I only posted about a dozen entries about the shower issues. And then I never posted a "ta-da" entry. Of course, I was busy birthing a 9+ lb baby, so maybe you'll forgive me.This is the nice view of our new tile shower. If narrow my vision to stare at the other corner (to the right), I can pretend it's a perfect shower. I won't see the cheap, generic, chrome, upside-down valve or the gray metal pipe coming out of a hole in the wall sealed with a plastic grocery sack stuffed around it. Nor will I see the dual-layer translucent, vinyl shower curtains that I paid a whole $1.49 each for. Oddly enough, the rings that hold up said shower curtain match the fake-bronze showerhead and cost $16. There's no accounting for a highly hormonal 9-months-pregnant woman making budget-vs-design decisions. I did however manage to design that cute line of squares-on-point that run around the shower, and the shelves, although had I designed them with a little more forethought, I'd have had Tile Guy install the shelves before the decorative row, but oh well. The rest of the bathroom still looks like a construction zone; plywood showing where we tore up the vinyl and subfloor to replace it, the storage shelves packed with tools, lumber, and other odds-and-ends. The outer walls of the shower are still mud-on-sheetrock.
A year or two ago I got my property tax assessment which increased the value of "improvements" (houses, etc) a whopping 44%. Of course, I called the Assessor's office and said, "Are you out of your minds?" Turns out they did an across-the-board hike on 'small acreages'. Ours doesn't really qualify, except for the odd way we had to purchase the place, which temporarily divides the 17 acres into two pieces, making the house piece look small. I said, "Why dontcha come on out here and take a look-see fer yerself!" And he did. I pointed out the bad exterior paint, the not-quite-attached countertop (before it broke), the death-trap garage door, and of course, the master bath.
He actually changed the house description from 4 bed, 2 1/2 bath to 4 bed, 1 1/2 bath.
Before he left, he assured me that this place was a dump he had confidence our tax bill would be lowered back down.
As it turned out, the assessed value was a couple thousand dollars LESS than what it had been before!
2 comments:
Wow. Well, I won't go into my entire soapbox rant about tax assessors and Real Estate appraisers - just in case you know any. But, I'll tell ya, I am so less than thrilled with the way they go about "assessing" houses in ALL parts of the country! Our house in NC was appraised at $40,000 less than the EXACT same house a few houses down. We had done a LOT of work on the house, and it was less than 3 years old, and yet they appraised it at less than what we owed on it! So, needless to say, our turn on the market went horribly. I guess I am still disgruntled, eh? But, I am so glad your shower (corner?) looks so good! Hurray!
Wow, looks great! You have good taste. Love the design.
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