Light light light light! /Bathroom part 2 I guess

Short story: Y'all. The new window and door have been installed. It's amazing. 

And now, the long story:

So the two requests I got from Pella for "things to have ready for the install" was that the drywall where the new window would go needed to be patched and I needed to have an exterior wall light. Both projects sounded fairly easy. In the spirit of the bathroom renovation, famous last words!

First off, picking a light was unbelievably hard! I don't really care for my two current outdoor lights, plus they're ceiling lights, so matching them was not a concern. Or a helpful aid. I eventually settled on some basic design things I thought I wanted: clean lines, seeded glass, no bigger than 12" tall. And then suddenly it was Monday and Pella was arriving on Thursday, so there wasn't time to ship anything or dither at all. I went to Home Depot and couldn't find anything I liked. Nothing fit my design scheme. Finally, a barn-style light caught my eye. It was no frills, black(ish), the right size, and the right price. It doesn't fit at all with what I had been imagining, but I think it's gonna be good!

Then the drywall patching. Remember back in the posts about Bathroom Phase 1, where I said I suspected that our lives would have been easier if we had just taken bigger sections of drywall out? The drywall patching is when I discovered how true that suspicion was. Given the framing situation, it is nearly impossible to square the edges of the holes. And the gaps in the drywall along the upper edges of the surround are. . . narrow. The one that absolutely HAD to be filled is 1 and 3/4 inches at the widest point, and generally 1 and 1/2 inches, and it's 5 feet long. Cutting a piece of drywall to patch that was. . . not fun. BUT! I did it. (and then the window people cut like, the center 2 feet out of the patch, so like. . . I guess it was worth it but also wow depressing). 

Even unfinished, the change was AMAZING. I got home from work and literally sat on the edge of my bed in amazement. And delighted in going into the bathroom, closing the door, and having light without turning the lights on!

 

The photos below are the morning of Day 2, when I woke up with all this light streaming in. (Maybe this will help with my never-ending quest to be more of a morning person - with all this light it will be hard to keep hitting snooze!)

 Day 2 was finishing the exterior (which were just flashing at the end of Day 1) and pouring the stoop. This is actually a, like, 2 and change day long process, because they will have to come back Monday to pick up the framing once the stoop has cured. 

 

Also, because I am getting the house restucco'ed next week, they left everything down to the flashing so the exterior does not look super hot right now.

But y'all. THE LIGHT. I cannot get over it! I am so, so pleased. It makes such a huge difference. And like, I knew the bathroom light would be a total game changer - and it is, but I have been shocked at the difference in the bedroom. It's so light and bright in there, all day long. And desert light is magic. I'm just so thrilled.