That photo may not look too impressive, but that naked sink is the result of nearly full day’s effort. It was *really* caulked into the old laminate countertop, with 2 different kinds of caulk. I think I mentioned on Day One that I couldn’t get it out and set off the fire alarms trying. Today, with countertop and sink relocated in a piece to the garage, I attacked it again. Gently, as I couldn’t just bang on it or pry on it for fear of breaking the porcelain. So I had to figure out some way to *delicately* cut the sink out of 3/4”+ particle board with the tools I had. After cutting around the top edge with the Roto-zip and the bottom edge first with the Dremel and then with the Roto-zip again, and a bit of judicious chisel work, the sink finally plopped out of the countertop onto the towel bed I prepared. After a good half-hour of chiseling and grinding the hardened caulk off it, voilà, good as new. That’s the amazing thing about porcelain—provided you don’t break it, it really is eternal (which reminds me, if you haven’t read Edmund De Waal’s White Road, about the history of porcelain, you should—it’s fascinating). So, now the sink’s all ready for the countertop guys to template on Monday—and they’re installing the new countertop Friday! So we’re really not too far behind anymore.
I took a break in the middle of the day to do some other house and dog chores, and then as soon as the backerboard was at the 24-hour mark, I was back in the powder room to get the first coat of the final paint color down. It’s a lot easier to do it this way then to try to gingerly paint around the wallpaper, which I’m installing tomorrow, and the new tile, which is going in Saturday. I’m excited and a bit scared at the same time, never having hung wallpaper before. But I watched a ton of videos and laid everything out, so I think I’ve got a plan that should work. We’ll see tomorrow. Meanwhile, I’m “obsessed,” as the kids say, with this paint color: it’s like the perfect dark peacock blue (Benjamin Moore Bermuda Turquoise).
The Rookery 