Tutorial: Wood Wall

As promised, but a bit late, here's how we installed the wood wall in the bathroom.

First, we got a sick amount of neatly organized lath from Eva's gut job house in the country. Seriously, she handed over the neatest piles of wood organized by size.

The dude put up some luon on the wall and then we started the assembly-line process.The wood pieces were then installed with a finish nailer and some wood glue. We tried to vary the lengths and colors ... trying to be random we found to be hard at times.

We could only work on the bottom half of the wall since we had to wait to have the electrician come back to hook up the rest of the wiring.After the electrician came and did his magic, we added the top piece a luon. I was going to write a message on the wall before the luon went up, but I forgot. The message would be something like: What? You don't like this wood wall. You are a poopy head. I still have a chance to roll up a little note before the floor molding goes in.We mitered the end pieces and kept checking for square before we installed the side section of the wall. This part of the wall wasn't really square to begin with and adding the wood allowed us to fudge square.
After the wall was complete, the dude sanded the wall and added some of our hardwood floor poly on it. By sanding it, the white parts of the wood were removed to reveal a light color wood. Secretly, I like the wall better before the sanding but now I won't have a chance to get a major splinter if (when) I walk into the wall.

I have to give mega props of inspiration to the jersey ice cream co. Their wood wall is super awesome and inspired my project.

If you live in Philadelphia, they will even come to your place and install your very own lath wall.

Zoom in - Zoom out

What's that you ask? Oh, it's our finished wood wall!

Also, we finally got around to picking a grout color, getting it up on the tub wall, and installing the fixtures.

We went with the color "Alabaster" to match the same color as the floor tile grout (and to hide any mortar mistakes). It really makes the white glass tiles look brighter.



Tomorrow I'll share how we installed the wall o'wood!

The to do-do bathroom list

Yep, I put a poop reference in my title.

If you remember, we started the upstairs bathroom the last few days of May of this year. We thought the renovation would take us just a few months (silly us, we thought we'd be done in October) but are now "celebrating" our 7th month mark. Thank goodness we have two bathrooms.

Here's what's left (which I'm sure I'm missing stuff):

Vanity

install vanity and figure out some tricky plumbing

build concrete counter top and install (easy, right?!)

Grout n' stuff

fix tub surround grout (we sortof ran out during the process and tried to make what we had last. the result was shallow grout lines)

seal tub surround grout

caulk the tub

Bathtub

install fixtures

get new drain and install

get metal corner thing to hold soap and shampoo

decide on a shower curtain and rod and put it up

Wood wall

finish installing wood wall - sand - seal

Paint

sand touch-up areas

paint touch-up areas on wall and ceiling

one more coat on moldings

Storage and accessories

decide on towel storage and vanity storage system

hang towel hooks

make toilet paper holder

frame and hang art work

get some general accessories

Other

get a door and hang

figure out window shade/curtain solution

We are so close to finishing up! Next project on the list to tackle ... our office! Who else is already mentally working on the next project without finishing the current one?

It's Electric!

Sorry for the lack of updates. I know you are dying to hear about the status of our bathroom.

But I blame this place...

...with it's magicalness and it's unlimited supply of cookies and hot chocolate and it's holiday parade and fancy fireworks (and snow on Main Street - but we missed that).

So, the title of this post refers to our addition of electric to the upstairs bathroom (not to the "Electric Slide" that is now stuck in my head ... thanks, self).

Here's a picture montage of what our electrician masterfully completed:

Wires for sconces:

Sconces installed:

Pow! Lights on!

Oops, forgot to mention that we painted the walls (and installed some moldings)! I still have to paint the ceiling, which will be the same color as the walls.

New outlet between the toilet and shower:

And I'm saving the best for the last ... the heated floors are hooked up! And we didn't screw up installing them! Double high-five!

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).

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.

picking grout color

Do you guys know how to pick grout colors? Is there a design science to picking the perfect color?

I took to photobucket and "pulled" the color of the tiles into some fake grout lines.

dark gray - medium gray - beige - chocolate brown

What would you choose?

Last night prior to making this little picture, I would have picked the dark gray. Now seeing it with the tile, I'm leaning toward a different color. Help!

Tile Tetris

Yesterday we got most of the glass tile up in the bath tub area. We worked until we used up all of the thin-set that we mixed and until the brink of major crankiness.

The Dude is worried that the tile looks "busy." I told him not to shower while drunk and he should be fine (btw, he picked out the tile).

Next step for the tile: cut the smaller tiles and finish the one wall, clean out any mortar between the tile and pick out a grout color.

I'm hoping this dude bathroom will be done soon and before Hans and Emilie's bathroom is complete.

(sorry for the poor quality of pictures...it is quite gloomy here today)

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.

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.

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?

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!

Chicken or the egg?

We may not have walls in the bathroom, but we do have the tile for the bathtub surround.

from Lowe's

A bathroom demo long weekend

We both wear inappropriate foot wear for demo.

The offensive bathroom

Our upstairs bathroom sits in the dormer opposite the shoe built-ins. It's small with a sloping ceiling and does not have a vent for heat in the winter.

When we moved in (close to 6 years ago), it was a sea of peach and wood. The walls, ceiling, floors, and countertop were all a lovely shade of peach. The walls even had a stenciled seashell boarder. We replaced all of the wood bath accessories with some brushed nickel, painted the vanity, added a new mirror and updated the lighting. Sounds like a gem, right?!

I've seen worse, but it's time for a remodel because we ended up with some free floor tile. The dude's brother was building a house and decided against the tile after it was purchased. We also got a new sink and toliet in the deal too, but we are not sure if we are going to use them since they are bisque and not white (we are hoping to salvage the tub which is white).

We are lucky that this bathroom was added upstairs in the early 1990s by professionals. So, hopefully we will not have too many surprises.

So here's some non-staged photos of the bathroom (don't forget, this is the dude's bathroom...I don't go up there):