Construction Project

There's very little that can't be accomplished with a little ingenuity and a virtually unlimited supply of cardboard.  I suspect that the space shuttle program was conjured up using only these raw materials.

Take, for example, the water closet I mentioned in my last post.  I have spent literally hours watching "This Old House" reruns, so I know a thing or two about old houses.  My instincts and extensive training tell me that this WC must have been added some years after the house was originally constructed.  Unfortunately, in the late 1800's when indoor plumbing was coming into fashion, hygiene hadn't yet been invented, and the Victorian owner who added the toiletof course didn't include a sink.  (Some well-intentioned but misguided owner later installed a towel warmer, but unless one is meant to wash one's hands in the toilet, there seems very little point in having a supply of warm towels when there's no basin).

Since it's unlikely that we will ever require the services of a third toilet, particularly one without a nearby sink, we decided to put in a coat rack and use this WC as a coat closet.  The downside of this is that we'll be hanging our coats directly over a loo, which, if you stop to think about it, is just a bit over the line you don't cross when you're living in a First World nation.  The solution, of course (short of tearing the thing out) is to cover the toilet up.  Somehow, not being able to see the toilet makes the idea of storing our clothing in close proximity to it more palatable.

I have more free time than I know what to do with these days, so I spent the better part of yesterday afternoon engaged in a measuring, marking and cutting frenzy, at the end of which I'd succeeded in covering the toilet and tank in cardboard, and in covering everything else within a 10-foot radius in blue permanent marker.  Regardless, our Water Closet Storage Unit is a go.

Thus emboldened by my early success in the cardboard construction trade, I set about today to put a floor in the attic made entirely of cardboard boxes.  I've upgraded my tools, though, having purchased new blades for my utility knife, I'm much more productive and surgical in my cutting than I could ever be with mere scissors.  Tomorrow, I'm considering covering the walls of the downstairs shower so we can use that as a utility closet.  Maybe I'll try building a car...

I expect that these alternative construction skills which I'm now honing will find a use later on when many of us from the industry formerly known as Banking are living under bridges.  If anyone needs me, I'll be in the fourth shanty from the left; the one with the indoor cardboard toilet and no sink.