Bathroom Project part 2

As I was removing the floor tile I could slide a screwdriver under the bottom wall tile and not hit anything beyond. This sent a red flag to me so I decided to take out the bottom tile to find the problem. The problem was that it had leaked over time and the wood was rotted. So we decided to take out the bottom two layers and fix the problem. After removing the rotted wood and re-framing the opening this then lead us to our next dilemma. To re-glaze or not to re-glaze. We decided not to re-glaze due to cost (around$500) and find tile that was a close match. Yesterday we ordered tile that was a close match but not perfect. The reasoning is it is a guest bath that will hardly be used so why spend thousands of dollars when the whole project can be competed for around $400?

This started the problem.

I don't know how I got along without a pneumatic tools. This brad/stapler is amazing. What would have been at least an hour of hammering and cursing, not to mention sore fingers, was completed in about 10 minutes.

New Windows

Last Monday we received 4 new windows, we have to order them in series to keep the costs down. Windows are not cheap!! So below are the pictures, the security bars were removed but they leave the aluminum frame and the new windows encase the old frame. Seems straight forward. We are very happy with the look and the outside color we chose matches beautifully.

The aluminum window looks like a cheap motel window.

Had to grind the safety bars off.

The House used to be painted green.

One window had a crack so they have to re-order and replace the glass.

I Have already fixed the holes and repainted where the security bars were but am too lazy to take another picture :)

Bathroom Project

We are now attacking the front bathroom (AKA guest room) and bedroom. The shower is all tile and several on the wall are cracked and most of the floor had cracked tiles. So we had a decision of either gutting the shower and re-tiling everything or replacing cracked tiles. "A" thought it would be a good idea to replace the cracked tile and then paint the rest of the tile. Yes you can actually paint tile. Since I am the labor I thought it was a terrific idea and quickly endorsed it.

You see the tiles are an ugly yellow/tan with a brown border and we want to do a black and white bathroom that would have been what was used when the house was built in 1937. As we looked at marine paint (paint for boats) the costs were $100 plus a gallon. Then there was all the prep work for the tiles and no guarantee that the job would come out looking decent. So I had the bright idea of having them re-glazed. The only problem is that it would come out to around $530 or so. We are still not sure which way we will go but will probably hire to have it re-glazed.

We are still debating what kind of tile will be used, pinwheel, hex, or octagonal with black inlays. The one option that we are leaning towards is to create a "rug" with the pinwheel and 4x4 tile. We would lay 4x4 white tile along the wall and the use black stick tile to form a "rug" border, inside the border we would use pinwheel tile.

What do you think?

Cracked tile on the wall

The crusade begins

I had to take out a few more because I chipped them :(

The floor

My tool of choice to grind out the grout lines. What a mess.

Finished the grout, you can still see the grout fog.

Mostly finished.

Octagonal with black inlay


Pinwheel with black inlay

Hex, one with black inlay and one without inlay

This is the idea we are leaning heavily towards. In the picture the outside is marble, we would use ceramic tile; the inside is basket-weave, we would use pinwheel. But this should give you an idea.

$5,495 Pair of pants

Yes, believe it or not this was found at Nordstrom yesterday. I will let the pictures speak for themselves. This got me thinking of what I would do with the money instead of buying a pair of ugly pants. I would buy new windows for our house or I could completely remodel all three of my bathrooms. So leave a comment telling me how you would best spend five thousand dollars.

April Showers

We all know what April Showers bring....May Flowers. And what do May Flowers bring.......Columbus...hahaha. OK maybe not so funny, but these photos of our flowers might brighten your day. Happy May Day!!!