A bathroom update

Posts will be to a minimum this week because my father flew in from Boston on Monday to spend some time down here.

But, I though I would pop in and give and update on the never ending master bathroom re-do. This project has taken so long to do, but it is coming along now and most of the major things are done.. most.

Let's take a look at what the bathroom looked like before all of this madness began... shall we?

I can't even begin to tell you the many things wrong with this bathroom. Tub to large for the space, tiny little sink, no storage, low water pressure, bad tile job in the shower, a regular hallway light inside the shower {ya know... where it gets wet}, a leaky toilet... my friends that was all just on the surface!

See where those sheets of plywood are laying on the floor? Well their actually screwed down. Where that plywood is in the photo, is where there was a huge slab of concrete, wtf? Ya that was what we were thinking when we tore the floor up. Josh ripped out all the concrete, right down to the beams that hold the house up. Basically in a nutshell, he also had to fix so many problems under the floor, in the walls, the pipes... everything.

And here is the bathroom now. The floor is finished. The majority of the sheet rock is up {he left that one section open to make it easier to do the plumbing once we get the sinks for the vanity}. The toilet is in AND working.

So why has this project been taking sooooo long? Well it's just been us doing it when we get the time. Or I should say mostly Josh... With both of us working full time, family time and the amount of problems this bathroom has had, it's just been a long drawn out process. I am happy to see where it's at now though. Makes me happy. No more problems to fix, just finishing up now. We still have to tile the shower and get a top made for the vanity, install the sinks, hardware on the vanity cabinets, paint, hang up some shelves and we should be DONE!

What ive been up to and Master Bath update

Hello friends.

I have been a bad blogger for not posting in awhile but I needed a break. A much needed break, not just from the blog, but the shop, facebook, twitter… the internet as a whole and I guess just creating in general. I needed to re-charged my creative juices so to say and that meant coming home from work and not even stepping foot into the office, studio or even on the computer or laptop.

So what have I been up to?

Nothing really… Jayden turned 4 {!!!!!!!} last week. Im so sad. My little boy is growing up so fast before my eyes. Sometimes I wish I could just freeze time and enjoy every single second with him at this age. Is 4 even considered a toddler anymore? No…. {excuse me while I go and huddle myself in the fetal position within the corner of a dark closet}.

Time just needs to slow down.

So what else have I been doing other then not blogging and anything else that involves ‘technology’? Well spending time with the fam. Has been one thing and it’s been awesome. Coming home, making dinner, hanging out in the living room, just the 3 of us. Yes we are those people who eat dinner in the living room. Not all the time… but most of the time. –I sit at a desk all day at work so coming home and just kicking back on a nice fluffy sofa? Yes please.

Have any of you watched LOST? Ya know… the series? I never watched it when it was still on TV but Josh and I started watching it and we finished the last episode the other day. Other then the fact I want to move to some remote tropical island now and hunt boar and fish...I will say I LOVED that show but what the heck is up with that ending?? I am still confused. I mean I get that they all had to meet up with each other in order to move on {heaven} but what about everyone else? The rest of the people that were on that plane? Michael and Walt? The pilot, Richard, Miles?... heck what about Vincent the DOG!??? It was like so many questions were left unexplained. It’s all theory now. I don’t like that. I want to know where they went too! But anyways, it was a good show. Shame on me for not watching it when it first started out on TV.

 

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In other news we are getting back to working on the Master Bathroom. Nothing major has been done yet other then working more on the shower but we will be taking the jet tub out and I am on the hunt for a new double vanity… preferably in a dark espresso color… a little modern looking but not to modern. Any ideas? I found this one on sale at Lowes and it’s just the kind of design I am looking for and almost half the price of all the other double vanities I have seen…

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I also have my eye on this tile....

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We are still doing the white subway tile in the shower, but I want an 'accent' wall now. The wall straight ahead, when you enter the shower I want to put the above tile on that wall. The remaining walls will be white subway tile and the floor will either be smaller subway tiles or we will bring in the tile for the bathroom floor and put it as the floor in the shower as well {we are taking up the hardwood in there and putting down a nice tile}.

 

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I really like this tile and about 110% set on this one for the floor {and possibly the shower floor}.

 

We will be doing the glass tiles on the wall above the vanity as well. Expanding the length of the entire vanity and going all the way up to the crown molding. It will just be that section. I am still looking at different mirrors and also light fixtures. I really like the Lantern style type fixtures but im not sold on any yet.

 

For the whole feel of the bathroom, think 'Modern Beach Cottage'. I love the beach and I like cottages {beach cottages} but I also like a splash of Modern... So I want to incorporate modern elements yet still adding in some 'cottage' style items as well... and the colors I want to keep 'beacy' but somewhat modern. Does that make sense? I can totally see it all in my head, but explaining it is another story lol!

 

So there you have it folks. That's whats been up. Im happy to be back. My little break was nice but now im refreshed and ready to start working on some stuff again. Stay tuned for some more bathroom posts. We're going to be removing that insanely large tub very soon {that outta be fun.... hehe}!

Bathroom Bling

Im back with another update on the shower. It might be a minor update but it's progress none the less and progress is what we want when it comes to getting this shower finished.

After my last boring post about the piping, the next step was to buy the shower faucet so Josh could hook the pipes up to the valve. I don't know about you but im all for trying to find the best deal possible and standing there in the isle of endless faucets @ Lowes, I just had that voice in the back of my mind telling me 'look online. Look elsewhere' and in true form I listened to that little voice.

And there she was. Shiny, simple and sleek. I wanted something that wasn't to 'dressy' in the sense that when we are looking for a new fixture for above the sink, it will broaden our options as far as style and it all blending together.

And no I most certainly did not pay $147 dollars plus 85 cents for that simple shower faucet [which BTW, was just for the trim, that's not including the valve].

Can you believe something like this costs close to 50 bucks? Okay... maybe you can but I can't and I certainly couldn't swallow spending $42 buckeroos on a vaaaaaaaallllveeee [you have to say it with that drawn out boring voice].

And so I was on a hunt. A hunt for the shower fixture we decided on yet did not want to pay almost 200.00 for [for the faucet and the valve]. After about an hour of searching the best deals between site A and site B and so on... I finally ended up with site Z being the best of the best as in I scored us that Delta Faucet for $66.21 and the valve for $26.93. And the fact that they had free shipping was just icing on the cake.

ZING! Total spent for the complete Delta Faucet trim and valve - $93.15. I love Lowe's, I really do but I couldn't see spending over 100.00 on a faucet trim and than an extra 30-40 for a valve. Since I had budgeted roughly $200.00 for a faucet and valve [I always over budget money so I know im 'safe'], that extra 100.00 went right into savings!

2 days later look what was at our front door when we came home from work.

Our bling-blingidy-bling was here and now this weekend we should officially have all of the plumbing hooked up in the shower which means........................... we can finally move forward with getting the walls up, finishing the floor and tiling! :)

[In case your wondering, we ordered our faucet and valve from efaucets.com. This entire post is all about my own personal experience and opinion. Efaucets has not contacted us in any way to try and get us to 'review' a product. We just like a good deal and good customer service :) ]

Master Bathroom - The Pide Piper

I figured it's been ages since ive even uttered the word 'Master Bathroom' and I know you all were just itching to find out what we have been up to as far as the bathroom shenanigans we have gotten ourselves into. Well... truth is. Not much. Ya I know. It's not coming along as fast as we expected but such as life.

Mainly we have been tied up with plumbing. You see before we started ripping away at the walls of the shower we knew that the plumbing that is in the dark depths below the floor, the piping would need to be fixed/replaced [you can read a more detailed of the whys and hows in this post. Long story short, between work, being Mom and Dad and other life commitments, we have made some progress.

First up, Josh had to order some parts off the internet and make a few trips to some locally owned plumbing/hardware stores. One thing he did order was a Manabloc Water Distribution System. With our attempts to conserve water, energy and reduce our overall carbon footprint, we went ahead with buying this system which he mounted under the house. basically it has a side for cold and a side for hot and it provides with increasing water and energy savings and no more of those early mornings where I have the shower running for what seems hours, standing there cold and naked with my hand under the water waiting for it to warm up [ya... not a pretty sight]. The Manabloc delivers water up to 4 times faster than 'regular' plumbing systems. Okay, okay... may only be 4 times faster, but hey, better than nothing!

Source

This is what the Manabloc looks like and each PEX pipe comes in to this Manabloc. Blue being cold and red being hot [obviously]. The Manabloc itself was just shy of $100.00 but in the end totally worth it.

Next up was fixing the pipes for the sink. Even though right now we are working on the shower, Josh wanted to go ahead and get all of the pipes done for the bathroom... with the exception of the jet-tub. We are going to hold off on re-doing those pipes until we start working on the tile that is currently around the tub [the access points are almost under the tub and as of right now we are not doing any more demo... until the shower is 100% finished]. Before we had almost no water pressure for the sink. It was like a trickle... if that. Josh installed the new PEX and also some shut off valves. Easy access in case we needed to shut the water off to the sink for whatever reason.

Since my last update we have finished about 75% of what needs to be done to the floor. The first layer is thin set, than Josh put the rubber matting down to form the 'shower pan'. Next up he has to put down some moisture barrier. Than the concrete board for the walls and than one last layer of thin set on the floor before we can finally tile.

So there you have the run down of whats been going on with our forever-ongoing Master bathroom project. I long for the day when I can wake up in the morning and take the few steps it takes to get to the nice walk in shower. For the time being we have become quite acquainted with our guest bathroom. So much so I might actually miss it once our bathroom is done....... [ha... ya maybe not].

And then there was light

I was thrilled when I came home from work today to see that progress has been made on the shower. The entire project as a whole, is moving a lot faster than I had originally thought it would. I actually gave myself a deadline of 'Finished by Fall of 2011'... I know, loooong ways away but hey, it's our first 'Reno' project so im not really sure how much time these things take!

Josh came home a bit early from work and on his way home he stopped at Lowes to pick up a few things for the electrical portion of the shower reno. We decided to go with only two recessed lights because like many of you had mentioned... they are pretty bright and four would have been a bit to much. I don't want to feel like there is a spotlight on me while in the shower... because that would just be straight up scary [;)].

You might remember, this is where we left off. The remainder of the plywood that was above the sheet-rock and one single wire hanging down, that was once attached to a interior *Hallway* light fixture [I cringe every time].

And now... Two *approved* recessed shower lights, complete with [almost] finished ceiling.

Viola!!!! With the flip of a switch we have instant brightness.

I love how much light these two small recessed lights give off.

Even though we have no tile up yet, I can already picture how well the light will bounce off the white subway tiles and the powder blue glass tiles. I would be lying if I said I was not extremely, totally and utterly [haha I said utterly] excited to take a shower in there and when I do take a shower in there, I am going to take a shower so long that we run out of hot water ha!

So there is the progress thus far on the Master Bathroom shower - Reno. This weekend we hope to start working on the floor and at least get the pan and the 'mud' down and than once that's done, finish the plumbing and than tile tile tile!!!

Master Bathroom - Progress Report 1

So you wanna know what's going on with the Master Bath, that and I think you have had enough organization posts for one week [even though I only posted two for this week, but even for me that's a lot!]. Although you can never go wrong with some good ol' organization posts right?

So for the most part a WHOLE lot has not been done with the Bathroom. We are still laying out our 'plans' and of course Josh is running through what he is going to do with the pipes and the electrical since we will be adding some recessed lighting in the shower [more on that later]. Also since we both have full time jobs and a 3yr old running around, it makes it extra hard to try and complete renovations in a 'timely' manner.

First up. We bought our very first box of white subway tiles. Even though the box says 'Field tile' [is that some fancy-fied  name for 'subway' tile?] it's basically white subway tile and I only wish the box of 100 was only 26 cents! It turned out to be $26.00 and some change... not bad. But since we need about 10 more boxes, that will add up to be $260.00.

This little gem cost 98 cents. It's not gray like in my inspiration post [Here], it was a very light powder blue and when the light hit it, boy did that baby sparkle!

...To give you an idea of the color in contrast with the white subway tile.

I am seriously looking forward to when this tile is grouted to the shower instead of just leaning up against it and just this one white tile alone already you can see how bright it will really make the space! Love it!

Don't mind my wrinkly old lady hands. This is to show [give you an idea] of the actual size of the tile.

Josh also took out the light and the sheet-rock that was on the ceiling.

And took the pipes out which consisted of cutting the pipes underneath and capping them so we could remove the interior ones.

But back to the ceiling...

See those weird looking orby things? Ya... that's my attempt at recessed lighting, photoshop style. Originally I was thinking of just the two... as you see them. However Josh mentioned having four.

Like so. I'm not sure. What do you think? I mean recessed lighting can get pretty bright and part of me thinks 4 might be a little toooooo bright for just a shower stall. Although I bet it would look amazing on those glass tiles?

So there you have the 'updated' rundown of our Master Bathroom reno. It might not look like much however getting those pipes out was a task in itself [and I happily volunteered Josh to go under the house and do that one ;) ]. This weekend we plan to start tackling more, like getting the floor down and maybe start putting some concrete board up!

Stay tuned!

Wear your inspiration

Do you ever just browse through home decor magazines or click through blog after blog to gain any kind of inspiration for decor in your own home? Well of course you do... we all do. Not only do I browse to gain inspiration for the rooms in my home, but I also just overall enjoy ooh-ing and ahh-ing over other peoples digs.

But one thing that has really caught my eye, as far as inspiration is concerned, is the very textiles in my own home. -Clothing in particular.

As you know, before we started demo-ing our master bathroom, I had been slowly working on our Master Bedroom. But because of the recent changes coming with the master bath, the decor and overall design of the bedroom has been put on hold [mainly because I don't want to go and buy all these nice new things, only for them to become dusty, dirty or the chance of them becoming damaged from walking in and out on a constant basis when re-doing the bathroom]. However that has not stopped me from gathering inspiration for not only the bathroom, but the bedroom and the entire space as a whole.

I guess I like to plan ahead a bit [and it's fun :-P ] and knowing the colors and design I am going for, will make it easier when starting the whole [final] process of bringing the rooms together.

Anyways enough of the babble... now on to the fun part [Pictures!] and of course the main point of this post. -Color inspiration.

See this here is my most favorite coat. It's my 'HERE I AM' Peacoat. Everywhere I go people ask where I got the coat and how bright and 'fun' it is. Well one day I was in the bedroom folding laundry and happened to be looking ever so gazingly at my closet. I was in some sort of daze, staring at this coat [it's that powerful]. Than it hit me... I put two and two together. Wall color + Peacoat = Awesomness.

Our wall color is Valspar - Stone Partition and my coat is well... pretty self explanatory - yellow. I think that may be another reason why I am on this weird obsessed with all things yellow, kick. And it just so happened that this shade of yellow goes ever so graciously with Stone Partition.

So with the help of my coat [of all things...] I have come up with two mood boards for not only the bedroom, but also the bathroom.

First the bedroom. I have chosen a white comforter/duvet. I plan on adding pops of color with throw pillows. Mainly in shades of blue, gray, yellow and little bits greens and reds. I had originally bought this lamp, seen in this post however after combining all the colors I think some type of stacked crystal lamp will look better.

For the bathroom I wanted to bring in some of the same color scheme as in the bedroom [since they flow together]. You might remember my original tile scheme ideas in this post where I talked about either adding some marble tile with the white subway tile or some type of glass tile border with the white subway tile. However after some more thought, more research and of course bringing these colors together, I have decided to use a light gray glass tile for the floor of the shower and leaving the wall to ceiling in the white subway tile.

So there is the entire inspiration and plan for the Master bedroom and Master bathroom. All thanks to my lovely little peacoat. Thank you peacoat. Not only do you keep me warm but you help me decide on co-ordinating colors!

Oh and just to show you that I am real...

I know... I really do need to start wearing my hair down more...

So... Thoughts? Should I add in anymore colors? Should I buy another peacoat to help me in deciding some colors for the rest of the house? Ha!

Phase I Demo - Complete

I am happy to report that the first phase of our bathroom 'reno' is complete'. Well when it comes to the shower anyways [and that's what our main focus is on right now since it is the biggest project within the master bath]. I'm actually surprised at how fast we got the demo accomplished. Granted we started working on it in bits and pieces, since last Sunday... but than again we both still work full time so all in all we have made good progress.

Or maybe it was that chocolate cream filled donut I had this morning that kept me going...yum.

First things first. I started ripping the tile up off the floor and to my amazement it wasn't AS hard as I had originally, and mentally prepared myself for....or so I thought. Josh got most of the walls down [in big chunks] so I figured I would tackle the floor and any remaining remnants.

Boy... did Josh get off easy on this project.

After killing myself removing the floor tiles, in chunks, I noticed that there was a large abundance of thin set. I might not be an expert and this might be our first official 'DIY' project, but Josh and I watch Holmes on Holmes [love that show] enough to know that, that is just way to much thin set. I mean it was super thick and that's not even the best part!

After removing all the floor tiles, we removed the rubber matting and ... Hmmm... what's that!? Oh... that's MORE thin set.

At this point Josh and I were a little puzzled. At first glance we thought it was concrete but than after a few good swings of the hammer we discovered it was not concrete, but more thin set.

It was like we were digging for buried treasure and what was the buried treasure you might ask? ANOTHER set of floor tiles. I am totally not pulling your leg and I totally did not photoshop that picture. These people who did this shower over, instead of ripping up the OLD tile that used to be there... they went ahead and tiled OVER it. And the best part? -These were contractors who did this!

Mike Holmes... where are you when we need ya!!

Here is a little 'diagram' to show you why our water pressure in this shower was just completely horrible. See the hot water pipe? It's small... This photo doesn't even do it any justice. It's small like pinky small. Well see the main pipe? It's bigger... a lot bigger than the hot water pipe. So when you turn your hot water on you have this tiny little pipe that the hot water has to go through... than it trickles out into the main pipe, thus creating a low pressure flow out of the shower head. Josh can't wait to tackle this one!

I really have no words for this other than... really now... ::shakes head::

But everything is now ripped out and torn down.... along with the 6 layers of floor we ripped out also.

I am just happy the demo is done because that means we can move forward to Phase 2 - Installation.

It can only get better right!?

A little carried away....

I always thought that I was the one that got a little overly excited when it came to home projects. However I was very very wrong. I was at work today and got a text from Josh...

Josh: 'So im on my way home... I think I might start on the bathroom'.

Me: 'Oh really? I thought we were going to wait until this weekend?'.

Josh: 'Ya, that was the plan... You don't mind if I start when I get home do you?'.

Me: 'No.... I don't have to be the one to officially take the first swing but I do want to crack a few tiles in half so save me some'.

Josh: 'K Love you!!!'. ... As he skipped all the way to the bathroom ... [okay I added that part in but I wouldn't put it past him :) ]

It actually put a smile on my face because now I know im not the only one eating, sleeping and breathing this first official reno project. [We have always rented before we bought this house so reno projects were a no-go :( ].

So I came home and this is what was going on.

He actually got quite a bit done in just about an hour time frame and I was actually a weeee bit shocked to see some concrete board behind the tile. Well we both were actually. When I first walked in the house that was one of the first things Josh mentioned. Was how he was surprised that they actually 'did' it right. Of course you remember yesterday's little photo tour with my be-hind knocking tiles off the shower and all, and not in the way you should be knocking tiles off the shower wall with your be-hind [ha!].

I feel like we can officially join the 'Demo' crowd. It's not all about painting a wall and sewing a pillow anymore. That's right folks 'Team Josh and Kasey' have rolled into town for some ultimate tile smackdown.

Broken bits of concrete board and cracked tile give me the warm fuzzies.

Okay I lied about Josh being the only one to take a hammer to the shower wall. I had to make my mark too... and the first tile was the infamous tile that fell right off after I slightly stepped on it. That's right... I took the hammer and crow bar right to that baby and smashed it right up. I showed it who was boss and probly even flexed my bi's and tri's while swinging the hammer just to prove my point!

And just because it was located right above the bottom section, you better believe I took the hammer to this section too. Of course... I knew those pesky contractors wouldn't let us down... no concrete board on this section. Just plain ol' sheet rock.

No turning back now!

Another topic that we talked about tonight was the overall scheme of the bathroom. Specifically the shower. Of course I luuuurve me some white subway tiles and originally wanted all white subway tiles from floor to ceiling but my lovey-poo, although is on board with that, has 'hinted' to maybe adding something else into the 'sea' of white. SO the open for all ideas person that I am, came up with two options tonight.

Idea 1 - Incorporated the white clean look with a few tones of gray with the marble subway tile. Complete with white ceramic tile border above and below the marble tiles. The floor will either be white tile [smaller square tiles], Gray tile [to match the gray hues in the marble... also in small square tiles] or the marble hexagon tiles.

Idea 2 - Still using the white subway tiles.. adding in some small glass tiles. I was searching for some gray hue's and came across this design. I like how it also incorporates a little of the brown with a few added brown tiles. Since the bathroom floor is hardwood and will remain hardwood, the brown will really compliment the overall space. The floor of the shower, if using a tile like this will either be one of the lighter gray hues [in small glass tile] or one of the light brown hues [also in the small glass tile].


I know that if we do end up doing some sort of 'border' around the shower, like in the photos above, I want some sort of gray tone. The bedroom wall is a gray tone and I think that adding in just a minimal bit of gray into the Master Bath will really make the entire area flow [between the master and master bath].

What are your thoughts? Do you like glass tiles or are your more into the classic 'marble'?