What Do You Mean, No New Clothes?

Tessie is extremely irritated with me. I told her that she was going to have to get along in the new clothes she has for a few days. I need to do other things right now. She is trying everything that she can think of to ruin the ones she has, so that she can force me to make new ones.....Not going to happen!

I decided that I have to get back to work on the Clockwork Cottage, if it is ever going to be finished.

I worked in the bathroom this morning. The water boiler needed a place to sit by the bathtub.

I got to work with some illustration board and some wood. Measure. Cut. Measure. Cut. I finally got the form the way that I wanted it to look. Here you can see the basic construction.

Some might ask why I didn't use wood and get all fancy. I go by a rule that I learned working at restoration. A lot of the rooms/ buildings that I worked on were built by very smart people. If it looked like a duck and walked like a duck, it was a duck. In other words, faking it is not against the rules. If something gives the desired effect and can't be distinguished from the "real" thing, it's OK to use it. Just don't tell anyone about the slight of hand. They will never know. I am telling you so that you can give yourself permission to do the same thing without guilt.

When installed, it looks like it belongs there. At the time these tubs were being installed, there were no bathrooms. People had to make room for indoor plumbing wherever they could.

In my Grandma Daisy's house the bathroom had been squeezed in behind the kitchen in what had once been a pantry. It was not really a great place for the one and only bathroom but it was convenient for the added plumbing in an old house. When I stayed the night there, if I had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, I had to stumble down a steep flight of stairs half asleep.

Having to add a hot water boiler in some baths was another inconvenience and they had to build make shift places to put the tank. Zar's bath was probably once another bedroom, as was his workroom. Many of the old houses needed more space and add ons didn't necessarily make sense, when it came to location of rooms.

I temporarily put up a few pieces of wood around the entrance to the workroom to see if it would be possible to disguise the opening. I think that it will work quite well with some three board shelves hung on the door.

Tessie came bouncing in and watched the installation. Before Zar or I could stop her, she jumped in the tub.

"Turn on the hot water, Zar."

"Get out of the tub. Are you out of your mind?"

"I want to see if these stupid new clothes will shrink. If they do, I will be getting some different ones."

I had to intervene before Zar was tempted to either scald or drown her. I pulled her out by the scruff of her neck and firmly told her to go home.

She stomped off muttering something about hoping that there were LOTS of mud puddles after the rain that we had last night.

I am sure that I will be making new clothes soon. She is going to win this one......I am just not sure how soon it is going to happen.

"Tessie!!! Get away from that mud!"

See you tomorrow.