It has been quite the week, having the bathroom redone, and for the most part, we are done. What's not finished? Although we bought some shelves for our now open wall space, they were too long so another shopping trip is in order. That is, once the air conditioner is fixed. Waking up in the middle of the night, I heard Bruce in the other room, calling out to find out what was going on. He claimed the ac wasn't working, and little Miss Optimist said," it must be your imagination because it is running." "While that may be true", he replied, there is no cold air. Guess who was right? With the weather heating up, this is not good news as I needn't even mention.
Before we get to the bathroom though, something so astonishing happened this morning that I must tell you about it. As you already know, we still have some Wood Ducklings, albeit only two, which is a story for another day. Anyway, as I was heading into the bathroom for a shower, my eye caught the swirling of water on the lake just outside and that generally means only one thing. Otters. Now it has been some time since I've seen any but we have been here long enough for me to recognize the signs. So, grabbing my camera, I went out to see what I could see. My goodness, there were four this morning, whereas before the most I'd seen was two! As they came closer, bobbing up and down in the water, I saw the ducks were on the shoreline, but not for long as four took to the air while Mama did her best to corral her ducklings in an escape attempt.
It is a shame you are probably reading this on a tiny screen and probably won't notice the details, but not only is one right in front of her, but another is in hot pursuit on the right side of the photo. I am delighted to report that they made it to safety in the middle of the lake!!
While I was living in Vancouver, a Russian girl I met told me that while her Mom was visiting she remarked that it is wonder that you get anything done, living on the water as she did. That's about how I feel here, there is always something happening when you live side by side with nature! Of course you have to pay attention, don't you? This is a
long read from the Guardian about how constantly paying attention to the news has robbed many of the everyday pleasure of living. I can remember a time when what was happening outside your front door was far more important than what was happening a world away. I could go on and on about this topic, but suffice it to say that when folks are getting in an uproar because a young man knows so much that he is winning big at Jeopardy, well, I just don't get it.
This story is much more to my liking.
On to the bathroom....
I'm including a bunch of the construction photos because, like me, you might have some curiosity as to how it is done. When I saw the high price on the bid for the Kerdi Board system, I hadn't the faintest idea what it was. Now I do.
Basically it is large sheets of waterproof walls that go in lightening fast. Then all of the screw holes are treated with more waterproof stuff as shown above. One thing that Bruce had Herbert do was to put in a new drain with Bruce completing the job by filling the area with mortar. We were shocked to learn that it was unnecessary and they took the whole thing out, using a drain that is part of the system.
Not only a financial blow, but I'd carefully chosen the shape of the drain to match the faucet. Oh well! As you will soon see the drain is not the same shape as the faucet. One of the many, many details that actually go into stripping a bathroom down to the studs! Anyway, they immediately began installing the wall tile,
and then the band of contrasting tile, and yes it is the same as we used in the kitchen as we had two boxes left and I hate to be wasteful. They installed it vertically whereas in the kitchen it is done horizontally.
No doubt you are wondering how the heck I am going to tie this all together but it is coming. After the shower was tiled, he began on the floor.
That pink line in the middle is the laser he used to keep it all straight. The man above spoke little English, but thankfully his helper did. A little bit anyway. These gentleman are from Columbia and did a marvelous job.
I was going crazy once the floor went down and I mean that in a good way! After Herbert re-texturized the walls, Bruce put on a dark gray primer before painting it back the same, Morris Room Gray, that we had before.
You might notice the drop cloth Bruce is using and that would be the Ikea curtains I purchased at the thrift store. They proved to be invaluable because they were so large, we were able to cover big parts of the wood floors, protecting it from the dust and the comings and goings of our tile guys. While he was painting, I went to have some black and white prints made to be ready. You do know how we like to move fast, don't you?
This is a very small bathroom, so not the easiest place to take photographs, but here is the big reveal!
Bill and Dave came down to see it and both agreed that we had done good. Seeing the floor tile sample, David was skeptical, so I was pleased he liked it. Here's the inside of the shower:
Note the round shower head! And here's the shower floor,
which is actually way more white than it appears in the photo. The grout color is the same as the tile band above, and it was a good choice. I did not pick the kitchen grout color, however, I wish I had as this color, Hemp, is a better match. Live and learn.
And now to the mirror that replaces the whole wall of mirror. Not easy to find one that I liked, I checked multiple online sites, eventually deciding I didn't want to chance breakage. Home Goods is where I found this one and wouldn't you know it, when the cardboard came off the sides, it was broken. Heading to another HG, I found one all in one piece.
So there you have it. I've looked hard for an updated medicine cabinet with no luck so far because they are all too big for our space. Once we get the shelves up, which will be white with black supports, I'll show you that too.
We learned a lot with this project, knowledge we will put to use when we re-do the other bathroom.
In other good news, the ac guy is here now and the damage isn't too horrible. And Bruce was right, he did hear something--the capacitor blew.
All in all, a good week.
your friend,
Gail
No comments:
Post a Comment