Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Everyone's Got a Bathroom Story

So my little bathroom story was published this week in Abode, and I was so thrilled to see that Amy Christian, the editor, wrote her editor's letter about my story and her own bathroom trials.

Here's Amy's letter...hard copy available inside this week's Metro Spirit. A link to my story is in the Clips column on the right.

Thanks, Amy! I'm glad we can commiserate together.



Bathroom nightmares

BY AMY FENNELL CHRISTIAN

AUGUSTA, GA - You know how Harry Potter was confined to a bedroom the size of a closet under the stairs in the Dursleys’ house when we first met him all those years ago? Well, I have a bathroom kind of like that.

So when I first read Danielle Wong Moores’ story, “Bathroom Purgatory” (page 18), I had to laugh. Yes, I laughed because it’s funny (sorry to laugh at your misfortunes, Danielle), but I also laughed because it seems she and I have something in common: We both have bathrooms we don’t know what to do with.

When my husband and I were looking for a home five or six years ago, we really wanted one with two bathrooms. We decided on the house we still live in today which, technically, has one and a half baths. We didn’t mind at the time because we loved the house so much.

I still love our house, but I am beginning to get really tired of our downstairs bathroom.

What’s wrong with it? Well, it’s located under our staircase which means two things: one part of the ceiling slants to a degree that, at a certain point, a person can’t stand upright.

So even though there’s still room back there, cleaning it is nearly impossible. The second thing the location means is that it’s about the size of a closet. And I don’t mean a walk-in closet. I mean a downstairs hall closet.

I bet Danielle, when she walks into her bathroom, can at least turn around in a circle with her arms out. I can’t, unless I want to have bruises on my arms the next day.

Where the ceiling begins to slant also contains what looks like a metal box against one wall. It’s pretty big and juts out a few inches into that back part of the bathroom.

Apparently, it’s part of the cooling system, which means we can’t do a damn thing with it (although it has become a handy storage shelf).

So basically, the only things we can fit in that bathroom are the toilet, a pedestal sink and a mirror — although the mirror can’t go directly over the sink because that’s where the ceiling begins to slant. Oh, and that back portion of the bathroom is the perfect size for the cat box, so you can imagine that it never smells very good, despite how many air fresheners I stick in that small space.

I’ve resigned myself to the fact that, at the moment, there’s not much I can do about that particular room in my house. We’re not quite at the point where we have the time, money or inclination to do a full-on renovation. Until we do, we’ll continue to employ the previous owners’ idea of a curtain to hide the back portion of the bathroom. It’ll just have to do.

Maybe when Danielle’s finished with her bathroom and she hands over the title of “Ugliest Bathroom Ever” to me, she can come take a look at mine.

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