| a Tale of two Toilets..... |  |
This is where I left off, the other weekend, or there about. I hate leaving the weekend without a finished project, as it always takes that little more effort to get back into it when arriving on a friday, so I generally try not to bit off more than I can chew over a weekend. This was not the case here....
A little closer up on the tile process. For those of you that don't know, tiling is pretty easy if your patient, accurate and can use a trowel. This is what the "glue" looks like going on. Acrylic tile cement is its name and your trowel it on then scrape over it to create a good bed for the tile to settle into. Wear something old as it gets everywhere.
Lets skip to it all done. This is the satisfing part. I am really happy with the way that the whole space is coming together. The chase for the upstairs pipe actually adds a little more architectural detail to the room and the bath surround is exactly like I imagined. Think Mrs Patmore's scullery. Or the below image that i have no idea where I got it from, its in my "bathrooms" folder images that I have collected for years....
I toyed with the idea of the moulding but decided with keeping it simpler....
I hate grouting. No two ways about it. You've put the tile up, measured and cut all that you need, got it all level. Then you let it set for at least 24hrs. By now hours, days have passed, and you can't use the shower. I also took the toilet out. I wanted it to be done by this point. Then you have to scrape grout all over it, pushing it into the gaps and it gets really messy. It goes everywhere. Which when its in the bath tub all good but when its all over the floor it gets annoying. You get the picture. I was tired....
This is a great shot. So whilst I was at it I thought I would put a new loo in downstairs as well. But as is the nature with old houses one thing leads to another. For almost a year I have been able to see into the basement by the toilet. As nice as that was it was time I ripped up the floor behind the toilet and replaced it. Up top here got a new plank and then also down in the basement as well so its nice and solid again. No money pit scenes unfolding here (the bathtub in that film, i had visions of the toilet crashing through.) Also re ran the cold water pipe as it was old copper that condensed and exasperated the moisture problem. Replacing it with pex and a new valve solved that.
Now the fun part. With the tile down and sort of grouted, it didn't go that smoothly but for this post lets imagine thats the way it went. This is one of the few floors in the house that is relatively new and I have been wanting to paint it. After a solid sanding to get the old varnish off I applied a coat of dark stain. This is the wipe on wipe off variety so it only takes it down a little as its not raw wood. What was great with the old toilet out it was easy to tile and paint. I have obsessed over the geometric style floor tile but as always there is budget constraints so I came up with a solution...
My slippers are getting there own blog. Essential renovating footwear as I have mentioned. I now take my slippers to my friends house, I have become that person. Here it is in progress. Using a stencil to get the basic layout out first. Its a little messed up here and there as I should have spent more time cutting a more accurate stencil but we have established by patience level in previous blog post...
The first layer is the black side of the "T" then you go back over with a different shape stencil and (try) and match it up. At 11 pm on at Saturday night this get a little dicey, the red wine maybe didn't help but i was praying for a snow day on Monday (didn't happen)
Then I am going back in and hand painting in shading and finessing the shape. This close up shot it looks a little raggedy but once the hand painting is done it looks much better. I promise. Anyway nobody should be this close to the bathroom floor. This is just for the magic of blogging..
The stencil. I just cut them out from paper and then gave it few coats of clear varnish to help them stand up to the process of stenciling through them. Gosh do you think Martha would be proud?
Many many many hours later (and cups of tea) its starting to take shape. Still needs to go back over and add more details in. Its really important to get the shapes all touching in order for the 3D to work. Also its important it goes right over the edge, you can see along where the bath is there is a shape missing so that needs to be painted in. Also adding a degree of shading in the grey top "V" really gives dimension. What also really looked great was going back over and sponging on a random layer of wood stain and blotting it off so it all looks like its been there forever. When I put a final coat of varnish I will use a tint so it pulls it all together even more.
I went back to grouting at this point as the tile that had been added to the shower wall needed grouting. This is when it would be nice to have all the time in the world so your not grouting and paining a floor at the same time. Not ideal but it worked out.
Weekends start at 7 30 by shoving some food and a giant mug of tea (and 4 cookies) into my mouth and then off to work. Hence the glasses, wild hair and homely cardigan. Camera ready as i like to say...
Hey presto! We have an almost completed bathroom. The background is there anyway. The floor needs some more work, but the new toilet is in, the tile is done and I can take a shower. By Sunday afternoon this was pretty imperative...
Naked men wrestling, thats what was missing, so obvious....oh and an odd bras thing...
The tile still has the haze on it, which is just the dye from the grout. You have to let it all dry out and then you can scrub them down one last time and they will be good to go. One more weekend, always one more weekend...
This was the faucet I already installed back in the summer but it still looks so handsome. Take a look online at it, you can't beat the prices, its just from a vendor who lists on eBay but its all new items from good old china. I have dabbled with vintage fixtures, but the success rate of them is so uneven that if you can find a new version (this is rarely the case I say this) then get it. It makes installation so much easier, remember the vintage kitchen taps. I replaced the washers and everything but after a while its just easier to go new, and this was $120 all in. Saying that i do have these amazing taps (faucet) in my eBay watch list for upstairs, and its not a mixer. So impractical but i do love the look...
Oh and then this was what was happening upstairs. The miracle of the second floor toilet happened last weekend but the wall was missing. Not a problem when its just me but friends may disagree to this open plan WC. I wanted to do ship lap up the wall and I was going to continue it along the back but it turns out I think I will have enough wood from the wall I took out to clad it in that. You can see I have started to place it in the pic below. Anyway we will see what happens..
I used the back side of the ship lap as its all bumpy and textured (love) and it will be white washed or greywashed, or the more daring options stained black. I like the idea of it looking charged but I'm worried it may be too dark for the bathroom, thoughts? Then back into the old wood I think. I need to put some more thought into it but I'm thinking this will be more black fixtures than brass so it can be a little darker in here and woodsy. More for another weekend. Another triumph was running the new electric up to to this room so now it has a heater and is cozy. All i need is a new sink, shower tray, shower fixtures, lighting, more tile, more lamps, more plumping, more bits and bobs ......(sigh)
That is it for the weekend update. Next weekend is some much needed relaxing and tinkering with the "stuff" to go in the downstairs bathroom. Also I have more antlers for the hallways, I can't wait to get them up and take some pics....
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