Contemporary bathroom remodel

We started the demo on the bathroom back in November (yes NOVEMBER people) and finally completed all of the 'snags' last night.  It has been usable (bath & loo plumbed in) since mid December but those final snags have taken their time to get done.  Big pats on the back to me & Mr me!  And it looks pretty damn good, if I say so myself. We did the majority of the work ourselves; a lovely handyman moved the drain for the bath tub, did the plumbing for the new shower and framed out the bath and we got stuck in to all the other jobs.  It was a first for me on tiling but Mr has done electrics and plumbing before.

I know, pretty professional looking isn't it?!!  The fact we managed to do it on a budget was also a huge win. I spent a lot of time trawling the internet for the best deals for individual items (I found considerable variations in price between websites) and getting the sink vanity unit & cupboards from Ikea saved us a princely sum.  For those of you interested I shall give you a source list at the bottom of this post.

So a quick reminder of the vision in salmon that was the bathroom before....

Here is what we did....

First up is the fun part - demo which was a days work.

Sink & washing machine out

Before removing bathtub & loo

Floor taken up & new drain plumbed in

bath tub frame

The bath tub was dropped into the frame and set it in concrete. This was done by our handy handyman.

I decided to paint the walls next on the advice of our handyman. A nice easy job that could be done whilst Mr. put up hardiebacker around the bath & its frame and covered it with a waterproof membrane.  An extra precaution as hardiebacker is waterproof; gotta do that job properly, right?

Next was the considerable job of tiling, this took us a lot longer than we anticipated which threw off our original deadline. Mr. quickly threw up the 'muck' on the bath surround and gallantly set to tiling it with the mosaic tiles. Six trillion cuts and as many swear words later he finished that job. Glad it wasn't me.  Note to self: don't use mosaic porcelain tiles when you have to do multiple cuts.

I had chosen white subway tiles for the bath surround which do require a bit more work in terms of pre-installation preparation. As I mentioned this was my first foray into tiling so here are a few of my top tips that are worth noting.

Subway tiling top tips

1. Have the right tools for the job which include a paddle for your drill to mix up the thinset, notched trowel for spreading on & out the thinset, regular trowel, tile spacers, level, tape measure & pencil (or chalk line), tile saw, grout float, sponge & bucket.  Luckily we had friends who lent us most of the tools. Thanks Tim!
2. Mix the thinset well.  Follow the instructions on the packet and mix for longer than you need to, or until its pancake batter smooth. I had a few lumps in my first batch and I worried that its strength was compromised. If you follow the instructions on the packet future batches should be the same consistency so will apply the same.
3. Draw as many guidelines as you can be bothered. It does really help, even if you have put thinset over them it helps guide your eye.  Don't forget to include the gap made by the spacers when you draw out your lines.
4. Start from the bottom and work up. Better to have odd cuts at the top rather than around the edge of the tub.
5. Start by tiling a small area. I found doing one row at a time at the back of the tub plenty until I got my confidence up.
6. Be consistent with the amount of thinset you apply. A tough one; too much and it oozes out between the tile (hard to get off & then makes grouting difficult) but not enough and the tile may come down (that was my worry!).  Scrap your trowel lines horizontally.
7. Check your levels frequently & use a ruler/tape measure. I obsessively checked the tiles were level and evenly spaced to start with but once I got going I found I was very good at judging it with my eye. Find what works for you.
8. Wipe excess thinset as you go, its much easier to get off when its wet.
9. Allow plenty of time to get the job done. It goes without saying but its very annoying if you have to take the kids somewhere half way through your job.  The back of the bath took me an afternoon.
10. Precut all your tiles before you start.  Makes it soo much quicker and easier. I wrote in pencil on the back of cut tiles where they went up. Putting a cut tile in the wrong place can mean having to cut another whilst your thinset is hardening on the wall.

This list is by no means exhaustive but its what pops into my head as important.  Tiling is not that difficult, once you get going its quite straight forward, boring in fact, so have the radio on!

Completed tiling minus grout

I found the grouting a lot more stressful than tiling.  After researching & chatting to the helpful Home Depot guys we chose sanded grout for the wall tiles.  Lets just say it was obvious why its 'sanded' grout; our bright white grout had a distinct pinky sand coloured hue to it and an distinct grittiness showing through...It has dried whiter and you don't really see the texture unless you peer very closely, but still I will be using non sanded grout next time!

Tiling the floor was a breeze with the 12"x24" tiles.  We spent time laying them out, centering them from the hall door & around the tub, then did all the cuts before we laid them.  Those puppies went down a dream.  We used grey grout to match the tile. Wipe off the excess grout as you go, it is a million times easier to get off when wet. I didn't on the bath surround and its still there now in places...

Floor tiles minus grout

The Ikea cabinets in the laundry area were super easy to assemble and secure in place; the washer/dryer stack took some acrobatics from Mr. to get fitted in, fortunately he was able to climb up & out.

So there you have it, job done. I am now gathering materials and strength to start on our en-suite. 


Breakdown sources

• White subway tiles - Home Depot
• Grey 12" x 24" floor tiles - Lowes 
• Grey mosaic tiles on side of bathtub - Lowes. All the tiles from Lowes were 'free' as we had a store credit from a deal we got when we bought our replacement windows. Sweet.
• Wall Paint - Benjamin Moore Palladian Blue
• Sink & vanity - Ikea
• Sink tap/faucet - Moen from efaucets
• Tall cupboard & laundry basket cupboard - Ikea kitchen units
• Granite counter top - off cut from Stone Solutions
• Toilet - Kohler Wellworth from Home Depot
• Bath tub - Kohler from Home Depot (I'm sure I paid less than now listed on their site)
• Shower head & tub kit - Moen from efaucets
• Shower screen - Dreamline from Mainfaucets
• Bath mat - Target
• Towels - Kissing Rabbits by Anorak, bought by my Mum from the UK
• Towel hooks - Every which way hook from The Land of Nod mounted on a piece of walnut we already had
• Towel rail & toilet roll holder - Gatco Latitude II range from efaucets
• Stools - Had years ago, they are Kartell Ghost stools, can get from Wayfair
• Step - Ikea, spray painted orange
• Vanity light - Nuvo lighting from Wayfair (again I got at a cheaper price, not sure why!)
• Recessed ceiling lights - 
• Vanity cupboard (on wall by door) - Amazon
• Mirror about sink - was Ikea years ago stained to match walnut 
• Washer & Dryer - already owned, seconds (they have a few scratches) from Samsung Clearance Warehouse
• Nellies laundry soap tins - Crate & Barrel
• Miscellaneous materials/supplies - all Home Depot (I had a 5 times a week habit at the height of the remodel)

I used Pinterest loads while I researched products and ideas on how I wanted it to look. For example, it was very useful to show our handyman a picture of how we wanted the framed bathtub to look.

We ended up spending about $5500 (for those of you interested in numbers) which we were pretty pleased with. If we had hired out I am sure we could have spent triple that number.  A big cost was moving the bathtub/shower drain as the concrete slab had to be drilled out.  It was worth every penny as it really opened up the room by switching the shower to the other end of the tub.  It took about 8 weeks to do the majority of the work & several more weeks to finish off all the snags. (I haven't even mentioned the first shower screen exploding on Mr.!!!) An an advantage of it taking so long is the costs were spread over the months.  The shower screen was the first thing I bought back in October. 

A nod of thanks needs to go to our friends who lent us tools and the endless use of their washing machine(s) as ours was out of action for months :-)

Wow - that was a long post, thanks for reading! 

Have you renovated your bathroom recently? Tried tiling for the first time? Jump on in! The thought is more scary, honest!

Storage basket

Belated Happy New Year! After a fun filled Christmas and New Year in the UK I am back home and full of early January enthusiasm for all things blog, so here we are first post of 2013.

We finished the main bathroom renovation before our trip, just. We were literally doing jobs the night before our flight.  Needless to say there are still a few snags to be completed but I took this week to reacquaint myself with my sewing machine instead.  My parents live near a fantastic independent fabric shop, Ray-Stitch, and of course I could not help but make a purchase or two.

Lotta Jansdotter - Bella

I wanted to make a storage basket to hold spare loo rolls and fill an awkward gap between the dryer and the ceiling.  This pattern from JCaroline Creative was closest to the size I wanted from those pinned on Pinterest. It was an easy pattern to follow; although I needed more than 1/2 yard of the lining fabric & I used a different type of stabilizer (which wasn't quite as sturdy as hers).  Click on the link to follow her instructions if you fancy making your own.

Feel free to admire the beautiful tiling.......I will post the final bathroom reveal soon, I promise.

Pumpkin Oatmeal and raisin cookies

I came across a pin on Pinterest which detailed numerous acts of kindness a Mum & her kids did. It got me thinking. My girls are pretty good most of the time and do show empathy towards others close to them however they have little grasp of the wider world (kinda understandable, they are kids).

I thought random acts of kindness would be a fun thing to do with them.

In keeping with the seasonal pumpkin theme, we made these delicious  pumpkin oatmeal & raisin cookies. Esme then decorated lunch bags to deliver them in.  The girls discussed who we should give them to, their ideas not mine.  The recipients were several elderly neighbours, the lollipop lady, the helpers at the YMCA kids club & the builder who is currently banging away in our bathroom.  The girls were super excited to hand them out and the cookies were really well received. It made all of us feel nice inside :-). We are now thinking we will do the same at Christmas and maybe even Thanksgiving!

Pumpkin oatmeal & raisin cookies

2 cups plain flour

1 1/2 cups of old fashioned oats

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp ginger

grate of nutmeg

pinch of salt

1 cup of unsalted butter (2 sticks)

1 cup brown sugar (light or dark, I used dark)

1 cup white sugar

1 cup pumpkin puree

1 egg

tsp vanilla extract

1 cup of raisins

Handful of white chocolate chips (not necessary, but nice!)

This quantity makes LOADS! I forgot to count them but it was 3 tray fulls.

Oven at 350F.  Line baking sheets.  Combine the dry ingredients - flour, oats, baking soda, spices, salt in a bowl.  In a separate bowl use an electric mixer to beat butter & sugars until they go pale and fluffy. Then add the pumpkin, egg & vanilla extract to the butter mixture.  Beat to combine. Add the flour mixture, a little at a time until it is all combined.  Stir in the raisins and chocolate chips if you are using. 

Use a desert spoon to drop mixture onto baking sheets. They don't spread out that much so you can squish them on.

Bake for about 15mins (check after 12) or until they are golden round the edges. After 12mins I pushed them down a bit with a folk to flatten them, but not strictly necessary.

Go forth and spread some pumpkin love!

Symmetry in night stands

I am feeling a tiniest bit guilty as we have started our bathroom remodel and here I am sat at the computer. In my defense I have done a dump run (What an experience; US dumps are MEGA in comparison to our little UK ones!), cleared up after my husbands demo yesterday & attempted to get the vinyl floor tiles up. If I take a closer look my guilt may be because I gave up a little too quickly on those floor tiles...

Anyway back to the safety of completed projects.

Matching nightstands seem to appeal to the slight OCD in me, I like the symmetry.  This is the first time we've matched on both sides of the bed; my previous bedside table is one my Grandpop made (he was a carpenter) in the 50's so I was loathed to replace it.  However my husbands was not so pretty, nor did it hold such sentimental value - he picked it out of the dump (literally) about 5 years ago. Of course we still have Grandpop's table but the dump find has returned to its humble beginnings.

This pair of nightstands were a Craigslist find for $25. I picked them up on the way home from dropping my daughter at playschool, I think she would have given them to me for free she was that desperate to get rid of them.  They are really quite sturdy, more so than Ikea, & cost a lot less too. Gotta love Craigslist!

They required a heavy sand down and 2 coats of primer before I started painting.  I used paint I had; white used for trim & the grey is from my daughters desk.  The handles were also 'free' from Home Depot as I had a rebate card from some paint offer.  

What you have beside your bed says a lot about you. Me - book (Barbara Kingslover: Prodigal Summer), InStyle & The  Week magazines, a picture from India, heart made by my niece & nephew, Bliss hand cream (the best) & alarm clock. My husband - Bike Snob book, Wired magazine & Bird clock.  He is a bike loving, techie twitcher.

Does your bedside table reflect you?!  

Back to those floor tiles...

Cheap as chips curtain rod

The sun comes blazing into our bedroom window most of the day which I am just starting to appreciate as autumn has finally arrived here in Southern California.  Consequently we knew we would need a pretty heavy duty shade, to keep out the heat as well as the light.  After trawling the internet blinds.com came out the cheapest. I chose a cellular black out shade in white, and as the window is 94" wide, its quite a piece of kit.  So I decided to go for curtains as well to soften the window a little and give a splash of colour to the room.

After a rather pricey blind I was looking to save a bit of cash on the curtains & curtain rod - no easy thing with an 94" wide window. Fortunately this post at Houseofhepworths.com explains how to make a cheap curtain rod - result!

Curtain rod ingredients

10ft electrical conduit pipe (Home Depot) - $3

can of spray paint (Walmart is cheapest) - $3.79

wall brackets x2 (Betydlig Ikea) - $3

end finials x2 (Vasentlig Ikea) - $5

Curtain rings (Syrlig Ikea) x2 - $8

Cut pipe to desired length (the kind chaps at Home Depot will even do this for you).  Spray paint it desired colour, I went for white. Fix brackets to the wall. To achieve a faux pinch pleat attach the curtain hooks to inside of the curtain about an inch or so below the top.

Thread onto the pole leaving one ring on the outside of the bracket.

Attaching the finials to the end of the rod could not be easier. Lo and behold a wine cork is exactly the right diameter! I knew there was a good reason I drank lots of wine!  Screw your chosen finial into the cork then cork your rod, as the saying goes..

Once again apologies for poor iPhone pictures.

And here are the finished hanging curtains with my cheap-as-chips-curtain-rod.   You honestly wouldn't know, I would highly recommend doing this if you need a longer curtain rod. As for the curtains they cost a total of $34; $20 for the fabric from Ikea and $14 for a king sheet (from Walmart) which I cut in half. 

$57 for curtains & curtain rod is my kinda of DIY project.  The master bedroom is now finished. Post to follow shortly...

 

Pumpkin bread

Friends are coming round for coffee tomorrow morning and I was going to make my usual coconut bread. After a passing scroll through twitter there was no ignoring the fact it was Fall Autumn and all things pumpkin. I found this great recipe and thought we should have a slice of this bread instead & embrace the season; depsite the fact its still 30 degrees outside! 

Pumpkin bread

This recipe is adapted from Ann Marie @whblsblog

1 cup of plain flour

3/4 cup of wholemeal flour

1 cup of brown sugar

1/2 cup of castor sugar

1 tsp of grated nutmeg

1 tsp of cinnamon

1 tsp of ginger

1 tsp baking soda

 pinch of salt

1/2 cup of oil (I used canola)

1/3 cup of water

2 eggs

1 cup of canned pumpkin (unsweetened)

1 cup of raisins

Pre heat the oven to 350F. Grease & flour a loaf tin.  Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.  In a separate bowl whisk the eggs and add to the dry ingredients along with the oil, pumpkin & water.  Using an electric whisk/mixer thoroughly mix to combine.  Stir in the raisins.

The mixture is quite runny, so pour into your pre-greased loaf tin. As you can see mine was/is rather full. Ann Marie does double quantities and suggests using 3 loaf tins...She also uses all plain flour, castor sugar & adds chocolate chips. So feel free to create your own version (although she SWEARS hers is the best so you may want to give it a go!).

Bake in the oven for an hour, or until a skewer comes out clean.  It is divine warm out of the oven but just as good the next day, apparently.

It is a great loaf, and nice to mix things up. It will be a Fall staple from now on!

Upholstery for beginners and bodgers

When I was very little my Mum did an upholstery course. The chair she reupholstered is still going strong at their house, I think she may have had it redone recently as it's not 70's brown velvet anymore but it certainly lasted a good 20 years. Ergo I have always fancied having a go.  

Whilst back in Winchester I enrolled for a course run at a local school.  I managed 3 weeks.  Let's just say it wasn't quite what I was expecting (boring, lots of standing about waiting for help).  Never the less my upholstery spirit has never been dampened!

The chair from the upholstery course came with us to the USA & I knew I wanted to cover it.  I decided to use the Amy Butler fabric used for the blinds in our old bedroom (see here) so I painstakingly unpicked them; feeling extremely virtuous with myself for being so thrifty.

Finished chair

 Doesn't it look great?! I am so pleased with the result, and it really was not too difficult. 

Before

As you can see from the before picture the chair has great shape, just not so great green vinyl covering it.  
The first job was to fill the joins in the arm rests. I used caulk which I'm sure is not the best thing to use, but it did the job.  I then stained the arm rests and legs a slightly darker and more uniform colour.  My choice of stain was dictated by the size of pot, I believe the colour was ebony. 
I took the back off as this was attached using rounded headed upholstery pins  which I saved. I then used the original back as a guide to cut out a new piece.

Next the removal of the side covering, again I kept this as a template to cut out my fabric. It was also useful as a guide on how to affix the new piece.

I made the covered cord from a length of cord I already had. Just put on the zipper foot et voila!

I had made the decision to leave the original seat & back. Removing them would take it from a Saturday morning job to a weekend job, I'm no purist, who cares its not fully upholstered?!  The seat and back where two separate pieces of fabric which I attached using the staple gun.  You need to keep smoothing a gently pulling it to ensure the fabric is taut and flat.  I folded the corners, see pictures below, and tucked it into the back seam, securing with staples either side.

Attaching the side band of fabric required a little brain power to suss out the best method.   Having cut out the correct sized piece of fabric (measure from the one you removed) iron a small hem along one long edge. This edge will then butt up against the piping.  Then hold the piping in place (you may want staple it) then staple the band of fabric under the folded hem.  This is easiest if you flip the fabric over onto the chair (see below).  

Fold over the fabric, smooth down and staple underneath the chair.  Work round the chair from back to back.

Lastly I ironed a 1/2" hem around the back piece of fabric and stapled it to the  chair. You need to evenly space the staples and try to use as many staples as you have upholstery pins to cover them.  My bad; I was a bit trigger happy with the staple gun and didn't space them evenly, hence no back shot of the chair! It is against the wall so it doesn't really matter.

A couple of hours later, one upholstered chair. I learnt a life lesson here; I like to work things out for myself, why waste my money & time on courses?! 

What have you 'taught yourself' to do? Satisfying isn't it?