Stick a fork in it!

 That's right, it's done, baby! It took longer than expected, cost more than we thought, but we love it!

Let's take a moment to remember where we started.  It was with this. That awesome 1980's glazed tile that started to fall off the wall, and let's not forget those surprises that we found when we started tearing it all down. All the wet and the mold and the beer can, ah, good times. This renovation was not on our radar, so it kinda morphed as we went. You can read more about how we got


to where we are HERE and HERE and HERE aaaand HERE. We learned alot as this project went on. We learned about products that we like, products we hate, what we really want, and what we're willing to splurge on in order to get a better end result. This bathroom is as re-done as it's gonna be for a long time, it is now at the bottom of the list, and yet it has set the bar so much higher for the rest of the house. So without further adieu, here's the after:

I'm going to go ahead and throw in a few shots from other angles so that you can kind of see how it all gels together. 

The first thing you might notice is that we ran the tile all the way up to the ceiling. This was for a couple of reasons, the first being that we had to cut the drywall out back there anyway. The second reason was because we wanted to eliminate any drywall in the shower vicinity, and the third was because it was only 1 tile higher and it added so much more visual height that we just couldn't resist. We did not remove the tub for this renovation so it's the original unit. We really would have liked to remove the tub and installed a walk in shower because neither of us ever take an actual bath and in the even that we needed a tub, we have one in the hall bath, but that wasn't in the cards or the budget or the plan so we kept the tub. We also did not replace the floor tile. We talked about it but again, this reno wasn't planned so we decided to stick with things that were less labor intensive that wouldn't spin out of control cost/time wise. If it wasn't broken or seriously ugly, we left it alone. In all honesty, the weird tile color is less ugly now since the wall tile actually has that color in it. It sort of seems like it belongs now so we kinda like it again. I have to add here that we painted the grout lines on the floor with this  grout re-colorant product because it would make that grout the same color as what we put in the tub area and because it was supposed to make the grout look new, but I gotta say I'm not loving it. For starters, you have to carefully paint all of the grout lines with a brush and it says to work the paint in and I dunno about you but the only brush that I know made for that is a toothbrush and that makes a hellova mess. If you don't work the paint in, it just sorta sits there and looks stupid, I finally taped the lines going one way with painters tape and just went at it like an angry spider monkey mad at the world because he started something and had to finish it even though he knew he wouldn't long term like the results. I repeated this with the lines going the other way and I vowed that I'd never paint grout lines again. It's too much work for something that doesn't really look like new grout, and something that you have to be so careful with. You can't scrub it, or use solvent cleaners, or let it stay wet for a long time. Just keep these things in mind if you think you'll Young House Love-it and paint your grout. They love their painted grout, I'm not so sure about it. I know that I've shown my sexy sink area before, but I had to include a shot of it again, I really think it's my favorite thing in the entire house. We also did not replace the actual vanity, just the top and faucet and added the back splash. We also replaced the light, mirror, outlet/switch, and towel holders. We have aspirations to replace the door handle and possibly the door but that's another project for another day. Here are some more details that we put into this space.

We added this awesome toilet. Now I know that a toilet is not something that one typically gets excited about, but I love it. It takes some getting used to because there is less water in the bowl and it flushes with more of a suction than just swirling water. That being said, it flushes very fast and it's fairly quiet given how it functions. I like it so much I even got it it's own little dish garden of succulents to keep it company while we're away.
 We also got a new towel holder for bath towels that works really great because it allows 2 towels to be hung up to dry without being folded or bunched up. We are usually Home depot people, but we visited Lowes some during this renovation to get some selections not available at the Depot. *shock*

For example, by visiting Lowes, we got this
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ladder shelf to hold extra stuff like make-up, towels, washcloths, (pretend that I've done laundry and the shelves are full) and the new laundry basket that is on that bottom shelf. We also got this amazing  roman shade ------------------------------> that I love so much I went back and got one for all 3 bedrooms upstairs. I thought it was pretty when I saw it in the store but it wasn't until I got it installed that I realized the true awesomeness of it. This folks, is a "cord free" shade. All of the cords are on the back and to raise and lower it you just pull it down or push it up. No dangling cords, super easy installation, and a great price! Let's not forget that price, because if you want custom ones you'll pay hundreds of dollars, but this one is only around $30-40 depending on what size you get. I highly recommend them.

A few of our other upgrades include shower stuff. 

While we did not replace the actual faucet (mostly because we don't know that much about copper plumbing and are too cheap to call a plumber if it's not really necessary), we did give the existing faucet (and tub trim) a facelift with a retro-fit kit that replaces everything but the mixer (the part that controls how much hot and cold water mix before coming out the spout). We replaced the drain cover, tub stopper flipper thingy (see how technical I am?), the tub spout and the handle and face plate of the faucet. I want to note that I am semi unhappy with how the handle feels. I think that there is a design flaw that doesn't allow the handle to fully seat on the mixer so it feels a little loose but other than that I'm totally happy with it. We also got a new shampoo and "stuff" holder and chose to get oil rubbed bronze instead of being so matchy matchy. We like the depth and the pop that it gives the shower, it's just a little something unexpected that we're digging since we tried it in the kitchen with a little light update over the sink. I thought I blogged that and I was going to include a link, but I was wrong. You'll see it when we get to the next round of kitchen updates that we're planning. Anyway, the baskets slide apart to accommodate the hose on the hand held portion of the shower so that you're not reaching in behind it to get your stuff. We got the semi rain head one with the hand held because at the time we were still bathing the kids in our shower, but now that they and all their tub stuff have been shuffled off to the hall bath, we're thinking about upgrading yet again to a full on rain head.
O.K. so I told you that I'd explain about the mosaic tiles in the shower, here's what's up with that. We used floor tile instead of wall tile in the shower because we wanted 12x12 tiles and that was the only way that we could get them. I don't know if you know how thick floor tiles are, but let me tell you they are thick and very hard. To give you an example, when we hung up the shower curtain bar it took two hours, yes that's right folks, two hours to drill the 4 holes needed to put the screws in, Yes we did use a tile bit, and yes we did use an electric drill, and yes we did swap out, and yes our arms were very sore the next day, but it's up there and I think that nothing short of an elephant will ever tear it down because the kids aren't allowed in our bathroom. Anyway, what does the shower curtain bar have to do with the faucet? It is there to illustrate that with our lack of knowledge, skill, and tools, cutting a hole in the center of a tile for the faucet and spout to stick through just wasn't gonna happen. We tried, but we quickly gave up when it became obvious that we were in over our heads. Our solution to this was mosaic tile right down the center of the shower. We pondered this for a few moments and decided that it would not only make making an opening for the plumbing easier because we could just remove the tiles that were in the way, those tiles were easy to cut in half on the tile cutter if need be and stuck back up there if they were a little shy of covering things. We also decided that we thought it would be cool to run it all the way up as an accent, and then we realized that if we were going to buy mosaic tiles we could do a backsplash to match so that the stripe in the shower didn't stick out like a sore thumb and that is what cemented the decision to get a new sink. So you'll also notice if you look very hard that around the faucet plate, there is yet another square of mosaics and the reason for that is because the thickness of the mosaics was less than the thickness of the previous glazed tile to the face plate didn't fit snug against the wall and our solution to that was to add another accent to fix the problem. It seems like a really stupid thing to do, but we pondered our options and held tile up and took it away and repeated that several times before we decided that we not only thought it fixed the problem, but we that it looked pretty cool too.
So there you have it, the master bath. We made some mistakes, we learned some things, we raised the bar, and you can bet the our next renovations are gonna be slammin' awesome too. All said and done, we estimate that we spent between $1200-1500 on this project, but we think that it was well worth it to have a room in the house that makes you feel like you're on vacation at the end of every day. ~Kellie~

The devil is in the details...

I think that the person who coined the phrase "The devil is in the details" was a home owner and a do it yourself-er, and I'll tell you why. At the end of a project when you are in fact down to the details, you're tired. In fact, you're not just tired, you are sick and tired of the project or at least I am. Having to work around the kids and other normal house stuff, it seems like the project drags on for-ev-errrrrr. It typically does take longer than we anticipate, but that's partly due to the manner in which we approach projects. As we do more projects and realize that we don't really "come back and finish it better later" we have taken the approach of doing it better to begin with and sometimes that means that the project morphs and grows as we go but in the end we end up with something better than we might have anticipated in the beginning. We are in week... 6? of this remodel? It was going to be a "long weekend project" but the more we thought on it the more it was apparent that we should make the most of this project and turn it into a remodel and be done with that room for a while. It's turning into a serious oasis in the house and I have to admit that I just go into that room and smile because it's like a vacation. It's totally raising the bar for the rest of the house but that's ok. We're planning to let the awesomeness spill out into the master bedroom and out into the hall and slowly work its way downstairs. It's the details that make it better which brings me back to my original point. I think that the devil is in the details because at the end of a project, after you've put all that hard work into everything, how you finish the details can be what either brings everything all together or sends the entire project to hell in a hand basket.  Details can also be the point when, because you're so ready for it to be over, that you begin to insert expletives into conversations about the project. Sentences like "Why the (your choice of expletive) can't this just go smoothly?!?!" or "When the (your choice of expletive) is this going to be done?!?! are common in this house. Today, I am finishing one of the last few tiny details of this bathroom remodel. I hope to bring it to a full close in another day or two due to the drying time of paint and caulk. Here's a little snap shot of what I'm doing.

I'm not sure if I've blogged on this ^^^ whole situation before. I tried to go back and find a post about it but pfft, it was so long ago since I originally did it that I have no clue which post it might have been in. The long and the short of it is this: The tile in the master is a really odd color. It's not really tan or rose, it's like an odd combination of those things. It's kind of a pink-y tan-ish? Anyway, when I originally painted the bathroom, every sample I held up next to that looked like crap. The odd color just brought out hues in the paint that were not flattering. To overcome this I broke out my trusty cans of spray paint and painted the baseboard tiles white, problem solved. When we had to rip out the wall around the tub/shower, some of the tiles went with it so we had to replace them. The awesome thing is that I found a perfect match (shape wise) at Lowe's (but not Home Depot *sad face*), but because they were made a nice shiny white they didn't match the others that were spray painted. It was a necessary evil to paint them with spray paint in order to have a perfect match so that's where I am today. I still have to put a couple more coats on, then a tiny bit of caulk to button things up, then a tiiiny bit of paint touch up after that, then, I'll be done. Oh and I need a new bath rug too, but anyway. So there you have it, that's what's going on in my bathroom. ~Kellie~

BAM! This just happened!

Let me just state the title again in case you didn't read it. BAM! This just happened! Let me start with what I started out with.

 Here is the partially finished vanity area of my master bathroom. This is how it looked at about 10:00 this morning. It's getting there but it has a long way to go. The big hard things are done, but sometimes it's the little things. Like a faucet. And a mirror. And drawers. I had a mission, and today was the day for it to be completed. I've decided that in order to get this remodel buttoned up, I'm gonna have to break it down in smaller sections and bust them out. I really only have nap time to work on things and I have other things to do in addition to finishing the bathroom, so I work on the bathroom every other day. Earlier this week I painted some grout and started cleaning up a little. Pics of all that business will come in a later blog. Just know that it was tedious and I'm not really looking forward to doing the grout lines on the floor but they have to get done so I'll have to suck it up.



So anyway, that was the bathroom when I started. I started by taping (which I have never done before but man did it make the job easier and neater and more professional looking) and caulked the joint between the top of the tile and the wall as well as the one between the counter top and bottom of the tile. I also hung up the mirror and let me tell you, that sucker is heavy.  I was installing the towel bar when BAM! This happened.

It hurt. Really bad. The blister filled with blood before my eyes and got huge before I finally found the clippers to snip the skin and let it drain.This also happened during the course of things.

Maybe later today when my finger stops throbbing I'll go upstairs and clean this up.
Even with all that going on, this ultimately happened.

BAM!

Just in case you can't see it very well, here's another shot. 

Is that not just the sexiest sink that you have ever seen in  your life? Even if you don't think so, just say that it looks nice because I'm in loooove with this sink. I got in, caulked everything, installed the faucet and drain, hung the mirror, installed the new electrical outlet, replaced the drawers, installed the towel bar, and was done just three short hours later. There are no leaks, no drips, and nothing has fallen off the wall. The area really looks way better in person than it does in the pictures. The light is awesome and white, the tile gives excellent texture, the mirror is very rich looking, and the faucet is that little touch of bling that ties it all together. The towel bar and hardware on the cabinet kind of help spread the love out a little and the new rectangular outlet and switches (which are the rocker style) are very crisp against the dark wall. I sound like I'm writing an article for Hustler but it's really hot in there. Just because it's the most amazing thing in my entire house at this time, here's one more shot for the road. If you come over and can't find me, look in the bathroom, I'll be in there staring and thinking I'm on vacation at some elaborate resort.  ~Kellie~

 

Master Bath Update

We sincerely hope to wrap up the bathroom remodel this weekend. We have only been working on it when it's convenient so it's taken longer than some other projects but it has given us time to contemplate some things and make some changes. Here's what's going on so far:

Paint!

Both shots are the same paint, and that paint is the same one seen in the kitchen so be your own judge about how dark or light it really is. I did learn that I don't like Sur-Line rollers because apparently I'm a heavy handed painter which results in them leaving alot of bubbles which made the walls look like ostrich skin and I had to lightly sand them before the second more carefully applied coat with a lighter napped roller (also Sur-Line but I made it work). I hate having lots of paint cans hanging around and I had about a gallon of this left and not alot of money in the budget to blow on paint. Besides, I like this color and we thought it would look nice in here. We debated using the same color as the living room/hallway (which we have part of a 5 gallon bucket of), but thought that the darker would add a little richness to this space. We are really digging the tile in the shower. The color looks great with this darker brown paint, it looks great with the white tub and trim, it even makes that stupid floor tile look good which is totally an added bonus! Oddly enough, the tile has all of these colors in it (except the white) so it was an awesome happy accident that is totally working in our favor.

Now I'm going to give a few sneak peeks at things to come.

Like this light above the vanity, and this mirror under it. And how about this sexy sink? It really is slick looking and totally worth the hassle it was to find it. We still have to install the tile backsplash that will match the accent tile in the shower, grout all of the tile (including painting the floor grout with one of those nifty pens), install the sink, light, tub faucet, and mirror, caulk everything, and purchase and install a sink faucet, towel holders, and a toilet. Speaking of toilets, remember that I said we were installing the toilet from the master bath in the hall bath upstairs because the toilet in there was really bad and didn't flush right?

We did get the toilet in there and the old one out and then we gutted the crappy crapper (bahaha) so that we'd have spare parts and put that bad boy on the curb for the trash guys. That was a great plan except that it wasn't because the trash guys didn't pick it up. So now we have this suburban outhouse in front of the fire hydrant. I'm just waiting for the neighborhood kids to start using it and insisting that they didn't need to come inside to pee (or worse) because there was a toilet on the street. If you're my neighbor and you're reading this, I'm sorry about the toilet on the street and we'll get it taken care of soon. ~Kellie~

Master Bath Renovation

This post could have also been called "Crap Rolls Downhill", but that was a little graphic for the title so anyway. Ok, so I'll cut to the chase and let you know (if you don't already know) why we are remodeling the master bath. It all started with a little crazy looking grout and a few loose tiles that popped off way too easily when we investigated things.

So we took off all the tile, found water damage, and ended up taking everything back to the studs to find THIS------>
The black section on the left is actually house wrap paper stuff, but the second section is in fact mold. After a few days we finally had all that mess cleaned up.  As an added bonus, we found another beer can in the wall. This is a joke and a theme in this house, open a wall, find a beer can. It explains alot of what we find, it really does.

So anyway, we had a few decisions to make and one of them was to tile all the way up to the ceiling in the shower. We put up some cement board so that we could avoid that whole ugly mold issue in the future in the even that our tiling job sucks, or the grout job fails or something else.

 












So this project just kind of keeps going. As I think I've said before, our neighbor says that "Nothing is ever more permanent than that which is meant to be temporary" so we tried to think of how to get the biggest bang for our buck while we were there, and had things torn apart. That list included removing the popcorn from the ceiling, fixing some places on the walls, replacing the counter top on the vanity (which was a cheaper alternative to replacing the entire thing) and most recently replacing the toilet, more on that later.

 This  is not a job for the faint of heart. In fact, we have both learned that we have zero Hispanic heritage because if we did, we'd have had the drywall, painting, and tiling done ages ago.  Here's a shot of our poor bathroom floor, and a little shot of the tile going up.

 

So at the end of the day after multiple set backs and yet another design change (that's gonna be pretty darn cool I think), here's what we have done. Remember that we have 4 kids, all of which are home while we're doing this so things are going slowly. Add to that the fact that neither of us have ever tiled a bathroom and things are at a down right crawl thanks to the learning curve that comes with this. We're pretty happy with things though. We're trying to take our time and think things through because this unplanned renovation bumps this bathroom to the bottom of the list. You might notice that we are using 12x12 tiles. We just liked them, no other reason really. Ok, well if you want to be technical, they are easier and faster to put up than smaller tiles and since we're learning as we go, we liked the thought of easier.

Now you might be wondering what we're doing for a bathroom since ours is out of commission, and the answer to that is that we are all sharing the hall bath (aka the kids' bath) upstairs. It has allowed us to take our time and work on the bathroom when we can. I have to admit that I used to avoid that bathroom like the plague but since I've been using it I have spiffed it up a tad. For starters, I added that white cabinet above the toilet. It was a freebie from a friend, yay for saving a little money! I also moved some of the decor around to make room for said shelf, and replaced the nasty floor vent with a new clean white one. We took the toilet from our bathroom which flushed fairly well (and needed to be moved anyway for the renovation) and put it in this bathroom in place of the toilet that was in there that flushed TERRIBLY!!! There's a whole other story there, but it'll have to wait for another day. There was no window covering in there (because the kids are short and the neighbors can't see their little naked bottoms), so I added one so that the neighbors didn't get flashed by our much taller bodies. I have to say that while I do love having a master bath, I could live with sharing this one if we didn't have it. It feels very homey since the little upgrades it's gotten since I've had to use it, and though it's only about 1/2 the size of the master bath (crazy, right?) it's big enough not to feel like you're in a closet.

So that's where we've gotten to so far. It kinda sucks that this renovation wasn't planned because we won't be able to to everything  that we wanted to do in there, but we're doing most of the things that we had on the list so it's ok. I'm very thankful that we are both able to generate a little extra income to help fund this project. The only things that we are not going to do in there that we really wanted to had we planned to renovate are replacing the floor tile, replacing the entire vanity, and taking out the tub and making it a huge shower. Maybe someday. ~Kellie~

The Santa towel

I thought I'd be smooth and make some new hooded towels. I was going to make them to sell, but in all honesty I'd never be able to convince people that it's worth the price I'd have to charge. I suppose that if I practiced a little more things might be different since I just kinda made this up as I went. That seems to be a theme with me these days. Anyway, here's what I came up with. Admittedly it would need a few modifications if I were to actually sell them someday, but all in all I'm pretty happy with it.
 

It has cute little finger pockets to help her wrap the towel around her. :) The modification needed can be seen here, I'd need to put the hood on so that the bias tape was behind it and not in front of it like it is here. I'd probably need to serge that hood with red instead of white too. :-p

She likes it anyway, so we're good. ~Kellie~

Tonight's Clothes Shopping Adventure

I went shopping for a few clothing items and I just need to vent. I am sure that some of you will understand and have no doubt had at least one similar experience. For starters, I want to know why pants are so long. I think I've mentioned this before. I also want to know why I can't find a size 6 in "petite" which is a nice way of saying short. It seems that the short pants start at size 8. Just because you are small in the waist doesn't mean that you have legs like a stork, it can mean that you are just small in general. That leads me to another annoying thing, why do they put petite pants on the top rack? There should be a rule against that. I have found a brand of jeans that I like, they are relatively cheap, they come in different legs meaning boot cut, straight cut, etc., and they have a slight stretchiness about them without being like leggins or whatever. This helps when you are a mom with hips and a butt and have to bend or squat alot because as we all know, kids are short.
I also went shopping for bras. Now that I'm no longer nursing a baby, I don't need to wear nursing bras. I threw out all of my old bras when I started wearing nursing bras again because they were shot and it was a good excuse to toss them. I want to know why bras don't come in packs like underwear. Wouldn't that make sense? You'd get 5 pairs of underwear in one package and 5 bras in another. I think it's a conspiracy to make you stand in the bra isle looking like an idiot for as long as possible. I guess it give you the most mix and match ability? To that I say "Whatever", I'm in it for function, not to be pretty, sorry honey. I have a gripe about bras and society. I have a small middle, and small boobs. I am 100% ok with saying that. I do not need, nor do I want an underwire push up bra that makes me look like I've jacked my boobs up to my chin. I am secure in the fact that I do not wear a "D" cup, and honestly push up bras make me feel like I'm perching my boobs on a ledge and I have to pray that they don't fall out of the cup. I always feel like I should talk to my boobs like I'm talking a jumper off a building, "Don't jump, it's not worth it". I admit that I do like the slightest but of padding, but only as "nipple insurance" because while perky nipples might be hot in a wet t-shirt contest, it's not really something I want to sport in the grocery store.
In conclusion, I will say that I tried on 4 pairs of jeans and 4 bras and much to my surprise, they all fit great. I only purchased 3 of each because I didn't want to spend all of our money and give my husband a heart attack. I'll go back later and bra shop some more since 3 isn't gonna be enough. The selection of what I wanted was small and I got tired of looking through them praying for the correct size. I did see one brand that offered small, medium, and large, which I thought was genius. That being said, I only found one small. Ugh. I also got 2 pairs of "skinny jeans" which are loose enough to not look painted on, but tight enough not to be saggy and to easily fit into my tall boots. All in all it was a fabulous shopping trip which almost never happens, and I seriously thought about stopping to buy a lottery ticket on my way home, but I was tired and it was cold out, and I'm not sure that I'd have driven by any place that sold them on my way home. Too bad, tonight must have been my lucky night. ~Kellie~