Bathroom Remodel- The Finale

Click here to see The Finale:  At Last . . .

I made the video on Windows Movie Maker, a new program to which I was introduced recently by my son, John, that wicked child! I'm far from proficient yet, but luckily, he was home for Thanksgiving weekend, so I was able to pester him with questions. I don't feel too badly for him, he brought it on himself . . . besides, I'm making him one of his favorite dinners as a send off today - beef stew with steamed rice . . .

Here are some of the products we used in this bathroom, for those that are curious:

• Bathtub - Bancroft Whirlpool by KOHLER
• Wall sconces, toilet paper dispenser, towel bars & cabinet knobs - Lugarno Collection, Restoration Hardware
• Toilet - KOHLER Cimarron® Comfort Height® Elongated 2-piece, Home Depot
• Vanity and Medicine Cabinet - Kraftmaid Victoria Cherry, Finish: Cognac, Home Depot
• Vanity Top - Engineered composite in white, Home Depot
• Faucets and other bath hardware - KOHLER Fairfax in polished chrome
• Floor - Travertine, Imperial Bianco - The Tile Shop
• Glass mosaics - 12X12; 1X1 MC Pacific, Century Tile
• Paint - BEHR from Home Depot; Ceiling: Popped Corn; Walls: Rye
• Double Curtain Rod - Zenith, Home Depot
• Shower Curtain - Home Goods
• Curtain Rings - Rollerball Curtain Rings, Home Depot
• Towels - Bed Bath and Beyond (decorative) and Costco (ivory solid)
• Candlepot - Mission Fig, Pottery Barn (it's so wonderful!)
• Bud vase - Target, over ten years ago!
• Soap and Hand Cream - Spiced Chestnut, Williams-Sonoma (this soap smells so delish you'll be tempted to bite your freshly washed fingers!)

Bring on the holidays!

Bathroom Update - Paint!

Hard to believe, I know. I'm still rather stunned, but, yes, yes, we've actually picked out paint for the bathroom!

So here are the samples: “Rye” on the walls to match the mosaic stripe around the shower walls, and “Swiss Coffee” for the trim, to match the crackle subway tile - both Behr paint from Home Depot (currently on sale, $5 rebate on each 1-gallon can of paint).

My accommodating husband, rolled a little of it on the wall, even though he still has a bit more sanding to do, just so I could see how the color would look once it dried.

My friend, Julie, as always, came to the rescue. I don't know what it is about color that totally intimidates me. I become paralyzed from my inability to narrow the choices. She picked the colors. Julie has the most wonderful - and natural - sense of aesthetics. She understands my taste better than I do myself. She listens to what I'm trying to accomplish and without any seeming effort, comes up with the perfect solutions!

It is so much fun to watch her in action. At Home Depot, Julie found the color match for the mosaic tile right away and once she saw that I was happy with it, set about finding the trim color from among hundreds of shades of white. A few times I thought she had found it, and I nodded in agreement, only she wasn't satisfied, nope, not my Jules, she kept searching (and playing) with the color chips until the perfect shade emerged, and indeed it became apparent that no other shade of white would do.

Thank you, Jules! Thank you for lending me your talent, and for your endless patience in putting up with this cantankerous friend.

Two steps forward . . . One step back . . .

So there we were, moving along at a nice clip, my husband Lee was getting ready to put mortar to the tiles around the perimeter of the bathroom floor, when he noticed a crack on the flange that holds down the toilet, a fairly big crack that would likely cause us trouble down the line. It had to be replaced (sigh!).

In the "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie" remodeling tradition at our house, to replace the flange, he had to cut several of the PVC pipes that were glued to it, . . . and in order to do that, he had to open another hole in the kitchen ceiling!!!!!

Remember the hole he had to cut open in order to install the whirlpool tub?

Well, look how nicely it accessorizes with this new, BIGGER hole!


And here is where the story gets ever so much better: Tip to future bathroom remodelers . . . HIRE A PLUMBER!

Hah! So you think you can do this, eh? So you are going to ignore my sage advice, eh? All right, here's the next best piece of advice you will ever get . . . mind you, these are pearls I'm giving you: If you are so determined to do this yourself, be absolutely, positively certain, that before you open up any bathroom pipes you flush your toilet a minimum of 10,000 times, no, make that, 20,000 times!

I will let you use your imagination to figure out what happened when Lee cut into the pipes. I would just like to say two things: First, I love my husband with all my heart! Another man would have turned tail and run, but not Lee. He finished the gruesome job - and he cleaned my kitchen afterwards. If you asked him about it today, he'd say, with that calm demeanor of his, that it wasn't all that bad. Secondly, I can say, without hesitation, that I now have the cleanest kitchen in North America. You could perform open heart surgery on my kitchen table right now, it's that clean.

So we're back on track now. Of course, we have to wait until next weekend to continue the work, but that's O.K. We need a few days break from all the mayhem. It's nice to go to work and relax.

Bathroom Remodeling Update - The Floor

We (this is the royal “We” - meaning my husband, Lee, does the remodeling work, and I watch and remind him to use the level) are now tackling the floor.

I fell in love with this travertine tile, but it has proven challenging. Travertine is a natural stone, which means that it has lots of personality, each piece is unique. But it is also a relatively soft stone, so it chips and cracks easily during installation. We are already committed and will see this project to the end, but are now wondering if the tile will crack unexpectedly in a few months. I hope not!

Because each piece is different, we layed them out before glueing them down, so we could select their unique placement. Our least favorite ones will end up under the vanity. We used little Post-It notes to label the tiles in the order in which they are to be installed.

Progress is slow, but I just have to keep telling myself that, at least, the project is moving forward . . . Arrgh!

Bathroom Remodeling Update: A bit more progress . . .

After months of agonizing deliberation, I finally picked out the tile for our 2nd Floor hallway bathroom.

Remodeling and decorating decisions do not come easily to me. I feel compelled to weigh every decision from every conceivable angle, over and over again, until vendors begin to avoid me, and my family is ready to have me committed. I worry about making a costly mistake with which I'll have to live for a long, long time.

Once the decisions are made, however, I feel like I've been through a self-discovery journey, and I'm so happy! Here's a close-up of the new travertine tile that will grace the floor once it's installed.

And here's one showing the pre-fabricated niches that are now available to re-modelers. The niches are screwed to the studs, encased with cement board, and then tiled. They will eventually hold shampoo, soap and other bath necessities.

Even the placement of the niches was researched for several months. The wall that we ultimately chose, is an exterior wall, and we had to figure out the proper way to insulate behind the niches. We also decided that, although it would lend an asymmetrical look to the wall, it was better to place them as far away from the shower spray as possible.

My husband, Lee, always opts for cement board as a backing for tile, as opposed to some of the other materials that are "supposedly" waterproof. It's heavy and slightly more cumbersome to install, but, with the number of leaks that the poor man has had to fix over the years, I can't say I blame him. Besides, the cement board adds a really solid feel to the wall that's not often found in modern construction.

Lee goes back to work next week, so he'll continue working on this now and then, as time permits. That's O.K. by me - I'll need at least a 2-month break before the next barrage of decisions, like the vanity, toilet, mirrow, lighting, towel rods, wall color . . .

In the eye of the beholder . . .

This copper plumbing is a thing of beauty. It represents the successful piping for the new tub, all done by my dear husband, who despises plumbing work above all things. And this was no ordinary plumbing, no PVC pipes to make things easier. This was copper piping that needed precise measurements and soldering with a blow torch.

The black burn marks on the studs were made when the original piping was installed. But my DH wasn't taking any chances: He placed a fire resistant cloth behind the pipes to protect the studs and the walls on the other side while he had the blow torch going. The things I've learned just by watching him!

Afterwards, we just threw the cloth in the washer and now it's squeaky clean and ready for the next blow torch project!

Next step: The electrical work.

A story without words

Bathtub update

We tested the new whirlpool tub for leaks before installing it in the bathroom.

The apron in the front of the tub actually pops out for maintenance - a nice feature should something ever go wrong with the motor.
No leaks! And look at those gorgeous bubbles! Ahh . . . progress . . .

Apple-loving season is here!

Another wonderful euphemism for our current season (Thank you, Angela!). The upside is being able to enjoy apples in a myriad ways.

Here is my favorite apple concoction: Apple-oosh - that's what our kids used to call it when they were little. It's just so delicious, especially made at home and drunk immediately after pressing!

This appliance takes up a great deal of precious counter space. It's big and weighs a ton, but if I put it away, I know it'll never get used, so it sits on my counter year-round, ready for me to go into my juice-making mode, which happens quite a bit, actually.

Naturally, we get a lot of use out of it during apple season.

A nice restorative for my hard working husband . . .

That wretched tub!

Here is Leo after opening up the ceiling in the kitchen, trying to figure out how in the world he's going to install the motor for the new whirlpool tub in the upstairs bathroom. Why is nothing ever simple when remodeling . . . ?

Bathroom remodeling by way of the office

Progress on the bathroom is slow for now. We ordered a new whirlpool tub and have to wait until that's in before anything else can be done in the bathroom. The wait has given us a chance to bring boxes from work to fill with debris so it can be hauled away by the garbage truck.

In the meantime, we tackled a few projects to make our bedroom-turned office space more efficient. The first problem was the extremely poor lighting in the room. We had been getting by with a mish mosh of lamps that should have been thrown out long ago, but, in addition to being ugly, they were just simply not doing the job. It was difficult working in the office at night - and let's not forget that our eyes aren't what they used to be . . .

Here is the new wonderful track lighting system that my husband installed today, selflessly braving the creepy crawl space filled with dust, insulation and spiders.

I really have to brag about my husband. He managed to install the lights by opening a single, tiny hole in the ceiling, which is now covered by the brackets. I was prepared for a ceiling that looked like Swiss cheese, and that would need to be re-plastered. Instead, the ceiling looks as pristine as it was this morning before he started - only way, way better!

Now the only question I ask myself is: “What was I thinking when I bought that hideous lamp by the window?”

That wasn't the only problem we solved in this room this weekend . . . Stay tuned for . . . “The Closet Revival!”

Denial just doesn't work

Here we are, embarking on yet another remodeling project that we haven't wanted to tackle, although deep down we knew was inevitable . . .

It began with a little leak in the ceiling around the kitchen eating area, which Lee was convinced was caused by too much water getting splashed by the boys when showering (like they were little kids) . . .

Then last Fall we had an incident with a clogged gutter, and that gave us the opportunity to explain away the leak by telling ourselves that it must have been water seeping into the house from the overflowing gutters. Truthfully, a lot of the damage was indeed caused by the gutters, so we hoped the entire leak issue had been solved.

But the leak came back. Lee eventually opened up the ceiling and came to the sad conclusion that it was coming from the shower area upstairs, but then, still avoiding the "R" word, tried to patch things up with a little cement work and lots of caulk.

And The Leak, which had now permutated into a living, breathing monster, gleefully and malevolently laughed at our pitiful attempts. And still we refused to face the issue head on. Yesterday, Lee decided to take down the sliding glass door on the shower, and replace it with a "real" shower curtain so that David (we can't blame John any more because, inconveniently for this explanation, is away at college) wouldn't splash so much when he showered (yes, he was back to that theory again).

So today, armed with his manly tools, he headed upstairs to take down the door. But after a thorough and dispassionate inspection of the walls, he finally realized that all the walls surrounding the shower were soft, and wet, and beyond patching. The whole thing needed to come down.

It's interesting to observe how the two of us have confronted this issue: Lee kept coming up with explanations that were, in the current slang, really lame. But I acted even worse: I never bought into any of his explanations, not really, but still went along with them because I just didn't want to face the reality of another remodeling project - the decisions, the mess, the many months that the house would be torn up, the money, the short tempers, the mess . . .

Yet, here we are. It's begun with a thorough tear down of the old tile, all the hardware, and the insulation behind it. The tub will come out, too, because, if we are going to do this thing, we may as well do it right. So this afternoon, we went to Home Depot and ordered a whirlpool tub.

And doesn't my husband look cute, even wearing his old, scruffy remodeling clothes?

We Sold Our Soul to the Home Depot Store

It started out as most remodeling projects do. We had some leftover ceramic tiles from our Family Room renovation and we wanted to replace the old linoleum in this tiny water closet. Twelve tiles. Lee measured, drew his plan and concluded that twelve tiles is all that it would take. Simple enough, and it would be done before David's graduation. Hah! This has become another "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" project. In order to lay the tile, we had to remove the toilet and vanity. When we took out the vanity, we discovered mold growing on the wall behind it. The vanity was rotted and we now needed to replace it. The previous owners had glued a back splash to the wall, which had to be removed before the vanity could be pulled out. Now the wall had to be patched up before the new vanity is installed. The existing vanity style has been discontinued so we had to pick out a different style. Naturally, we also needed a new sink top and faucet. And it would be a real crime to put all of that back together without painting the room, don't you think? Twelve tiles. Don't you believe it!

Here's a picture of the new tile. Right now the glue is drying. Lee will probably grout tomorrow. John was very happy that we found a red flange for the base of the toilet. Good feng shui. It keeps the chi from going down the drain.


The beautiful faucet that will go on our new vanity. The vanity is due to arrive in late May, hopefully before David's graduation.Our Living Room has become the staging area for this latest project.


The new sink, patiently waiting its turn to be installed.

And is this the end? No, no, no! We have a linen cabinet in that room which will now need to be replaced to match the new vanity. A new mirror and new lighting also lie in wait. But one thing at a time - there are plenty of books to be used for future analogies: "If You Give a Moose a Muffin" . . . "If You Give a Pig a Pancake" . . .