Yep, a post about grout

After much debate and concern, I picked out a grout color.

The color had to be light enough for the tiles to blend together but dark enough so a lack of cleaning (this is the man bathroom) will not be noticed.

This picture hit my inbox yesterday:



The floor still had the "just been grouted" haze in this picture.

Oh, and the threshold got installed too (after equal amounts of debate and concern)! Maybe this weekend I'll get some paint on these walls and the tub tile grouted too (I'll also throw in a toilet install on the list of things to do).

Climate Reality Project

Here's a little break from the usual bathroom update post (but I promise to have a tile grout post up tomorrow).

I encourage you today to take a few moments to explore the 24 hour event from the Climate Reality Project and watch a live-streamed presentation.

Here's a description of the 24 hour event from their website:

"What is 24 Hours of Reality?
24 Presenters. 24 Time Zones. 13 Languages. 1
Message. 24 Hours of Reality is a worldwide event to broadcast the reality of the climate crisis. It will consist of a new multimedia presentation created by Al Gore and delivered once per hour for 24 hours, representing every time zone around the globe. Each hour people living with the reality of climate change will connect the dots between recent extreme weather events — including floods,
droughts and storms — and the manmade pollution that is changing our climate. We will offer a round-the-clock, round-the-globe snapshot of the climate crisis in real time. The deniers may have millions of dollars to spend, but we have a powerful advantage. We have reality."

With extreme drought, flooding and recent earthquakes, we have to wonder why we are experiencing such extreme natural events.

This is our crisis to find solutions.

We got floored!

Yep, that title is pretty lame but that's how we roll.

Over the past two weekends, we have been working on the upstairs bathroom floor. It wasn't the most enjoyable diy project and included much cursing and a learning while we go attitude. I'm sure the professionals are laughing at our lack of skill. In the end, we are super happy with the results.

First, we started out by laying the floor warming mats and encapsulating it in mortar. (sorry Dude for the butt picture but we will have heated floors! yippie!)

After that layer of mortar was dry, we installed the Ditra substrate.

Next, a whole day was dedicated to cutting a bizillion 12" x 12" travertine tiles in half. In that process, I learned that wearing coveralls really helped stay a little less messy while using the wet saw.

Over the span of three days, we were able to lay all of the tile.

The other night we put a few layers of sealer on the tile.

I'm hoping soon we will be able to grout and install a toilet. We are so close yet so far to finishing this project before my October 1st deadline.

Others working in tight spaces

As we roll into a new month, I'm going to be changing my blogroll around a bit. I'd like to have a monthly theme for da list... and September will include blogs that are working on bathrooms (either in the works or just complete).

Let me know in the comments section if I'm missing your blog or your favorite blog is not on the list. I love finding new reads even though my Google Reader might not agree with me.

Happy September and happy reading:

DIY Diva

Home Sweet Headache

Holyoke Home

Life begins at thirty, right?

Meet My Ugly Baby

Pretty Handy Girl

These blogs will be listed on the top left side of the blog and will be up for the entire month of September.