Community centre washroom makeover

Kevin and I sit on the Rio Blanco board of directors... we're the treasurers (it means a lot to us that the community trusts us with the accounting of its funds... but the truth is no one really wants the responsibility of managing the money, so they're relieved we've agreed to it). The board members meet to discuss how to spend the money the community has raised through different activities... usually a fun day of Bingo. Our last event raised enough money to build an outdoor covered addition next to the main community centre building. The municipality agreed to pay for the materials if the community would pay for the labour. We hired a worker or two to build the main structure and pour the concrete floor, but mostly, the people of the community volunteer their time. A few months ago, Albarito, Martin, Primo, Guido, and Kevin worked together to install the walls and roof. Although the plumbing and electrics have also been added, the finishing touches remain to be done. And momentum has waned over the last couple of months. People are busy. We're all farmers and our own businesses take priority.

We had a board meeting a few weeks ago to decide whether to go ahead and build the front gate. At the moment, without a front gate, the roaming animals (sometimes cows, but most definitely stray dogs) can meander onto the concrete terrace and do their business, leaving a mess to clean up. It's rather unpleasant. And having a gate also offers more security (which in our remote little village is hardly an issue, but the community seems to feel it's a good idea). The decision was unanimous and money was allocated to build the gate. Kevin and Albarito volunteered to make the gate once the steel bars were delivered. One of the items on the list was to paint the washrooms. The centre received leftover paint from the one-room school. There were several tin cans of different colours, but not much of any one colour. I volunteered to do the painting.

I had painted the first bathroom two or three weeks ago. I found two cans of paint that were each a little less than half full... two different shades of blue. I thought these would work well together and I would be able to stretch both colours with a little creativity (it was that or bright pink and pale mint green... you see my point, right?). I went back last week to paint the second bathroom and remembered to take some before and after pictures this time. I decided to take advantage of the big concrete blocks and create a checkerboard effect.

So this is the before....

And this is after....