Piles of tiles

The weekend was a blur. Luckily, it was a good blur now that we're through it.

Friday night, we got home, worked out, had dinner, then started in on the Kerdi. We'd considered putting it off till Saturday, but decided we'd be happier if we just bit the bullet and got going.



First the corners get a band (we cut our own five inches wide instead of the four-inch ones they sell premade) and the shelf gets wrapped. This is on the wall opposite the showerhead, so it's probably overkill to seal it so thoroughly, but better over- than under-.



Jeff gets artsy as I thinset and seal.



Until we're all done. Just like in the pictures. Very, very happy with how this worked out. This is worlds easier than using liner inside the studs and cement board on top. The final surface is smooth as can be, which should make tiling easier.



And yes, luckily, the tiling was an extremely fun process. This was the best time we've had so far working on the house, in fact. We're both pretty pleased with how well things worked around the plumbing fixtures. The geometry was lucky.

We finished up JUST in time to run over to Jenn and Bob's for snacks and wine Saturday night.

However, being the perfectionist that I am, I decided some tweaks needed addressing Sunday afternoon. I'll never tell what they were, but I'm now completely satisfied. We decided to keep it all clean and neat looking with white grout instead of gray. That comes later this week.



Loving the double soap dishes on the showerhead side.



As well as the shampoo shelf on the opposite side. Good-bye ugly shower caddies. I always hated you ugly things.

Tomorrow night the interior of the linen closet gets some finishing touches.

A solid basis

We're ever closer to getting that tile on the walls and the floor. This part's boring to talk about, and tedious to do. Which is why it doesn't look like I'm really moving fast. Trust me -- I'm working.

Last night, I built the structure that the shower shelf will go on top of. Doesn't look like much here, I know. Trust me -- it will work out.



Then tonight, I pieced together the Hardibacker on the floor.



Something of a jigsaw puzzle, what with the toilet flange and the protruding wall on the side of the tub. No complaints, though. It's going to go smoothly, I'm certain.

Sunday night, after finishing up with the tedium, I made a banana/navy bean pie. My own recipe. And before you pooh-pooh, let me promise you: Everyone at work loved it. Because they tried it before I told them it had navy beans in it.



Come on over and I'll make you one. Trust me -- you'll like it.

We're back!

Life held other things for us than working on the house over the past couple of weeks. But now we're ready to get back into the swing.

Yesterday and today, I started in on the linen closet that will be behind the bathtub. This is a rather close parallel to the one in my Brookside house, though here we're going to have to hang a double towel bar across the cabinet because of the lack of wall space in the bathroom. Not a problem at all, as we'll just use the bottom cavity for storage of things you don't need often, like pillows and seasonal stuff. It's not like there isn't storage space in this house.



Shelves galore, and a lucky holdover from the laundry machines that were here before: A double electrical outlet inside, too. That will be nice if we want to have rechargable toothbrushes or something that we don't want to leave sitting out on a sink.

Also got the sconces installed, after a preliminary trial and error. Water under the bridge. Now that they're in place, some of the imperfections in the wall became apparent, so you're seeing patches that will get re-painted soon. We also muscled the medicine chest into its spot. It's not the nicest piece I've ever installed, but it's not completely hideous either, I guess.



The window trim is also re-installed (yay new air compressor and pneumatic finish nailer) and I'll be ready to start in on maybe some detail paiting -- and then the tile by the weekend, I hope. It's going to start snowballing soon.

So blue

Got the color on the bathroom walls tonight. The semi-gloss finish points up some places I'm going to need to smooth out the drywall a tad more...but wow, are we pleased with this.



In fact, it's even nicer than we hoped. I've never seen a paint that changed color so drastically as it dried. There was a moment or two of panic. All well now.

Actually fun

Not a lot of details to tonight's report, but it was good progress. Got the bathroom walls sanded and primed. I actually think they're going to look really great. I'm much happier with my drywalling the more I do it.



Then I ran to the store while Jeff chip chip chipped away on the floor. He's making more and more headway.



Tomorrow, I think we'll get the paint on the walls in the bathroom. Wow!

Another good day

Much happened again today. The weather got REALLY warm -- as in the 70s, believe it or not. So we opened up the windows and got going.

The main goal was to get drywall installed around the tub surround. Not the easiest thing in the world, but because I'm using Kerdi on top of it, I was able to be a little less picky than I would have been normally.

I was very happy with how it turned out. I got the holes around the faucet, spigot and showerhead arm exactly right, thank goodness. I did a dry run on a small test piece first, which turned out to be the right way to do it.



The only ugly part is that where the new drywall meets the old under the window, there's almost a quarter-inch difference in thickness. Oh well -- I'll just mud it and hope it blends in. I'm getting better at the mud, though I'm hardly an expert.



While I mudded, Jeff took on the uneviable task of chipping up the old construction adhestive and particle board bits left behind when I took up the old vinyl floor of the master bedroom. Icky, tedious work -- but he got about half of it done. Wow.



We're on a roll again. It's great not to be sick any longer.

Back from sick leave

So we've both been feeling under the weather almost constantly for over two weeks now. We both got the crud that's been going around -- something like the flu AND something like a cold. Anyhow, we're both feeling lots better and ready to work again.

First, the laundry room needs its permanent wall fixture. Hard to photograph, lovely to behold.




Then it was time to encase the tub in cardboard and plastic to guard it against paint, dropped tile, thinset or whatever ills might come its way.



Then the two electrical outlets inside what will become the linen closet need replacement with nice, new, tight ones. Somehow I got one little shock while installing them. The breaker was definitely off and they tested dead. No clue what that was. The rest of the job passed by without incident, though.

Then another layer of mud on the drywall seams. Next, the plywood subfloor got reinforcement with decking screws.

Then then the bathroom ceiling finally got its final coat of paint. Put in some furring where the medicine chest will go, and installed the ceiling fixture. I may have said it before, but I'll reiterate: Home Depot's house brand of lighting fixtures is really high quality -- easily some of best I've ever seen.



Soundtrack: Gary Numan's superb Replicas Redux, with alternate takes from the original sessions. Best discovery: A Bowie-esque take on the lead vocal to "Are 'Friends' Electric," sung down an octave from the famous version. Wow.

Nice to be back on the horse. More mud tomorrow.