Long weekend, little work

Despite the long weekend we didn't get much done work-wise. We did, however, get closer to picking out tile for the master bath. Right now it's probably going to be a gray floor with some sort of brown on the wall. Neutral, but with a little bit of style. The cabinets are the same color as the kitchen so hopefully everything will look good. We also picked out a countertop for the guest bath and hung a light fixture in there. There's still a lot of trim left in the master bedroom so we will move on that this week and get back to installing the bamboo.

Newest seat in the house

Another couple of nights this week and all of a sudden we have another (almost) full bath. We still need to pick out a countertop and hang a door, but the shower and toilet is fully functional.
Exciting times over here... Seriously.

Monday Fun-day

I was feeling ambitious after work today so I decided to plug away at the remaining details in the guest bath. The painting is now done and the fixtures are installed. Technically we now have a fully functional 2nd bath and shower! There's still some caulking to do around the edges, but so far no leaks and great pressure. The PEX plumbing system we installed is great so far. It only took about 15 seconds for the hot water to reach the fixture. Our water heater is in the basement so that's pretty fast. I still need to cut in the cabinets and do some trim so we can install the toilet. It was a late night, but after the paint fumes and silicone caulk fumes, I won't be needing a glass of wine to relax...

A few steps closer

We finished up the tile in the guest bath and got everything grouted. The tile design we picked turned out great. There were a few cracks to fix on the walls so we didn't get around to painting yet. Luckily we were able to borrow our friend Audra's car so we could get a few of the large supplies we need for upcoming projects - new basement door, toilets, and a bunch of trim. Thanks Audra!! I also did a little bit of detail work upstairs too - hung some lights and finished some electrical switches/outlets mostly. The small work seems to pile up pretty quick, but I don't like to spend an entire weekend doing that stuff as it gets tedious fast. Much more fun to do some of the bigger projects like tiling or flooring and only spend a couple hours a day on the punch list stuff.

First of the tile finished

We finished up the guest bath tile today. The shower is ready for grout and then I can install the fixtures and we can start using it. Next weekend we will pick up a toilet/paint/light and finish this bathroom up. The laundry room is ready for grout too so hopefully I can install the electrical in there and we can start using our new washer/dryer as well. Lots of progress!

New year, same work

We rang in the new year getting a little closer to a finished bathroom. We were on vacation this past week so we got a needed break from the renovations. Now we can get back to work with a renewed energy. First up is to finish the upstairs guest bath. The pattern and the size of the tiles is a bit of a pain, but it's turning out great. There wasn't enough mortar in the bucket to finish the side walls so we started the laundry room floor with the leftovers. Hopefully the walls will be tiled tomorrow and we can get the floor done and the grout done this coming week. Then just add a few details... toilet, vanity, light, trim, paint... OK maybe not so few, but the hard part is behind us. The rest should be relatively easy as the prep work is already done.

 

Guest bath started

Having picked up all the tile supplies for the guest bath last night today I dug into the install. As usual the first row is the hardest and then it goes a little faster. Hopefully I'll be able to knock out some more this week before the holidays get here. We're hoping to have this bathroom ready for us to use by next month. Our 1950's bathroom we're currently using has long passed its retirement age so it'll be nice to have a modern bathroom again. We're using simple 6x8 white subway tile and we're going to add a dark marble in two accent strips along the wall to match the countertops (that we haven't picked out, but hopefully will be something dark). The cabinets are a lighter wood as is the flooring so it should all look nice together. We are way under budget on the materials for this bathroom which is good because our master bathroom is probably going to be more expensive than we had originally planned.

Our drywall guys installed the Durock in the bathrooms so it's an easier install for us. All I needed to do was tape the joints with mold resistant fiber mesh tape and thinset over everything. The floor needs another layer of self leveling compound as the first coat wasn't quite perfectly level. I ordered another brand this time that has a higher working time - 20-25 minutes - compared to the 5-10 minutes of the stuff we used before. It should flow a little better and level itself out better.

We were lazy so we set up a Dexter-like kill room for the wet saw upstairs. This way we don't have to walk down 2 sets of stairs and cut tile in the freezing cold!