temporary" frame
still gives me enough room to store
laundry baskets underneath.

Our intention, of course, was to wait until next year to put in the tile and to order out the cabinets.  However, like most plans, this one, too, has slightly changed.  We went to ProSource today to get an estimate on how much the 12 x 12 tile, the 3 x 12 bullnose tile (to use as baseboard in the room), the thin-set, and the grout would cost. WE earlier had selected a tile that we liked at the Daltile showroom.  Because they are a big distributor of Daltile, ProSource was able to get a good deal on the tile, so the bullnose will actually cost more than the whole cost of the 12 x 12 tile.  All in all, the eventual price was fairly inexpensive and within our remodeling budget... if we do the work ourselves. If we have it installed, we can triple the price of the job, so we will try to do this task ourselves.  If we take our time and prep the floor ahead of time, I think that this task, too, will turn out OK in the end. The new tile will be ready for pick-up later in this week.

The cabinets are still out of range of our budget for this year, so I know that they will have to wait until next fall at the earliest.  What that means is that after we put down the new floor, we will reinstall the "temporary" sink.  That's all right.  I know that temporary works, and after 53 years of existence with no sink at all, I also am sure that Gladys, too, is willing to wait.