In the short rows

I know, I know...I haven't updated the blog in almost two weeks now. But it's not without good reason. Suzanne and I spent last weekend up in NYC visiting Ray, Sandi, and Dega in "Da Bronx". To kill a little time while we were there, Suzanne and I caught a little band called "The Police" at Madison Square Gardens. The visit with the Ungers was excellent, as always, and the concert was icing on the cake...I've waited almost 20 years for this show, having grown up a Police fan, and I can honestly say it was well worth the wait.

Speaking of waiting...I finally got back to working on the bathroom this weekend. Yesterday I started working on putting up the wall tile and got everything except the backsplash around the sink done before quitting time. This morning, I was back at it, and in less than an hour, I finished setting the backsplash. Tomorrow is going to be a big day. My hope is to get everything grouted and get the toilet installed and functioning. No more late night trips stumbling to the hall bath for Suzanne hopefully!

What a day!

So in honor of Alberto "Kid" Contodor winning his first Tour de France at only age 24 (and for the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team, no less!), I decided to hunker down and grind out the work on the bathroom like the riders grind out the climbs in the Tour. After watching Contodor cross the finish line on the Champs-Élysées, I was more than motivated to make a big dent in the remaining bathroom tasks.

After installing the cabinets, sink, and faucet yesterday, I began my day today with a quick trip to Lowe's for a couple of plumbing supplies...oh joy!

About the only thing I hate worse than electrical work, is plumbing. I awake to cold sweats and nightmares just thinking about that horrid sound of trickling water that is the telltale sign of a leak somewhere. My quest today, was to find a 1/2" - 1/2" male connector that would allow me to extend the water supply lines that came with the Swedish faucet that I bought from Ikea. To my surprise, Lowe's had exactly want I needed (and a couple of things I really didn't need, but still bought anyway). Through the self-checkout and I was quickly on my way home. Once there, I was able to hook up the hot and cold water supply lines without to much difficulty, and I also attached all of the drain plumbing for the sink. Now the moment of truth...I turned the shut off values back "on" and inspected the connections. No drips. Then I turned the faucet on and filled the sink...still no drips. My last test was to lift the stopper and let the water flood the drain pipe...and still no leaks, yeah!!

Everything seemed good, so I moved on to the next step in the bathroom, the shower bypass door. Believe it or not, this was a really simple installation. That is, if you don't count the "metal cutting and grinding to make it fit the curved shower insert" portion of the job. Again though, without too much difficulty, I had the doors installed and caulked. Now I just have to wait 24 hours for the caulk to dry and Suzanne and I can start showering in the our bathroom again. Next step is to tile the walls, including a 4" accent strip of floor tile about half-way up the wall. I also need to tile the backsplash and surround at the sink. Once I get the tile in, all that will be left is setting the toilet! I'm predicting a couple more weekends before we have our dual-flush throne back in working order!

Getting closer!

The other night, I grouted the floor. I picked "Silver Shadow" for the color of the grout and am pretty pleased with how it turned out. My frustration with laying the mosaic tiles was apparently all for not, since I was able to basically use the grout as a thinset on the tiles that had popped loose and then just grouted the heck out of them as I did the entire floor. Lesson learned, I will make sure that I spread more thinset when I do the tile on the walls! Tonight I put in a few hours after work and was able to clean the grout haze off of the tiles with cheese cloth (learned that tip online), and then did one last wipe down with a wet sponge before installing the base and quarter round mouldings.

My plan is it have the cabinets, doors, sink, and faucet in by the end of this weekend!

How to squeeze an elephant into a bottle...

so the next trick is making all of this...

fit into this.

Stay tuned folks, it's going to get interesting!!

It's Blue!!!

So the tile finally arrived last week and I spent most of the week prepping the bathroom for the big day. I finished sanding and painting the ceiling, painted the window and door trim, painted the walls, installed the medicine cabinet (I got to use my favorite tool, the reciprocating saw!), and trimmed out the lights, exhaust fan, and air vent. I also laid the cement backerboard so on Sunday, everything was ready to go for tiling.

The tile went down pretty easily, and cutting it was a breeze! I even got to use the laser level that Sandi and Ray gave me!

everything's out...now, let there be light!

A couple of weekends ago, I spent some time hanging out in our attic. Not because it was a sweltering 100+ degrees up there, but because I decided that our master bath would benefit from an exhaust fan and some cool recessed lighting. After many hours balancing myself on the ceiling joists, digging through the blown fiberglass insulation (man, that stuff really itches!) and sweating out what seemed liked gallons...not to mention a few choice words here and there, I finally finished the wiring and installation of the fan and can lights.

Today, I finished tearing out the last of the old bathroom fixtures. The toilet now is parked in

our driveway, along with the old sink. I've mudded the holes in the walls and patched the ceiling (oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I started this crazy job by scraping the old "popcorn" textured ceiling...what an absolute mess that was!). If you listen really closely, you can hear the joint compound drying...next step, putting down the cement backerboard. Tiles will be here on Wednesday of next week so the pace is going to start picking up soon!

out with the old...

so here goes...my first foray into the wonderful world of blogging. And what better way than to follow one of my favorite past times, demolition and reconstruction of various rooms in our house!

First up, the master bath...let the fun begin!