Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Potty - Check! Sink - Check!

The project was at a stand-still for about three weeks while we took a trip and had company. Now, the last few things are falling into place, "falling" with a lot of hard work. Don installed the toilet a few days ago. Boy is it nice to have a potty on the same floor as our bedroom! Today is sink day and Don is being a contortionist to hook it up. He is on his third trip to the hardware store, but we hope to turn the water on before we end our day.

Don will have sore muscles this evening

Professional plummbers must be double-jointed

Saturday, April 7, 2012

The Excitment Builds

Don has laid the floor and it is grouted. Sami has visited many stores in the search for bath towels just the right color, texture and price. The bathroom count-down is nearing its end. We are both pretty excited.

Every new process is a learning process..

We know a lot more about products and methods than when we began. Perhaps the main floor bathroom will go much faster? That is our theory.


We think that the darker floor gives the room a serene, grounded feeling.

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Please Vote!

Don likes one best. Sami likes the other.
Which soap holder should we use in the tub area?
Please vote!

Green one

White one

We have been sharing a bug with one another for the last two weeks, so we have not made much progress lately. However, we are finally getting back at it. Don has got the back-splash tiles on the wall behind where the sink will be, and Sami has got the embroidery framed. We are itching to get it done now!

The Mexican tiles await grout

It is fun to finally see what it all looks like

Luke's Frame shop did a great job with the Chinese embroidery

Almost too pretty for a bathroom

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Light at the end of the tunnel?




We are now putting tile on the wall, and very soon, the floor. It's starting to look like a room now. As Sami says, it's all in the details. It's true how long details take. Today we devoted an outing to door hardware and grout.



Oops...time to practice on the guitar.



Don

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Layers of surfaces

Insulation, wiring, plumbing, wall board, tape, mud, paint, and tile. We take them off and we put them on. At least we are to the putting them on part!

Returning the closet paint-stripped doors and trim to the enlarged closet

Friday, December 2, 2011

Don’t read the text


 
Our collection of interior decorating and how-to magazines and books grows and grows.  We both pore over them to get inspiration and guidance. However, the text below every picture analyzes the colors, patterns, products as though there is a right way and a wrong way to reach a pleasing end. It makes it sound very tricky to get things right. That makes us feel less than confidant about our choices.

So, we have decided to simply not read the text that analyzes the style of anything. Rather, we look and the pictures and decide for our selves; Do we like it? What do we like about it? Why do we like it? It seems to help us decide what colors, products and styles we want and understand why. Often it may be just that we like this or that and if one has a whole room of those things, it is fine with us. What could be better than being surrounded by things you love?

That’s why we will keep much our old stuff and that is why our rooms will never make it into House Beautiful!

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

All Master Bath surfaces ready for finishing!



Well, maybe not the biggest news to post, but all surfaces (sheetrock and tile backer) for the upstairs bathroom walls and floor are now done, ready for the next step of taping and filling to their finished state. Almost all surfaces are new. The ceiling (except over the tub) and small portions of two walls are original. The toilet flange was marginal for height (had considered adding a 1/4-in backer board layer on top of the 1/2-in already installed). I did a test install, to see if that was needed, and it wasn't, which saved some work. Our new Toto toilet uses an unusual (to me at least) way of mounting. It uses an 'adapter' that mounts to the floor and the floor flange, and then the toilet mounts to that. My test install was installing the adapter, to make sure it would seat on the floor (layed loose tile down) and seal properly with a wax ring. Oh, my, the details!






Don