Main bathroom before and after

When we first got our house, the kitchen was right up at the front of the house. A half wall greeted you once you walked through the front door. On one side of the wall was the stove and the rest of the kitchen, and on the other side was a narrow hallway into the living room that separated the kitchen from the main bathroom. The door of the bathroom was placed so that if you stood at the stove cooking, you could see the toilet about 5 feet away. That seemed, um, sort of weird to me.

Because the house started its life as a gas station, only the sink and toilet were originally present. At some point, one of the owners added a garage on the other side of the bathroom, and then used some of that space to add a tub and shower. The bathroom was teeny tiny, and everything that was crammed in there was extremely dated.





We ripped everything out and tore down all of the walls.



The new bathroom was widened to hold a 5.5-foot long tub (which is so awesome!) and extended to include a large vanity and a 15" linen closet. The door was also moved around the corner so that it isn't visible from the kitchen.



The tub surround is slate tile in grays, greens, and tans, and we put in light maple cabinets.





The countertop is a product called granicrete. They use a trowel to spread a thin layer of concrete over wood. For my countertop, they added some texture to make it look similar to the slate, and then used a variety of colored stains to match the colors found in the slate tile. The countertop was then covered with an epoxy so that it is smooth to the touch but allows you to see the texture underneath.

Sneak peek: master bathroom

I'd love to say that we are completely, totally, 100% done with all the tile in the house. But it turns out that we still have to do a teeny tiny bit of grouting in our master bathroom. Once that's done, I'll give you the complete tour, including the before and after photos.

In the meantime, here's a little sneak peek of the space showing its transformation over the last month.





And for those of you questioning the wisdom of putting a pure white rug in the bathroom: You're right. Not my smartest move, especially because it seems to be a magnet for a gray dog who likes to rub her grubby little body all over it!

Have a good weekend, everyone. And thanks very much for all the well wishes about the baby on the way! We're pretty excited about it. :)

What I've been doing lately

Between work, entertaining Sadie, and trying to keep up with the weeds in my garden, I haven't had a lot of free time lately.

But what free time I have had has been dedicated to finally finishing the tile floors in our two bathrooms. Hallelujah!

Day 358: The thrill of victory

These days, I consider any progress in the house to be a major victory!

Yesterday I finished tiling the tub surround in the main bathroom. Finally! Here's what the bathroom looked like one year ago today:





We reconfigured the whole space, changing the location of everything and nearly doubling the size of it.

Last week I repainted it (again, for the third time; I should have just gone with my initial gut feeling on the color!) and spent most of the weekend and all day yesterday doing the tile. I did a brick pattern using a slate called Earth from Arizona Tile (which isn't quite as dark as it looks in the photos). It still has all the spacers in place, but you get the idea...





Now I just need to put another coat of sealer on the tiles, grout the tiles, clean the tiles, seal the grout, install the plumbing fixtures, install the apron at the front of the tub, install the final pieces of tile trim, tile the floors, hang the towel bar and TP holder, install the countertop and sink, and stain the door and trim, and then I'll be D.O.N.E. with this room! Woohoo!

Outdoor bathroom

The plans for our new bathroom are set, but that doesn't mean I have to stop dreaming about bathrooms for the next house.

I love this one (actually an outdoor bathroom), seen today on Remodelista. A counter top made from one big slab of wood, a really unique method of storage underneath it, the protrusion of the edge of the countertop outside of the window, the built-in nicho in the wall behind the sink, the weathered wood on the wall. Love it all.