Bathroom Bliss

Well, judging by the date on my last blog entry... I've been slacking.  BIG time!

So... here is a picture-heavy update on what we have been up to.

We finished spackling the walls, primed and painted them.

Installed the sconces and mirrors.  We also opted to go with a darker color on the ceiling.  It really gave the room a much more cozy feel to it.

And finally, on to the flooring!!!

Hardibacker was mortared and screwed every 6".  The last thing we wanted was cracking tile and grout later down the road.

Laying down the GORGEOUS slate tiles!!  We laid them all out, and sealed them the night before. 

We carried the tile out into the hallway as well.  

Grouted

My boyfriend, and his friend finishing up the plumbing for the vanity.  This piece was just the cherry on top.  It actually makes the entire room feel larger.  We also got the floor molding painted and installed as well.  

I am IN LOVE with these faucets!!  And they use 30% less water than a regular faucet!! 

The vanity and sinks finished off, with a peek of the molding

And last of all, my favorite seat in the house!

We do have a bit more finishing to do.  We still have to cut and install the crown molding, finish touching up the base molding, and install the new window and door.  (which should arrive sometime within the next week)

This is the door we will be getting, with frosted glass panes, painted white.

SHOWER TIME!

Grouted, caulked, sealed, and finished! It was the most AMAZING shower I have ever taken!  MY shower.  The shower that Hans and I built, it is a wonderful feeling of accomplishment to see it all come together!

I am not thrilled with the quality of the fixtures, they are a bit cheap feeling, but I absolutely love the way they look. We did splurge on a curtain from Bed Bath and Beyond that I just absolutely fell in love with, though.  And I am so glad we did!  It looks perfect!

I REALLY cannot wait to finish the rest of the bathroom!!!!

Shower Tile.... DONE!

FINALLY!!!!!!  After hours upon hours of thinset, spacers, cutting, leveling, more cutting, back-buttering, and eye-balling it, we are FINISHED with tiling the shower!  Unfortunately, Lisa and the Dude are not far behind!!!

Tile Tetris 

Next time, I am totally doing tile sheets throughout the entire project!

Here is the inlay as we progressed.

We sloped the bottom as well to make sure we wouldn't have any pooling water on the shelf.

We used bullnose pieces to trim it all out, for a nice clean finish.

For the outer edges of the shower, we didn't want to just end it at the edge of the wall, so we opted for rounded corner pieces to bring it around to the outside wall, then finish with a clean bullnose piece.  

The finishing look these give is absolutely stunning, however, these corner pieces were a royal pain!  Hans had to trim the backing of each individual tile (all 30'something of them), in order for them to lay closely enough to the wall so we would have a clean finish (and I might add he did a great job!!).  But all that work was totally worth it!!!  We are ecstatic with the finished product!!

Now, all we have left to do is grout.  We've been leaning towards a sandstone'ish color, but are torn between that sandstone color, and traditional white.  What are your opinions on darker colored grout? 

6 Month Long Bathroom Reno

Well, we started the MAJOR work on our bathroom back in February.  For anyone that doesn't remember, this is what our bathroom looked like when we moved in. Original Bathroom

We pulled down all of the old wall coverings, plaster and lathe, ripped out the toilet, tub, floors, ceiling, walls... everything.  What we found under the painted press-wood and wood paneling, was absolutely HORRID!!

   

  

I refused to go a day without a functional toilet, since it is the ONLY one in the house.  That was my only stipulation, that if they ripped the toilet out, a new one had to go back in right away.

 Unfortunately, I was stuck without a toilet for ONE day.  My boyfriend and his buddy were ripping up the old flooring, and his friend accidentally put his foot through the dining room ceiling...

which lead to them smashing out the entire dining room ceiling... you know... just because.

And while all of this was going on, this is where the toilet was strategically placed...

We put in all new plumbing, got rid of the remaining cast iron pipes and soft copper, and installed new PVC, copper piping, and Pex.

So, after an extra day of demolition and cleaning, they installed all new sub floors, and the toilet the following day.  The tub was not installed until a few *stinky* days later.  Needless to say... I made a few runs to the neighbors to use their facilities, fortunately for us, we have nice neighbors!

So, between work, business events, more work, and traveling, the bathroom renovations were at a stand still for a few months.  Our bathroom was nothing more than wall studs, a subfloor, a tub and a toilet.  I've grown to hate taking a bath, and brushing my teeth in the kitchen sink.  We slowly added some insulation and drywall over the following weeks.

Framed out the bathroom doorway, and wall, and ran electrical and plumbing up for the double vanity.

We even had enough room to add a nook for a washer/dryer upstairs.  I despise nothing more than walking all the way to the creepy basement to do laundry.  It is SO much more convenient to have it located right next to the bedroom.  We're looking at the LG washer/dryer all-in-one unit. LG Electronics Washer and Electric Dryer in White

  

I wanted a shelf in the shower to hold the shampoo/body wash, etc bottles.  So, we built one in to the far wall.

So, this is where our bathroom sat for the last 2-3 months, usable, but not really user-friendly.  

We recently had my boyfriends sister Lisa, and "The Dude" over to do some maintenance on their cars, and a nice dinner at a local restaurant, and we made a friendly little wager, since they also have a 

Bathroom: In the works

 The deal is, whoever finishes their bathroom first, wins help on their next big project.  So, this whooped our butts into gear since we could REALLY use the help on our kitchen remodel!

We got to work:  drywall going up.

Putting up the vapor barrier.

HardiBacker going up in the shower.

 

Taping the seams for a water-tight finish. 

And FINALLY....... TILE!!!!

Neither of us have ever tiled before, but we are both DIY Network ADDICTS.  So, we figured after watching 300 episodes of Bath Crashers, we were pro tilers.

Needless to say, we impressed ourselves!  But who knew tiling would be so exhausting?  I'm sitting here, at my desk Monday morning, after having spent the last 2 days tip-toe'ing around the edge of the tub, bending, twisting, stretching, reaching... I feel like I've just been through an advanced yoga class, my legs and buns feel like spaghetti, but DAMN does my shower look good!

At 1am on Saturday, we finished the first wall... Sunday afternoon (morning was just NOT gonna happen) would start the next wall.

Sunday afternoon.... GO!

By the end of the evening, we got about 3/4 up the final wall, and called it quits at dinner time.  We still need to finish the flat wall, the the recessed ledge, and finish the exterior edges with some rounded corner pieces, and the bullnose strips.  Then it's grout, seal, caulk, and SHOWER TIME!!