Update on legislation and bathtubs

The bills in the NJ state legislature I mentioned got  swiftly through the Assembly and Senate and will be law as soon as Gov Murphy signs, which he will.

Here's the doings

So far, so good. 

On the bathtub front here's breaking news. 

Michael the artist friend contractor, came over Monday afternoon, remembered our conversation from years ago and was willing to get the kit, study all the videos -- he's thorough -- fix it, match and replace the few broken tiles, repaint the bathroom and recaulk  the tub. 

Solving a whole lot of problems at once. Even with materials and labor,  this is going to be affordable, yay. I told him no hurry, fit it in where he can, I have another bathroom anyway.

We also had a good catchup of news since before the holidays. All good. 

Happy day everyone, and try to do all the things! Or get someone else to..

An old idea resurfaces, and a new project

The $$$$ tub to shower idea isn't the only way to go. I checked into various versions, from complete tear out and rebuild, to prefab shower inserts, to revisiting an idea I had years ago.

I wondered if it was possible to just cut into the bathtub wall, remove a section leaving a step over, and cover and waterproof the raw edges. At that time Michael the Talented Artist Contractor was very dubious, and we didn't find anything available on the market to work for us.

Anyway now, years later,  there are quite a few companies doing this work and installing the kit, and I can get it locally, and will definitely investigate the best way to go. 

Like this 

And it's many $$$ cheaper than the reno. So I may be able to get the bathroom retiled and painted without going broke. Anyway that's where the thinking is right now. Old thinking not as impractical as it sounded at the time.

And the current making project consists of continuing one of the items that arrived yesterday.  

If there's enough yarn for a cowl, that's what it will be. If not I'll think again. I also repaired and rebuilt underwear but you probably aren't eager for pictures of that.

Thank you whoever recommended this book

I think it's been made into a movie which I don't plan to see because I've got the characters vividly in mind and I bet the movie won't correspond.

It's a book that's wonderful mostly, a bit chick lit here and there but who cares, it grips, that follows interesting people occupied in and around books, writing, selling, reviewing. 

The action is mainly on Alice Island in New England, hard to get to, largely a summer resort place but the characters live there. Not one of those affluent-family-at-summer-home tropes.  

The literary background is second to their lives, hearts, connections, births and deaths. I really encourage you to read it if like me, you hadn't even heard of it when it was a bestseller.

Happy day everyone, and let me know if you have any info, or experience, on the potential mayhem of the bathtub.

I have deleted the coverage of the nomadic textile presentation after finding the presenter doesn't permit recording. I took that to cover screenshots, too.  Just in case you notice.

About politics -- I don't come to blogland for armchair political opining. So I limit my coverage to a few pertinent actions we can take, and  acknowledgment of what blogistas are doing. I'm involved, not trying to ignore our situation, but not wanting to make more noise.  

I have taken to scrolling past blog posts, nothing personal, that include complete cut and paste of the newsletters I already follow.  Just sayin'. 

More DIY, well, more like Delegate it Yourself

For ages I've been wondering if it's possible to convert one of my current bathtubs to a walk in shower without major renovation.  I was musing with a friend ages ago if it would be possible to cut out a section of the current bathtub and put in an insert to seal the gap and make it watertight, so I could just step in.  She was very amused at what she took for a flight of fancy, and I didn't pursue it at that time.

But today, as I was looking through links about bathroom conversions, I found this, yay. 

And I've sent it to my lovely across the street friend, artist, and contractor, to see if we can work together on this.  This is another of my steps to Stay In This Home, just a safety feature I've started thinking about, it getting a bit more iffy to step over the side of the bathtub to shower.  

I'll still have one full bath, though.  And that's another part of my Big Plan.  If ever I need a person to stay with me, the Nook bedroom has its own full bathroom, great privacy, doors connecting and can be closed to the hallway, all that.  So this is just some longterm thinking.  I'll leave that bathtub as a full one, but convert the other bathtub, the one leading off my bedroom.

Anyway, as they say, that's the plan!  much cheaper and less disturbing than tearing out and replacing the bathtub itself. So here's where I ask if any blogistas have experience with this?  any precautions? additions?  the bathtub in question already has a grab bar installed years ago for Handsome Partner, and a portable shower stool, and a hand held shower, so that's all in place.