Game on

We are making (slow) progress on the upstairs bathroom. But the game is changing with a challenge from my bro, Hans, and his girlfriend, Emilie. They have also been remodeling their ONLY bathroom since February.

You can check out their progress here. We are basically tied for what is left to do but they have ACTUAL TILE ON THE WALLS. We don't.

Hans and Em's tiled bath tub surround. I'm jeals.

Our wager: The first couple to finish their bathroom wins with the other couple having to help them on their next big project.

This week, the dude (bless his heart) finished spackle/sanding and priming the walls. Our next step is to install the electric heated floors. Eeek, wish us luck!

Right now the room looks like a Design Star white box challenge:

Oh my! The drywall dust!!

Sorry I don't have more interesting pictures. Just some smooth drywall.

Summer Dreamin'

It's been super duper hot here which means we had to halt on the bathroom remodel. Our upstairs only has one a/c register which is not enought to cool the entire space ... and that whole heat rises thing wasn't helping things. But not to worry! We are starting to work on things again because the temp is finally in the low to mid 90s.

Right now I'm dreamin' of some summer non-bathroomrenovation things:

What are you dreaming about?

Bathroom: In the works

We are at the "fun" stage in the rebuilding the bathroom process ... drywall. Enough said, right?!

So, moving on to some of the bling-bling that will be in the bathroom:

West Elm's Flat Stock Single Sconce




West Elm's Short Industrial Bath Cabinet




Overstock's Kraus Rectangular Ceramic Sink and Ramus Faucet




Lowes' Laticrete Floor Warming System
Ditra at Home Depot


Has anyone used Ditra for their underlayment (with heated floors)?

I see lots and lots of reading in my future to feel confident in installing the Ditra as well as the heat floors.

Happy House Anniversary

Six years ago we bought this bungalow and moved in on a day that was over 100 degrees.

We are still working on tons of projects in our little home and will probably continue to have some sort of construction item on our front porch (last week we had a toilet, this week some insulation) for the next six years.

Dear House, thanks for giving us a roof over our heads and the perfect view of the town 4th of July fireworks from the porch. We will do our best not to burn or knock you down. The Dude shall continue to adorn you with the hibiscus he tries to "save" from the big box hardware stores.

Bathroom Vanity

We picked out a vanity on Sunday at Home Surplus. They didn't have the exact one we wanted but the one we picked out will be okay. It is smaller than our last one ... which is what we wanted to allow for more space in an already tiny bathroom. Why is it such a challenge to find a quality vanity and a good price? Thank goodness we found a store that actually had a nice selection.

Next step is to "flag" the granite slab that will be used for the top and have the granite people do the template.

I'm just crossing my fingers that everything will look okay when it is all put together. Now, on to sconce shopping! Do you have a favorite resource for bathroom sconces?

Brainstorm

We are huge fans of Brainstorm Print + Design and have enough of their prints to open a small South Jersey museum in their honor.

Check out their newest set of prints, American Atlas. The Northeast print will be finding a home on one of the walls soon!

Waiting

We are now waiting for the electrician to come (in the middle of June to assess) and do some rewiring (at the end of June). The dry wall can't move forward until the electrician does the work and we can't tile the floor until the dry wall is up on the walls.

On Tuesday of this week, we adjusted the shower plumbing by making the shower head location a bit higher and converting the tub fixtures from a two-handle to a one-handle system. We also put in some of the insulation and worked on the floor (self leveler and luon).

We are also on an unexpected holding pattern with our floor tile. The tile (12x12 travertine) that was gifted from a relative will not be enough to complete our floor. So, we are trying to track down more tile (that may be sitting at the dude's father's house) and might try to mix in a similar travertine if we do not have enough. Fun times!

While waiting for the electrician to do his magic, we can put the cement board down on the floor and maybe tile the bath surround. Is there anything else we can do for busy work that I'm missing? I don't want to loose the momentum and have the project stall. I also would like the dude's bathroom to get done so he will not have to use my bathroom for much longer!