Beyond Demolition

The Builder was indeed rained out last Monday and spent the day working on the bathroom.  But because I was at work, you won't find those photo's here today.  He rarely remembers to take photo's (probably because I'm always following after him with my camera, :) ).  He worked on Friday, but he was anxious to get back to our project today.  We're officially done with demo, hooray, and have moved on to installation.

Last night we headed out to Lowes to pick up the shower tile.  What marvelous and creative tile did we choose you ask?

Bad photo from Lowe's web site, but this is plain white subway tile.  Yep, plain white! (I know, the color looks similar to a bone or off white in this photo - it's not) OK, I love color, and there is a lot of beautiful tile to choose from these days.  But there's a practicality with white subway tile.  Should I ever get tired of my grey walls, or want to update the overall decor, white is an easy color to work with.  There was another deciding factor.  Cost.  These tiles are 22 cents a tile.  Roughly $18 a box.  We needed six boxes at basic estimate.  There were some other tiles that were very, very pretty.  But they were were $55 a box.  More than double the cost.  Since we've gutted the entire bathroom, I didn't want to break the bank on tile I might get tired of in 10 years.  So subway tile it is. :)

But we didn't go totally bland.  Check out the tile we bought for a mosaic border!

LOVE it!  There will be a four inch band about 2/3 of the way up, all the way around the shower.  This photo, again, doesn't do this tile justice.  Hopefully my camera will when the time comes to take photo's.  It also picks up the color from the floor tile.  

We also bought a new faucet set to replace the builder grade one that was showing definite wear.  The old shower head had a weird connector that wouldn't allow us to just change the shower head.  So we bought a brushed nickel set to modernize the bathroom.  Since we were going to buy a new faucet for the new sink and vanity.  If you give a mouse a cookie...sigh.

Here are some photo's of our progress from today!

OK, as I mentioned earlier, you're missing a few photo's since the last update.  Basically, the cement board is completely installed and the bathtub has been put back in place (The Builder doesn't want to re-finish it in the garage because he says it will get dust or grime in it before it makes it back up - and he's most likely right!). The Builder works with a lot of different trades, and one thing he's learned in the recent years is that you should skim coat your wall with the mortar before you install the tile. It creates a super strong bond, which is what you want. If you look at this photo, the upper right corner hasn't been skim coated yet.  I dragged The Builder downstairs today to put the lights on our tree when he ran out of mud the first time, and I snapped this photo before he could get the rest put on the wall.  Ahh, the trials of having a wife who blogs.

The laser level is The Builders favorite toy as of late. He snapped chalk lines on the wall so everything would line up correctly.  Having the tile square is essential!

Mixing the mortar.  OK, not a fun photo, but a quick shot of getting it mixed properly. Somehow The Builder has a tool that goes on his drill to mix things easier. Since tile isn't his trade, no clue how he got it, but it was certainly handy to have for this! The plumbing fixtures are from where the sink should be. Such a shame there isn't room for a double vanity here, but as you can see, there isn't a whole lot of space, and I'm not willing to give up all counter space for double vanities. Easier for The Builder though, since he doesn't have to split the water line.

Houston, we have tile!!!

I had to wait patiently for The Builder to put a few pieces up on the wall so I could grab a photo.  See, plain white tile, just as I said.  We didn't rent a tile cutter this weekend, as he wants a full weekend to be able to cut the floor and wall tiles, but he's putting as much up as he can without the cut pieces.  Much to his horror, I made asked him to stop after he had one box up. It's clearly not all going to get done this weekend so there's no point in pushing it. He's worked a lot of hours the last few months and he's work until midnight if I didn't say something!

But look, it's tile!!

And here is where we stopped!  Love, love LOVE the simplicity of the white subway tiles. The old square tiles screamed 80's to me so this will update the bathroom nicely. Hopefully it will remain a classic! The plan for tomorrow is to finish as much wall tile as possible, and if we're really lucky, lay some of the floor tiles as well. Which means purchasing the underlay for the floor. Then we hope to rent a tile saw next weekend, and finish it up.

Still to do:
Tile the floor
Build the vanity
Buy a vanity top
Install new lighting
Re-install the toilet
Install new towel bars

:))