Tile, tile, and more tile....

I wish I could tell you we've completed the bathroom over the past 3 weeks and that we're completely done.

But I would be lying. Not my thing!

And doing weekly updates on tile installation is...boring. The Builder had a ton of cuts to make to get the install completed. And he sat down and figured it out all mathematically:

Yeah. So I readily admit, this tiling job was way more time and math that I had given much thought to. He sat down and figured out where each piece needed to go, size wise. He cut them and polished edges. He cut chair rail tile to go around our niche. He made bullnose tile out of left over tiles to do the shower curb and the pieces framing the edge.  All of these specialty cuts took a LOT of time. And he did an amazing job!!!!

So rather than bore you with a weekly update of what appeared to be small progress, here's a quick collage of the last three weeks:

As of today, all the tile is in! The Builder is going to start on the grout this week so it's not usable yet, but the end is near! We plan to order a frame less shower door soon, but in the mean time, our shower curtain will be going back up.  We're about $1300 into this shower and the shower door is another $650. So it will have to wait. In the mean time, a shower curtain and shower rod will work just fine.

OK, this is not the best photo. However, it brings us into the home stretch of this first phase of this bathroom renovation!

The light is still dangling from the ceiling because the ceiling hasn't been repainted yet. To make it all match up, we're going to need to repaint the entire bathroom ceiling, which we knew due to moving light fixtures and vent ducting. We're also repainting the bathroom to coordinate with our bedroom, so again, more paint. We'll do that while the grout is setting 

Here are some close ups of some of the features:

This is a rain head shower head by Mohen. My kids have all already decided they want to take at least one shower in this new shower just so that they can stand under this BIG shower head. I don't think you can see in the photo how large this shower head really is, but it was one of the largest we could find. And it's a good 8-10 inches above our heads, so it won't spray directly in our face (like our old shower head!). We bought the extension piece too so it wouldn't be so tight against the wall.

And the floor with the tile installed:

I really, really love those hexagon tiles! Although from this angle, the shower looks small again.  Bad angle, it's not! Which makes you realize how small the shower really was before we expanded it.  Yikes!

The much mentioned niche:

Again, the lighting and camera angle are awkward in here.  Probably because you have to sit on the toilet to take the photo. Super fun. More on that in another post...

This niche replaces the soap holder that we used in the previous shower to hold our shampoo bottles and body wash. There's a ledge for each of us so we'll no longer be knocking over bottles if you look at them wrong. I plan to put some suction cup hooks in here to hold our shower loofah's so we don't have to hang them off the shower lever. I'll be able to put my shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and my deep conditioner and still have room. Yes, I'm doing the happy dance!!

I'll spare you grout updates this week. The next blog post will feature a working shower!!!

Time to Tile!

This past week the waterproof membrane we ordered from Home Depot finally came in and The Builder was able to get it installed.Want a not exciting photo of it?

 OK, underwhelming, I know. 

And you can see the single piece we put down to try to get a feel for how it was going to look. Yes, I was completely tickled pink to see the prospect of tile finally going in! No more traipsing upstairs at 4:30am for my morning shower! But I digress...

Here's a quick close up of what the floor tile actually looks like:

I really considered the small penny tile that I have seen on some decorating shows and web sites. But The Builder was against it. In fact he hated it. Then we saw this one in a display and we both agreed it was exactly what we wanted. Each tile is about two inches in diameter. It's a carrera marble as well, but it's unpolished, so it won't be as slick in the shower. We'll have to seal it yearly to keep it from staining, but we know that going into it, and we're OK with that (I say that now, lol...)

I came home tonight and The Builder had done a dry fit of the floor. Those are the tiles that we chose leaning up against the wall. Even though they're not the shape of tiles I originally envision, they're still the marble that I wanted, so I'm happy. It was a relief to see that my shower isn't going to be the cave that the wood and cement was making it appear to be, even after the light was installed. Once the tile is up and the glass shower door is installed, there will be plenty of light reflecting off the marble we chose. 

Another close up. I'm mildly obsessed at this point...

The Builder did a great job of cutting around the drain (yes, I'm slightly biased in his favor!). An unexpected bonus was that the pieces along the back edge just had to be cut in half and were a very easy cut. Once the floor is in, we can hang the cement board and eventually, the wall tiles, so there will be plenty of overlap to cover any mild imperfections along the edges.

I haven't officially picked a grout color yet. And for that matter, most of the texturing in the bathroom is done now, so we'll need to start painting again soon too. I'm not 100% certain on the paint color yet, but that's a subject for another day...