Ants are not the story

So we had ants. It was bad. We got rid of them. But that's a separate post entirely. For the purposes of this post, the only important fact to know about the ants is that we discovered they were trying to make a home in what was apparently accessible space between the sink and the counter. We sprayed some water in there and this is what our sink looked like.

 Ewwwww....(though not as bad as last year's ant infestation).

It turned out that the caulking around the sink was moldy and barely there - something we probably should have noticed years ago and re-caulked frequently. Caulk, and trying to create a nice "bead" always sounded very intimidating. It wasn't our first try at it. But it was pretty close.

 D did all the work while I entertained the kids. First out came the old stuff, totally black (it's supposed to be clear):

Then to the caulk gun! We considered buying a brand that came in a regular squeeze tube, but it needed at least 24 hours to cure. This one needed only an hour or two (though we left it overnight). Given it's our kitchen sink and we have a kitchen disaster after each and every meal, we really couldn't go that long without the sink.

 There's the caulk line:

 And the final touch to get it just right:

Before the clear caulk dried out and while he was on a roll, D did the same thing with our bathroom sink upstairs. We didn't take before pictures, but it was already a little black and dingy. Here it is, refreshed:

And finally, it was time for the bathtub. Funny enough, this bathtub project had been on our to-do list already and we'd purchased caulk and acquired the necessary tools just in time for that tree to fall on our house and distract us from smaller projects. Now with two additional re-caulks already complete, it was time for the tub. The caulk was 5-years old and pretty dingy - no amount of scrubbing or bleach seemed to clean it, and it was starting to peel in places.

So scape the old stuff:

 No more  caulk:

And...voila! A bright white bathtub line again! It really looks so much better now. I think D managed to caulk everything that could be caulked. Hopefully we're good for another 5 years or so!

See? This post wasn't about ants.

The next one will be.

Fair warning (but actually, there are no scary pictures, so don't worry).