Upstairs Bathroom Tiling

Tiling is complete in the upstairs bathroom and we’re really happy with the results.

We chose to use the Schluter Kerdi waterproofing system on the shower walls.

Once the waterproof membrane was in place, it was time to start tiling.  We were really excited to see how our tile selections would turn out.  The tile installer we hired worked very quickly and did a great job.  Here’s how it looks now:

The next step is to give it a good clean and then we’ll seal the marble floor. 

Warming Up

We have heat!  Our new high-efficiency gas furnace was connected today.  Since it’s starting to get pretty chilly outside, we are happy to finally have some warmth.

As you may remember, we removed the old boiler and oil tank.  We decided to change over to a forced air system, so we removed all the rads.

 

The new furnace is from KeepRite.  It has a 95% efficiency rating, which will qualify us for the highest grant amount through the government energy programs. 

The Countdown is On

It’s official.  In one month, we’ll be moving into the house.  Of course, it’s not going to be an easy month.  As we’re learning, the closer we get to the end of the renovation (or at least the end of the major work) the tougher it gets.

In the past couple of weeks, we’ve experienced a few setbacks and frustrating situations.  For example:

• our kitchen cabinets are going to be two weeks late
• the fridge that we ordered back in June has been discontinued (and our custom kitchen was designed to fit that specific fridge)
• the weather has been crappy, so we haven’t been able to paint the front of our house
• the newly refinished tub (which we protected very carefully before tiling the bathroom) got some chips in it.

On the positive side, the bathroom tiling is going really well, we’ve selected a paint colour for our main floor and our couch is getting picked up to be reupholstered next week. 

We chose Benjamin Moore’s Ballet White for the living room, dining room, kitchen and hall:

And we bought this fabric from Designer Fabrics for our living room couch:

The problems we’ve experienced may not have seemed so frustrating earlier in the renovation, but after more than five months, we’re starting to get pretty tired.  So, despite the challenges, we’ll continue to push forward and hope for the best.  And, in a month we’ll finally be living in our new house!

Basement Bathroom Plans

With tiling almost finished upstairs, we’ve made our final selections for the basement bathroom finishes.

The house only had one bathroom when we bought it, so we decided to add a second bathroom in the basement.  The basement bathroom will have a toilet, sink and shower.

In terms of finishes, we selected travertine tiles for the floor and shower walls.  We’ll use 2” square tiles on the floor (both in and out of the shower) and 4” squares on the shower walls.

We haven’t chosen the vanity yet, but we plan to get a 36” dark wood vanity with a beige granite top.  The toilet, as you may remember, was Dave’s selection: The Champion.

All Powered Up!

After more than five months, we finally have power. 

When we bought our house, the majority of the wiring was knob and tube.  Removing the old wiring was one of our first priorities.

We hired electricians to completely rewire the house. During the rough-in phase, we were left with only two electrical outlets (and no lights!)  We got by with extension cords, floodlights and flashlights. But, this got more and more difficult to handle as the days started to get shorter.

So, as you can imagine, it was pretty exciting when we reached the point where we were ready for the electrical work to be completed. 

Now we have electrical outlets and lights in every room, including:

• pot lights in the living room, dining room, main floor hallway, kitchen and basement
• an exterior pot light above the front door
• a sensor light in near the rear of the house
• bare bulbs everywhere else (until we get a chance to select the rest of our light fixtures).

We used DSK Electric Inc. dskelectric@rogers.com.  They did a great job and we are really happy with the work.

Shiny Old Tub

When we started to demolish our bathroom back in the spring, we made the decision to save the original cast iron bathtub.  It was in pretty rough shape, but we really liked the size and style of it. 

A friend recommended a company called Toronto Tub & Tile Refinishing. They came on Friday refinish the tub, which took about three hours.  We’re really happy with the result.

Before:

After:

Upstairs Bathroom Plans

We’ve chosen all our finishes for the upstairs bathroom and work will be starting this week. In the shower, we replaced the octagon window and built a shelf into the wall. We decided to keep the original cast iron tub, so we’re having it refinished.

We both really like glass mosaic tiles, so we wanted to incorporate them into this bathroom. Here is the glass tile we chose:

Our plan is to tile the three walls surrounding the tub with 3x6” white subway tiles, with an accent strip of the glass mosaic tiles midway up the wall. The remaining walls will be painted gray. For the floors, we selected 2” hexagons in white carrara marble. Here is a rough idea of what we’re planning for the tiles:

The bathroom is pretty tiny and there wasn’t any way to change the layout to give us more space. To maximize our space, we searched for a small vanity that would give us a bit of counter space and storage, without sticking out too far into the middle of the bathroom. We finally found one we love from TUBS. It will allow us to avoid walking into a sharp corner when we enter the bathroom.

Stairs and Stuff

Today, we continued sanding and priming.  With the help of Marilyn and Cody, we got tackled the staircase.  The plan for the stairs is:

• paint the spindles and stair risers white
• stain the banister, post and stair treads dark brown. 

Since we’re hiring a flooring company to refinish the hardwood floors on the second storey, we will get them to do the staining on the stairs.  We’re doing the painting ourselves. 

 

 

We also did some work on the built-in linen closet in the upstairs hallway.  We removed the hardware, sanded the drawers and door, and primed everything.  We plan to paint it white and add some updated drawer pulls.

Here’s the closet before:

And here’s what we’ve done so far:

Prime Time

After taking a bit longer than expected, the drywall is finally finished and we were able to start priming the walls.  Thanks to Jim, Rob, Chris and Shawn for all your help.  It’s finally starting to look like a real house!

  

The walls and ceilings are done.  Tomorrow we’ll move onto the stairs and trim.