An Angel’s chorus sings “Hallelujah!” as the GROUTING! IS! DONE! And, to repeat the wise words of Nothing But Bonfires, “Grouting can go to hell.” I read that before I started grouting and, oh Lordy, grouting totally sucks ass. My arm/hand is killing me. I wish I had a better “before” picture so you could get the horror of the moldy grotesque shower doors, but it completely slipped my mind until my Dad started the demolition. I think you can, however, get the overall griminess of the old bathroom. I had forgotten how bad it was until I looked at this picture. Gross. There is so, so, so much more to do, but I am SO freaking glad this part of it is done. Time for a cocktail!
Category Archives: bathroom
The grouting is done
Sewing, Tiling, Digging, Drawing
Wow, it’s been a while since I posted around this here blog. What have I been up to? Let’s see….
1. Crazy MAJOR progress on the pencil skirt. This is a close up of the fabric and lining around the zipper. Just a few finishing touches and she’ll be done and ready to wear. Just as soon as I get new shoes, and figure out a top to wear with it. Neglecting your wardrobe for years leads to gaping holes that are expensive to fill.
2. Getting ready to plant some garlic! I am so excited about this. I’ve dug a trench, but it still needs a little more working and also some compost in order to get ready for glorious cloves. Oh. I need to procure some garlic as well. Minor detail.
3. I have FINISHED [cue Angels chorus] tiling the glass in the tub surround which includes the small fiddly cuts in the corners. I just need to resume with the subway tile up to the ceiling and then – grouting! Huzzah! I am still trying to find cabinet knobs, need to tile the floor, install the new lighting, shelves, buy accessories, new towels…still much to do.
4. I have been trying to get back into the illustration groove and have been experimenting a little with making custom brushes in Photoshop. It’s been a hard battle, as I have not been sure if illustration was something that I want to move forward with, but I can’t seem to get away from it. We’ll see.
Tiling…it’s not that hard
Tile is on the wall! I was so afraid to start this project…the fact that I kept putting it off for, um…MONTHS is evidence enough. I finally got to the point where I couldn’t put if off any longer, staring at the backerboard day after day was making me crazy.
It’s messier than I thought it would be. I didn’t realize that the mastic would get everywhere, This is definitely a goopy finger project. I highly recommend having a bucket with rags and water next to you if you are going to tackle something like this.
Before I began I reread This Young House’s entry on their bathroom project, and it was really helpful. I also had a tiling book on hand to get me started.
There also might have been a panicked call to Dad to reassure me that I was doing everything correctly (which I was). Thanks Dad!
The most time consuming part of this project so far has been measuring and cutting the end pieces. Several times I mis-measured, cut tiles, realized I mis-measured, swore a bit..got glue all over the place…you know, that sort of thing. I kept forgetting to take off the measurement for the grout line. I would measure the space and cut the tile according to that measurement. D’oh!
I won’t be making that mistake again and I think the rest of it will go smoothly. I hope.
The Perfect Towel Hook
The bathroom makeover has slowed to a painful crawl after the initial frenzy of activity. This is mainly due to the fact that the people who know what they are doing are no longer here (parents) which leaves just Jeffery and me.
Everything is functioning, the tub/sink/toilet work, it’s just the cosmetics. Like tiling. I have a three day weekend ahead and I have already declared it to the universe and anyone within range that I WILL BE TILING THIS WEEKEND. There. Now the internet knows!
We had to take all of the towel racks off the walls to fill in the holes in order to repaint the bathroom, which has left us without a place to hang our towels,
and as a consequence, they are scatter all over the house, draped on chairs, doors, and the elliptical machine. I don’t want a towel rack, I want hooks and it’s been a little difficult to find the perfect hook. I have narrowed it down to two, both from Anthropologie and I think I am going to go with # 1 as the blue and black with fit with the color scheme.
I actually have hook #2, and while I love, love, love, the black and white stripe…the hook is just a little too big for the space. I think it could live on the back of the door perhaps.
So..yeah..tiling..I’m scared! Wish me luck!
Tile decisions
You know…I just was not happy with either of the two choices of trim tile we were debating for the counter backsplash and the tub. They were stock from Home Depot, and while they were nice, they weren’t quite right. So…everything has been on hold while we waited for samples from Anchor Bay Tile. They came really quickly and we have a consensus. We are going to go with the little round penny tiles in a color blend called Izu. I think they will look so good, especially since they will echo the shape of the floor tiles. Yay!
Question: I will need a special saw/bit for cutting glass, yes?