Back to the House

Did you wonder if this would ever turn back into a houseblog? Well, today is the day! I spent the weekend sanding and staining a new door for the water heater closet in the bathroom:

This doorway is 22" wide, an unusual size. Complicating matters was my want for a paneled door, and my preponsity for used doors. It is hard to cut 2 inches off of a used 24" door that has panels and door handles cut!

After years of searching, I finally found a 22" door at our local salvage store. It is newish, pine construction, and three panels. The smallest panel is just perfect for installing a vent; we are "flipping" the door over so that this panel will be on the bottom.

Here is the sanding:

I sanded first with 100 grit sandpaper on my orbital sander. The polyurethane finish gummed up the sandpaper quite fast; I was able to "pick" it off and keep going at intervals. After removing all finish, I finished up with 150 and 180 grit sandpaper. I wanted a dark stain, so stopped at 180.

I used the same stain on the door as I had used on the bathroom baseboard; Miniwax Red Mahogany:

This picture is of the first coat drying. I've since added one more coat, and will hopefully add the finish today after finding a vent to add.

Look at Our Bathroom NOW!

Our bathroom is finally not an embarrassing room! Here is the bathroom after installing the new trim:






We used Valspar Faux Venetian Plaster in Olive on the walls, Minwax Red Mahongany water based wood stain on the pine 1x6 trim, and Minwax Tung Oil finish on the trim.

There is more to be done; the water heater closet needs a door, and the doors need trim around them. Plus, I would LOVE to replace the flimsy stand alone cabinets on either side of the vanity with one or two true built ins. And, finally, the popcorn ceiling NEEDS to go. However, it looks finished enough now!

Stained the Bathroom Trim Today

We used Minwax Red Mahogany stain on our pine bathroom moldings. I decided to NOT use the wood conditioner as recommended for staining pine, as it seems to have a very mixed record for preventing blotches. For those who want to know, gel stain is recommended for the most even results on pine... a fact that I didn't learn until after I had opened and tried out the liquid stain we bought.



We are hoping to match the mahogany bathroom door...

... a pretty close match! Most of our replacement doors (for the hollow core monstrosities) are mahogany; we are planning on staining pine trim to "match." I'm glad to see that it is going to be fairly easy!

Bathroom Trim

At the last minute we changed ideas on bathroom trim. We had been planning on using slate tiles cut in half (the same as on the floor) to create a baseboard, but after cutting a few and propping them up we found we didn't care for the look.

Instead, we went and bought a few pine boards to create a nice, simple baseboard. Here's a picture of the (cut, but unstained) baseboard running from the sink to the tub tile:

If you look closely, you will notice that the tub tile and edge only stick out about 3/8 inch. To create a more natural transition between the baseboard and the tile, we cut a 45º angle with our miter chop saw.

We have the wood measured, cut, and dry fit. Now we need to stain it mahogany (the same color as the door in the bathroom) and nail it up. We will likely go with a very similar simple baseboard for the whole house if this turns out well!

I Hate Venetian Plaster

It's pretty hard to work with, and not intuitive at all. Oh... and the directions aren't any better. Also, if you are hoping to use it to disguise poor walls, think again. Skim coating with drywall and painting will be MUCH easier (and what we will probably do with the rest of the house. However, despite all of the problems, the walls look MUCH better than when we started last year:

Here's where we are today:




Oh... and the new patch from running the doorknob through the freshly plastered wall:

It still needs a couple coats of plaster. Mental note to NOT run door knobs into freshly plastered walls.

A Few Notes:
* Apply it paper thin. It cracks VERY easily if it is applied too thick!
* If it cracks, sand gently, and apply another thin layer of the paint.
* It takes a LONG time. Plus, it needs several coats.
* The first layer will leave you feeling that you wasted $50 and 2 hours. It DOES get better.

Finishing the Bathroom- FINALLY

We've been remodeling our bathroom for about 18 months now. We don't think the appraiser will like our hand scraped walls, lack of trim, lack of water heater closet door, or trial paint splotches, however. There is nothing like an appraisal to give you a little "kick" in the rear to finish projects up.

It rained yesterday... the perfect time to start (or finish) an inside project. We decided to use Venetian Plaster to finish up the walls, as there quite a few drywall patches and a VERY heavy texture. We could have skim coated with drywall compound and painted to save some money, but decided that time was of the essence and that we needed to get it done fast.


After perusing the samples at Lowe's, we decided on an Olive green. Here is the first coat, wet. It looks like a green pepper instead of an olive... but the first dry spots are about 5 shades lighter and much more olive.



It doesn't look that great yet, since the first coat is put on messy. We're planning to finish it up tomorrow... and then add trim. Let's hope it turns out well!

Two Small Projects

I found time yesterday to complete two small projects left unfinished. It's amazing how small projects pile up, with just a little bit of time needed for completion.

First, I painted the backsplash for the kitchen the same color as the walls.

Before:


After:


We still want to put some sort of tile or metal backsplash up instead, but spending for things besides structural integrity has been put on hold. With 20 minutes and a bit of the leftover paint, I have a nice looking kitchen. Temporary, but well worth it.

I also hung the bathroom vanity light. I bought it in January on clearance, and just haven't put it up. It's been sitting on the floor outside the bathroom for 6 months.

Before:


After:


Now, of course finishing the walls in the bathroom would go a LONG way to making it look nicer in there, too! Perhaps when it is too rainy to work outside...

It felt good to check off two more small projects... especially as we toil on the much larger project of the exterior. I need a little "instant gratification" every once in a while!

Second Verse, Same as the First... WAIT! WE DID IT!

Since our utter failure two weeks ago we been trying to reconcile ourselves to permanent life without a bathroom door. Sure it meant no visitors who weren't like family... but the thought of tackling the door was completely overwhelming.

Today I decided that I would try one more time. By myself.

It was very deja vu. I did the same things that we did last week as I attached yet another door jamb and chiseled new mortises. I won't bore you with the nitty gritty details, as they are already detailed in previous posts.

This time, though, I measured. I measured again. And, then... I measured one more time. I checked all of the plumb and squared lines.

I decided to leave the broken off screws in the studs and shift the door up the jamb a tiny bit to allow room for the new screw holes. I chose a bit 2 sizes bigger for my pilot holes to avoid the screws snapping off in installation... many thanks to The Handyguys for their diagnosis of the problem!

I carefully screwed the hinges into the stud and jamb, wedged a few shims under the extremely heavy door (...and no Karen, I still didn't get a weight on it. I'll have to forfeit on a technicality!) and slowly slid the door into position. This time, I managed to get the hinges in exactly the right place.

Here are a few pictures of the door. It's still missing the door stop, the knob, and is yet unfinished. (And don't mind the dirty laundry. I didn't see it until I looked at the pictures!)



Looking in from the living room...



...and from inside the bathroom. Don't mind the dirty laundry!

I'll post finished pictures later!

For those of you who followed this, what a learning curve! I feel comfortable enough to tackle the rest of the doors in the house now. Don't be too afraid to tackle a non-prehung door... just measure. Over and over. And don't drill your pilot holes too small!

Scraping, Scraping, Scraping Along!

We have taken a break from door hanging and utter failure, as it takes two to move that door. We won't be in the house at the same time together until Monday. Look for an update on Tuesday on that.

Today I worked on another part of the bathroom: the walls.

Here is the lovely textured and badly patched walls*:


Using THESE...

...a safety mask and a scraper (with a very sharp blade) that I got from Habitat for $1 (yeah Habitat), I started to scrape off most of the texture.

Scrape, scrape, scrape.

It's very messy and dusty work*. I lined the edges of my walls with newspapers to catch the droppings.

Here is how far I got today:


A closer look:


2 more walls to go, and then onto sanding, mudding, and repainting.

Maybe if I pretend it's normal to not have a door on a bathroom, I can avoid dealing with the utter failure, too. Think it will work?

* Note... this is new drywall installed 4 years ago with only two layers of new paint on it (plus the nasty texture). If I was doing this to one of the much older walls in my house (which I will likely do if this turns out well), I would use a ventilator to avoid breathing in lead dust from the lead paint.

Bathroom Color?

Remember my can of miss tinted paint?

I painted some sample swatches on the walls:


It's hard to see it with the ugly blue wall color that is there now.



Does it match my baskets? I want to keep my baskets (though I plan on getting rid of the over-the-toilet hutch and using wall shelves instead).



It seems to match the slate floors well.

I think we will keep it. We can always try another color!

On Door Jambs and Frugality

We installed the door jamb in the bathroom yesterday (and today).

First, we measured the door opening from top to the floor. We cut each side of the jamb to exactly that height, using our new miter saw.



Then, we placed the jamb sides in the door frame, measured the distance between, and cut a piece of jamb that was that size for the header.

After we cut our header, we nailed the jamb together for installation.



We used our square to keep the corners squared as we tapped wire brads into the wood to hold the jamb together.

We reused the old nails from the previous door jamb by carefully tapping them back into shape.



Miserly, miserly people we are.

We used these nails (plus a few more- remember, the old jamb was held up by 5 nails) to attach the jamb to the studs.



But WAIT... what is THAT? That huge GAP between the header and the side?
We can't have that.

Back to the saw with a fresh set of measurements taken with the sides pressed firmly against the studs.



After putting FOUR nails in each board, our jamb seems secure.

We used solid pine instead of MDF to increase the permanence and solidity of our jamb and door installation.

Where:
Door Jamb: Home Depot
Nails: Salvage and Lowe's

Cost:
Door Jamb: $18
Nails: Free and $2 for a box

Color Choices and Beadboard?

The very first home improvement project we undertook when we bought this house was to paint the bathroom. We attempted to paint the walls the same grey color we thought the tub tile was... except, when that color covers entire walls it's actually a lavender/blue shade.

My bathroom in it's current purply-blue and white glory:

We would love to paint a different color. We are thinking one of the shades below.. probably the second or third saturation level.

1)
2)
3)
4)

The great part about #1 is that it is from the same tint family as the living room and bedrooms. The living room is the lightest color on the swatch, and the bedrooms are one color lighter. It might make a nice visual connection between the bathroom and the rest of the house to stay in that family. Of course, the green in #3 is nice, too and the chocolate in #4 just makes me hungry!

Suggestions of different colors are more than welcome...

Also on a slightly different note, I've been toying with the idea of adding white beadboard around the bottom of the bathroom and just painting the upper portion the above color choice. It's a small space and wouldn't cost much. Would it be too much of a contrast/too white?

More Bathroom Plans...

Our bathroom is coming together. We are a backwards sort of people, so we did the floor first. Here are more plans:

First:
This window in the shower needs to go. It is rotting, and covered with a small piece of vinyl shower curtain. Definitely not attractive.

The plan?
To replace the window with glass blocks.

The problems?
The window is 24 inches wide. Glass blocks are 8 inches wide. If I put 3 blocks in the window, there is no room for mortar. Also, it is 35 inches tall. What should I use to fill the gap? Must research this further.

Second:
I HATE the tub surround tile. It is fake marble. FAKE, FAKE, FAKE. So fake that you can SEE the pixelation from the printer that created the pattern. Each tile is exactly the same, too.
Even WORSE than the fake marble tile is the accent tile. It is a baby blue/slate grey concoction that gives the appearance of being rope.
They do not match our bathroom at all.

The plan?
To carefully chip out the blue accent tile and replace it with slate tiles cut to fit. I'm trying to decide whether to do long pieces of slate or short (1 inch) pieces of slate.


Third:
Our bathroom needs more storage.

The plan?
I am going to build two extensions to the vanity that will fill in the area between the vanity and the wall. They sell cabinet doors for fairly cheap, so I will be able to match the existing doors.
I'm going to put marble countertops on top of the two units, to "match" the fake marble shower surround.
I want them to look different than the existing white counter, since they will never look like "part" of it.

Fourth through Seventh:
Replace the shower curtain and rod.
Finish the doors.
Finish the molding and trim.
Paint and texture.

Our Faucet Find

We went to Habitat for Humanity ReStore the other day to browse and LOOK at what I found!

It was $15, and just perfect for our bathroom! It is a perfect replacement for the cheap builder's special faucet that was previously on our sink. It is a new faucet, never used... the "display" faucet from a local big box store. I love the ceramic handles. I hate our sink (but it's new)... this small change helps me like it a lot more.

Our New Slate Floors

This weekend we installed the slate in our bathroom. It took us 2 days from start to our current stopping point. I was pleasantly surprised to notice that my previous mistake was not noticable on the installed floors.

How to install slate on top of HardiBacker:
1) Dry lay the tiles to make sure they fit. The rubber spacers they sell were somewhat useless with the inconsistent shape of the tiles, so we didn't use them.

2) Use a diamond blade to cut the stone. We dry-cut using a diamond blade on a jigsaw for the detail cuts (such as the circle around the toilet) and a diamond blade on a circular saw for cutting the long straight cuts.
Hints: The jigsaw cuts a nice, smooth, even and nice-looking line, with little to no breakage and crisp edges. The circular saw, on the other hand splintered the edges of the tiles, and chipped off a considerable amount of stone. We used it only for edges that would be hidden.

3) We used a rapid setting mortar so that our toilet (only one in the house) would be usable before sundown. I spread it on the floor with an old rubber spatula and used a 1/2 inch trowel to create those "grooves" in the mortar. After 4 hours, we were able to replace the toilet/
Hints: A drill with a mixing paddle makes quick work of the required 5 minutes of mixing.

5) We installed the grout using sandwich baggies to "pipe" the grout into the cracks. We did this because we are inexperienced at grouting.
Hints: Use lots of warm soapy water to clean up... and wipe every tile at least three times to remove the excess grout.

The finished and dry grout lines. The grout looks darker in real life; it is about the color of cement.

The finished floor!

What and Where and How Much?

• Laticrete Tri-Poli Sanded Grout- Habitat for Humanity ReStore- $2
• Ultra Flex Thinset Mortar- All About Floors- $18
• 1/2 inch trowel- Habitat for Humanity ReStore- $1.25
• Diamond Blade for jigsaw- Lowes- $5
• Sponges- Grocery Store- $2
• Slate Tile- Craigslist- $30
• Sealer- Habitat for Humanity ReStore- $2
• Hardibacker- Freecycle and Lowes- $30
• 1/4 inch trowel- Habitat for Humanity- $2
• Wax Rings for Toliet- Home Depot- $5

Total Cost for Bathroom Floor: $104.25