It's Quiet Around Here

This will be the final time you will be reading about the bathroom remodel because we are done! It was on January 22 that I wrote this post that finalized our decision to keep the tub in spite of others imploring us to ditch it.  We are glad we did now that it is looking brand new instead of 35 years old of wear. Now we have at least one tub in the house and to our eyes, it looks just fine. More than fine, really. 

It must be stated that without the work Bruce did, which was more considerable than you might think, the project would never have come to life nearly as quickly. Before I go into the process of having the tub painted, here's a last look as Bruce is preparing to apply the lower window privacy film.

That color is no more and dare I say, you will hardly recognize it? 

After a crazy busy week it is completely quiet in the Peck home, as Bruce is playing pickleball with the gang, while I am sitting at my desk. And you thought my elbow was better, didn't you? Mostly it is, but like a complete dummy, I agreed to have two basal cell moles removed from my back on Wednesday. It should be noted that I played pickleball the night before with the very dermatologist that did the dirty work. The office called Tuesday afternoon with the results and asked if I could come in the morning, say 8:30 or 9? Yes was the answer I gave and oh how I wish I could take it back! As most of you know this type of skin cancer is not fatal, nor will it ever be. What was I thinking??? Walking into the set up room, the sight of five needles lined up gave me a moment of pause.

Wait, that's six! After those were done, it was a piece of cake, although later in the day it was not so much. The following morning Bruce changed the bandaging and OH MY GOSH did it hurt when he took them off.

My poor skin! 

Upon seeing it, Bruce said oh my! as well,  because he was surprised that the top incision was two inches long, thus the admonition from the doctor that I not play pickleball for TWO WEEKS if I cared how it healed. Thus I sit at home while Bruce has fun playing. The last time I went through this, documented here on election day 2016, it became infected and took forever to heal. I will do my best to heed her advice and be careful this time.

With that out of the way, let's get to that bathtub, shall we? We used a company called,  Bathtub Guys that I found online, much as we might have done years ago with the Yellow Pages. Remember them? From my first call I was impressed with not only how they answered all of my questions, they actually answered the phone! Another "remember when" moment when people did that sort of thing. Alex arrived promptly at 9:30 as he promised, immediately going to work with sanding and cleaning the tub, the first step.

He claimed that it was actually refreshing to find a tub in such good shape telling us that many folks have chipped and cracked tubs that need considerable prep work. He covered the floor in the bedroom for his exhaust fan thing,

that he then ran it out into the back yard.

This was after he had covered the room with paper or plastic.

Here's the actual equipment for painting.

It is here that I will pause for a moment to mention that not only was Alex here, but a plumber from Harvey Baker was as well. Are you kidding? 

No, I am not. Lately Bruce noticed a change in our amount of hot water, thus he called them and wouldn't you know it, they came at the same time. Emptying part of my side of the closet to give the plumber access, while that orange thing was heading out the back door, another hose was as well in order to drain the water heater. What exactly am I saying? I'm saying that we have a small water heater, located on a shelf in the closet above my clothes. Now you can picture it better. Well, it turns out that there is excessive amounts of sediment in the tank necessitating a new one which will happen on the 25th. Good timing, right? 

At any rate, our bedroom was a beehive of activity as I sat at the computer amongst the chaos, doing our taxes while Alex donned his protective head gear and went to work. From the time he arrived until he left was about three hours in case you are wondering.

He warned us that the fumes were strong and he was not kidding, but due to having a new handy dandy, extremely quiet exhaust fan in the bathroom, the odor was gone in about a day. 

While I was at the dermatologist, Herbert came by to put on the tub handles and by golly we were nearly done. Seriously, it is shocking how the tub looks now. A word about the tub handles, or maybe a cautionary tale for anyone doing something like this, turns out that one of them barely fit, something I never gave any thought to when making my choice. Previously there were round knob like handles and as pictured below the new ones are anything but round. Although the handles proved to be nearly too long to use, there was just barely enough space.  

A few folks have seen it in person and tell me the pictures do not do it justice, so you will have to take their word for it. I have to admit that I keep looking at it in different light because it is so exciting after having a vanilla bathroom for the last few years.

Back to Bruce....what a husband! After installing the window film, he cleaned the outside of the bathroom window as well as the one for our bedroom. I can see clearly now!

The final piece came yesterday afternoon in the form of glass shelves. Okay, let's go! Or should I say, let me watch while Bruce does the work? 

For the life of me I cannot recall how I ended up with glass shelves, having looked at other materials all along. Walnut, white, black, gold? All were given consideration, however, somehow I came across this company, Dulles Glass and Mirrors, and now that they have arrived and are installed, I can give them a high recommendation for both quick delivery, an excellent product, as well as superior packing. I scoured the house looking for display objects and there are many memories tied up in a bunch of this stuff. The drawing was done by Alissa, the box came from my long lost cousin Joelle, the black vase came from Bruce's mom, and the Baccarat owl was gift from David and Michelle. Perhaps some tweaking will come to this space, but for now I am happy. And oh my, those shelves are nice. Obligatory magnifying mirror for old eyes notwithstanding. Function before form is my motto.

Well, there you go. A bathroom remodel for about half what most folks spend. Then again, most folks don't have a Bruce in their family but still...we love doing this sort of thing, so it is not really work to either of us; Bruce with a tool in his hand, and me either shopping in person, or online. It is what we do.

Gayle came by the other day and asked "now what can you remodel?" 

Indeed.

your friend,

Gail

Nearly Finished!!

When you embark on a remodel, there are loads of details to sort out including the extras. It will not be much of a stretch for you to imagine, in our home, that would include something bird related. Agreed? I had to return one thing to Ross and am I glad that I did because instead of what I purchased, I found this little cutie who Bruce turned around to look out the window.

With the sun pouring in, I think we can all agree that he is indeed cute. Not everything is new including the candle holders that go way back. Most of the decorating is complete, however, we still have to find some shelving we like because, what's a room without shelving? Dull in my opinion!

When last I wrote, Daniel was working on the floor which he actually did fairly quickly, leaving a portion to complete on his fifth day working here. Yup, five days I had to stay close to home because he worked very, very, slowly. He told Herbert it would take three, which set us back a bit, however, we cannot complain about the job he did because it looks great.  The tile on the tub face went on very quickly and I am delighted with the results. He then set up for grouting,

and I held my breath, hoping that I'd chosen a good color. In fact, he began applying it and at first I was afraid it was too dark.

In the end though, it is perfect. Okay, with Daniel's work done, Herbert and Eli returned and put the pedal to the metal. He installed a small light over the toilet, closed in anything that was open, and fixed a little bit of Daniel's mistake on the privacy wall. While that was going on, I began the shower curtain by laying out four yards of each color on the living room floor.

Originally I was planning on going horizontal with the colors, however our neighbor Jane Lou came over and convinced me otherwise. As she spent her career as an interior designer, I listened. I cut 100" pieces and sat down to sew with the intention of making french seams in order to encase the raw edges. Good plan, but I messed it up because I'd already hemmed one side and the seam ended up on the front side. I'll quit while I am ahead with explaining it because most folks don't know what the heck I'm talking about anyway. Suffice it to say that I put it together without hemming until we could figure out the best length. 

Once the floor went in, next came the baseboards and boy did Herbert do an excellent job with them, cutting the pieces in the back yard. 

Look how nicely they turned out.

And there, my friends is the glorious green paint which I'm afraid is not getting the love it deserves. For those who've seen it in person, most folks rave about the floor or the cabinets, all of which I love, but it is the Clary Sage paint that brings it all together. 

Green was my first love when it comes to color before orange reigned supreme in my heart. In our home we used "Hearts of Palm", Dancing Green, and Sweet Caroline to name a few shades of green. Note how dull that white paint looks and how comfy cozy the green does.

Before the room felt cavernous with such light walls, but that feeling is no more. As with all of their work, they did an exceptional job with the painting. My excitement was mounting as the finish line was nearly in sight. 

Bruce put the track on the shower ceiling, 

and then we tried the curtain. I have to admit it is the weak link in this remodel, but because they are so hard to find in 90 X 90, this was my best option. For now, anyway. I'll show it  momentarily but first there were lots more details to finish. Such as the most functional part of a bathroom and that, of course, is the plumbing. Herbert was not looking forward to tackling that part and who could blame him as he had to squeeze into the cabinet to get to it!

Astonishing really because he is not such a small man! He found the old plumbing a fat mass. Note the convoluted copper tubing in the photo below on the upper right.

Not only is he a sturdy man, he's also as strong as an ox which came in handy when he had to  remove the old tub drain. That's another thing we love about Herbert, he does not give up easily and with all the strength he could muster, he succeeded. 

While Herbert was wrestling with the tub, Eli was hanging the lights!! All the pretty stuff was happening now.

Now what? The vanity sink fixtures is what. Herbert got all the parts sorted out on the floor.

It was now that I just couldn't stay away and kept watching what I could because, let's face it, I'm the curious type.

Not to mention that I was finally seeing the counter top. Mastering the first one, the second one went in smoothly. Just after 5PM on Friday, following a thorough tidying up, Herbert and Eli took their leave. Oh my gosh!! Bruce was down at the lake for his evening chit chat with Dave H. and when he came home, he went to work putting the finishing touches into place, including the mirrors, towel holders, that sort of thing. We never even ate the dinner I made because we were so excited.

It might have been that night that he hung the shower curtain in order for us to test the length.

Please note the hanging towel because it is awesome with the puffy circles. Finding two of them at Marshalls, I could not leave the store without them. Speaking of shopping, I did more of that in the last six weeks than I did the entire previous year as it seemed like we were always needing one thing more. 

In the morning I ran a wet rag over the cabinets, only to discover that the paint was not quite set and that would be because we learned the hard way that sample paint is not really true paint. Shall I say that he was not exactly a happy camper, having to take the hardware off and re-paint? Indeed.

Not ideal, but it took far less time than he imagined. We took the opportunity to purchase all sorts of organizing containers for our stuff as well as move stuff around. Having moved in nearly three years ago we put stuff where we thought it should go and have since learned that perhaps there was a better way. 

After pickleball I hemmed the curtain and we cut the plastic curtains (it takes two for width) that hangs behind it and up they went.

Weak link for sure, but it should be noted that we keep the curtain open unless showering, so that is some consolation. 

While I thought the Bathtub Guys were coming today, I thought wrong, however they will be here in the morning to paint the tub a white that I hope will go nicely with the wall tile. I am crazy for that vertical stacked tile. Maybe not as much as I love the floor tile, but darn close. 

The final photo of the sickly yellowish tub. (taken as Bruce was preparing to put some frosted  sticky paper on the lower windows as our custom shade no longer fit.)

And here is the other side of the room with the Bruce-made medicine cabinet blending in beautifully as well as the Bruce-made raised cabinets!!

The counter top turned out to be perfect. Got that rug on sale at Marshalls too. 

Now wasn't that fun? 

I keep walking in there to feast my eyes on what I'm finding so wonderful. My vision brought to life by the artisans who made the tile, my darling husband, Herbert, Eli, Daniel, and let's not forget the clerks who wait on us at the various stores. Plus the delivery drivers! Wow, it takes a whole heck of a lot of people to transform a room doesn't it?

This morning the sunrise was coming in and casting such a golden glow over everything. 

And now my elbow is much improved so that I am able to play pickleball again. Life is good.

your friend,

Gail 

p.s. Should you have forgotten what it looked like before, check back to this post. 

An Update

After taking a trip down memory lane in my last post, I'm returning to the here and now. Although that was fun revisiting Vancouver wasn't it? 

I checked back in my blog for the first bathroom remodel we did to see how long it took because this time it seems as if it is taking forever. Slow and steady sums it up, right? I bought the floor tile six weeks ago so I have been dying to see it down and today I finally got my wish. But, before we go there, let us look at how we arrived at this point in the job. One of the reasons this has taken so long is the arched window. Before proceeding with the tile, Daniel had to install what is called a Schluter strip, in this case, flexible enough to make the arch. 

(sorry the photo is so dark, the light from the window is messing with the camera)

Working from the bottom up, he began tiling the wall, all the time working to keep it straight.

Beginning last Wednesday morning on the wall tile, I did not really anticipate that it would still be a work in progress come Monday, but so it was. 

Over the weekend Bruce first swept the whole room and removed all of the dust in the cabinets which, btw, are covered in dust. Note the huge pile. Dust is pretty much everywhere, and after this is all said and done, the floors and every surface in our house will need a good cleaning.

The bottom of the cabinets were vacuumed in preparation for some laminate that Bruce applied to cover the old plumbing holes.

I told him one good thing having a large bathroom is that would hold him, tile, and a large table on which to set his tools. It looks like this after he was finished.

Now, should we put anything wet in there, which we probably won't, but just in case, it will protect the wood.

On Sunday afternoon I helped him with a task that was somewhat challenging and that was laying out the track for the shower curtain on the ceiling. So now we had both the table, and a six foot ladder in the room. Bruce dreamed up a way to hold it up there in order to put in the screws using a piece of taped wood fitted into the groove and Mrs. Camera Crazy hold it up high.

But first he had to cut it to length using a hacksaw.

Perhaps you recall him using the plumb bob to mark the track earlier? He used that again to mark the ceiling, matching the marks he'd put on tape on rim of the tub. 

And then he took it down so Herbert can paint the ceiling so we will be doing it again. Fun.

Monday morning, right on time, the Stone Crazy guys arrived with the counter top. You also may recall that I had a pretty brief viewing of said counter top when I went there due to the Covid situation in the office. With that in mind, I was pretty anxious to see it in a slab as we had but a five inch square sample to look at. 

A third guy came to help them hoist it onto the awaiting tables in order for them to drill the holes for the faucets.

And then the three of them muscled it into the bathroom.

From what I saw they did an amazing job fitting it into place, followed by installing the sinks you see on the bed.  Because I have a tendency to stick my head in to see what is happening, annoying everyone, I went back to Floor and Decor to purchase grout for the blue tile so I barely even saw it before Herbert covered it up to keep it clean. I'm pretty sure I like it very much.

Daniel came and finished up the wall tile which we love.

The little things you might note sticking out of the top tiles are pieces from the tile boxes to keep everything in place while the glue dries. He also finished inside the arch and below the newly installed quartz window sill on the lower window.

Finally, today he began on the floor. Because we purchased the tile in the middle of January, I have been particularly anxious to see it laid. Let the floor tiling begin!!

Figuring out the pattern, and where to start took some time, but finally my idea was coming to life.

More tile...

My friends, we are almost there! (those are his leg pads to the left of him)

Whoa Nelly! Although he did not completely finish the floor today, there is just a tiny bit left around the toilet area and tomorrow he will both put the blue tile on the face of the tub, and do the grouting and we are ready for the next step. Woo hoo!! Isn't it fun? 

For those wondering, what we have left after the tile part is done is this:

• Painting which includes the ceiling over the tub, walls, and crown molding.
• Baseboards
• Plumbing
• Lighting 
• Mirrors and holders like for toilet paper, towels, that sort of thing.
• I've purchased some shelves for one of the walls and we shall see if that works.
• Exhaust fan motor and cover
• Sounds like we are done?

In other news, I'm still resting my elbow and has that ever been hard. I am missing playing pickleball with my friends like crazy! Bruce has been playing some nights with all guys, including our son Bill, so one of us is having fun. The tournament is but 16 days away!

As well, I finally finished Edison which proved to be both good and dense. When they began explaining all of the minutiae of his inventions, I will admit I got lost. Furthermore, I'm not used to a biography starting at the end of a life....I had to go back to the preface to make some sense of it all. On to fiction my friends!!

A real blast from the past. 

Tomorrow there will be more excitement at the Peck household and frankly, I cannot wait.

your friend,

Gail