Tub Time

I think we spent more time in our tub last weekend that we ever have in the past (read: we’ve never used our master tub since we moved in), but this is good because it means progress is being made! The tub was actually quite comfy, and we decided a real bath was in order once this renovation is complete.

Two weekends ago we got all our tile cut and installed for the tub back splash and it looks nice. It’s weird that the shower looks much brighter and airier than the tub despite having the same tile, but I think this could be because the tub was not grouted yet so the tiles look more somber and grey. Also, the shower is next to the window so there’s more light over there.

Here’s some picture tiling…first, I’ll show pictures from our epic snow storm two Wednesdays ago, in which it snowed 9″. It was a winter wonderland the next morning, with beautiful blue skies and so much fluffy white snow. We would’ve gotten stuff done on the bathroom, but with 9″ there’s not much we could do since cutting tile requires access to an outdoor space and a garden hose for water.

Thankfully, in true North Carolina fashion, it was in the 60’s by that weekend so most of the snow melted away and we were able to drag out the tile saw and get the tiles cut:

We planned for a short back splash, just 1 row of 12×24 tiles and 1 row of bullnose. This was about the same height as the previous little white tiles that were there.

We got the big tiles in on Saturday as well as the bullnose pieces that didn’t require cutting/measuring, and then cut and installed the remaining bullnose on Sunday. Overall, this job was much easier than the shower because we didn’t use cement board backing or do any excessive water proofing because unlike showers, where water is supposed to hit and flow down the walls every day, tub walls (in theory, although I suppose people with young children may beg to differ) only get an occasional splash, and mortar and grout are more than enough to waterproof this.

This past weekend I grouted and worked on smoothing the drywall patching around the tile.

Nik also made wonderful progress with the threshold into the bathroom. He impressed me, as per usual, by crafting a threshold out of a 1×4″ piece of red oak. He routed out the bottom to allow space for the carpet to be pinned under the threshold, and another part to go around the slightly uneven cement board under the tile at the other end. Then he used the circular saw on a tilt to make the top a gradual slope from the height of the tile to the height of the carpet. He used the jig saw to have it cut perfectly at the sides to fit flush against the door frame.  In the end, this custom threshold fits like a glove. Oh, and it was only $9 of wood! DIY win. Last weekend I stained the threshold with an opaque gray deck stain – it’s a little weird looking, but we couldn’t think of any other color/stain that would’ve matched more so it is what it is. I forgot to take a picture, so I’ll include one next time.

The planks also got an extra coat of sealer but we didn’t have enough energy to start hanging them this weekend. I’m excited about the planks, but honestly have no idea how it will look with the tile. I’m hoping it matches and looks cool but there’s a part of me that is nervous I won’t like the wood stain at all…in which case the panels will most likely be painted white.

We’ve gotten several questions about putting wood in a humid bathroom. I’m not worried because the wood is sealed, and will be in an area that will get no direct water splashes. The moisture level in our bathroom is never excessive, as we have a vent fan that keeps it reasonable during showers, plus the tub is on the other side of a wall from the shower, so moisture that directly rises from the shower won’t immediately be hitting these planks. But, as is a good idea any time humidity fluctuations are possible, we’ll leave small gaps between the planks for expansion and contraction of the wood.

I’m thinking another weekend or two of work with the planks and painting and caulking around the tub the this renovation will be done! Can’t wait!

 

2018 Goals

Now that 2018 is upon us, it’s time to lay out some goals. Since we don’t stick to timelines too well, I’ll start out by listing some projects we’d like to get completed this spring.

Obviously, bathroom is top of this list. We’re 100% done with the vanity, floor, toilet, and shower so the bathroom is functional as is, but we’re still working on updating the garden tub. The tub was fine, but had the 90’s square white tiles on the tub surround, and with some of our shower tile left over it was hard to turn down the option of tiling the tub to match. In my mind this was simple: chip off the old tile, mortar, and new tile, done. But, as is typical of DIY projects, it turned out to be a bit more complicated.

The little square tiles didn’t chip off nicely at all, so we had to just cut out the drywall they were attached to.

I then made an arrogant post discussing our purchase of a new sheet of drywall, how we cut it to size in the Lowe’s parking lot so it would fit in the car, and gosh we’re so good at this all we have to do is screw it into the wall! You would think I would have learned at this point in time to never sound so full of myself, and indeed, we screwed this up.

We did do a good job measuring the size of the drywall pieces and getting it all cut…the only issue is we bought the wrong thickness drywall! In our defense, drywall is tricky – the edges of a sheet are apparently tapered to allow some thickness for mudding seams, so I measured the drywall we cut out of the wall (in the middle of the sheet) at what seemed to be a little more than 1/2″, so I assumed this was 5/8″ drywall. Then at the store, the 5/8″ drywall is actually about 1/2″ at the edges to allow for mudding so we assumed this must be the right size. And it wasn’t. Luckily, the sheet was only about $11 but the blow to our esteem felt more damaging. So, this past weekend we were back at Lowe’s purchasing another sheet of 1/2″ thick drywall, and we finally got it cut, mounted, and taped, and thus far have gone through two rounds of mudding:

The plans for the tub are now to tile and grout – 1 row of the large 12×24″ tiles, and 1 row of bullnose surrounding it all. We would’ve tackled this over the past couple weekends, but the cold temperatures are still hanging around and with our tile saw already having some issues starting up we didn’t want to push it. Perhaps next weekend some warmer weather will give us a chance to cut the tiles.

After the tiles are in, we’re planning to plank the back wall to give the room a warm, cozy feel. The grey tile everywhere has made the room look nice, but cold, so I think a little bit of wood grain in there will be just what the room needs to make it look more like a bathroom retreat. This was the original picture that inspired this idea:

We don’t have a budget for real planks, but other DIY people have taught us that thin underlayment cut into planks can look great as well. We bought a 4×8′ sheet of thin maple underlayment that was stain grade wood ($24) and cut it into shiplap-sized planks on the table saw:

And then I played around with about 20 different stain combinations. I was originally thinking of just going with minwax classic grey, but the pinkness of the wood made it sort of clash with the grey tile, so we ended up doing one coat of special walnut followed by a coat of classic grey, which made it look like the color of weathered fence wood.

Here’s a picture of me bundled up in the freezing weather Sunday, applying the first coat of walnut, and the comparison of the walnut alone and with the layer of gray over it:

Now the planks are drying in the guest bathroom with the fan on (they’re stinky, but it’s too cold to let the stain dry outside):

I think we’ll probably tile before installing these so we get the height right but we could start with a few rows at the ceiling and work our way down. This will only be on the back wall of the tub. And, if we end up not liking the stain, we can always paint over the planks for a lighter look.

Our tub valve is also one more issue we’re struggling with. Apparently Moen doesn’t even manufacture temperature dials to fit the valve we have on our tub anymore, so we’re thinking we’ll have to use the universal trim kit that we bought a while back, which seems to be compatible. We contemplated changing the plumbing when the wall was open since the universal kit was pricey…but we decided an extra $50 to use that kit was well worth what certainly would’ve been a whole weekend of effort to switch the valve out.

One more bathroom project is the threshold for the door. I wasn’t satisfied with any of the existing threshold options at Lowe’s, so Nik ended up convincing me he could turn a 1×4″ oak board into a threshold using his router and the sander. This is still in progress but I’m curious to see how this will turn out.

And THEN we should be done with the bathroom!

So what’s next? The other main projects that need to happen this spring are caulking/patching the crown molding on the first floor (ugh), and getting our new balusters installed. The balusters need a coat of paint, the railing needs to be stained and sealed, and we need to figure out how the heck to install them. We have some ideas…but I’m not confident this will be an easy task (probably why it’s been put off 2.5 years at this point).

The last project I’d like to see completed in the somewhat near future is a kitchen island. We have a slab of granite cut for it, so it’s a shame that it’s sitting in the garage while we’ve been using a rusty wire shelving rack with cutting boards thrown on top for over 2 years now. In an ideal world, I’ve love an island with some closed cabinetry and some open shelves to have a little more storage for large unsightly things. The dimensions we need (20″x39″) aren’t quite as wide as this disproportionate sketch, but you get the idea:

At this point, I’ll take anything that is done quickly, has some shelves, and doesn’t break the bank since if we move, this would probably be left behind since it will match the kitchen granite. I’d also like something on wheels since the kitchen is small and it would be nice to have the ability to slide it out of the way at times. Maybe a design like these would be feasible:

I  think Nik will have fun with this. He likes building furniture, and with the biscuit joiner and kreg jig furniture joinery tools he’s acquired, the things he’s crafted always look professionally built. We’ll see what he comes up with!

These plans should get us at least halfway into 2018 without killing us. Our weekends have been filled with a lot of doggie activities for Gunnar recently, and it is really nice to have days where we’re not DIYing all day, every day we have off. The cold weather hasn’t made working in the garage pleasant, so I think once the spring weather hits we’ll actually be antsy to get back to working more diligently on our projects. Cheers to 2018!

 

 

 

2017 Year In Review

Every new year, I panic when I think back over the past year and I feel like we didn’t accomplish as much as we wanted to. Maybe this year was a particularly slow struggle for our bathroom project, since our original timeline had our master bathroom finished in August. While we’ve moved back into the bathroom and are using all the necessary components, it still feels far from finished – stepping around tools and shop vacs to take a shower every morning is disheartening.

But then I started scrolling through all my blog posts from 2017, and it became apparent that we DID do a lot this year. I’ll go project by project to sum up the year.

In early spring 2017, we got our kitchen cabinet crown molding painted and installed – our first attempt at mitering corners of crown molding. A few months later we also added ceiling crown molding to our downstairs bathroom, dining room, entry way, and living room (although painted, it has yet to be caulked and filled….)

We also finished up our guest bedroom improvements, including a new ceiling fan, wall paint, and bedding – and eventually two refinished side tables.

The project that has dragged on the longest for our home renovations is hands down our stairway balusters. Early last year, I was inspired by Fixer Upper to make our own balusters that are square and simple, which we did last spring…and are still sitting in our living room, primed, waiting for a coat of paint, and waiting for installation. This installation absolutely has to happen this spring to bring our house up to code!

Nik also used some old jungle gym wood to replace the decking on our little side deck, and we refinished an old chandelier for our dining room:

Outside, we extended our garden bed also using up some of the lumber from the jungle gym:

We finished installing new wide blinds on all of our windows:

And we finished up refinishing a furniture piece for our friends, and built a little stool for another friends’ baby:

And now for the the bathroom!

For the bathroom, the major projects were demo, refinishing and raising the vanity, installing the vanity top and plumbing fixtures, tiling the floor, installing the shower pan, tiling the shower, and adding shower doors, adding floor trim, figuring out the most convoluted shower/tub valve plumbing in the world, and finally (still in progress), tiling around the tub.

Oh, and in the middle of all that we had our epic two-week trip to Colorado and Utah:

…and we adopted our wonderful greyhound, Gunnar, in October:

Well, 2017 seemed pretty productive after all. I think I’ll allow myself to bask in our 2017 DIY progress for a few more days before I make a list of 2018 projects!