Sunday, April 04, 2010

Bathroom Remodel





















When we were working on this house 25 years ago, the builder's wife talked us into getting a jacuzzi tub in our master bathroom (no shower, just the tub). Well, the tub wasn't very practical - took way too much water to fill it so we didn't use it much. Then when you did use it, black yuck would come out of the pipes. On top of that the tub also cracked badly. Approximately 21 years ago we pulled out the carpeting (yes, she talked us into carpeting in the bathrooms, too - another mistake) and I laid peel-n-stick tile. I also painted over the wallpaper and rag rolled & stenciled the walls - heck it was the thing to do back then. I'm almost embarrased to share these pictures.
For years we've been talking about redoing the bathroom. We got one estimate and it was way high. One thing & another got in the way - gas went up to $4.00/gallon & all money went into my tank just to get me to & from work. The economy tanked & there was worry about keeping a job. There was also the issue about finding someone we trusted to do the work reasonably. We found a couple of reliable, honest contractors and got bids that were more in line with what we thought was reasonable.
FINALLY the end of February of this year we decided to go ahead with the project. It was completed in March & I absolutely LOVE it. Unfortunately the bathroom is not shaped such that you can take pictures of the whole thing at once.
We had them remove the tub, toilet, sinks & countertop. They created a new, doorless, walk-in shower, tiled the floors, did tape & bedding repair, texturing & painting and added new sinks, toilet and tiled countertop. I stripped the cabinets and refinished them. Big difference!!! The contracter & workers were all great.

Welcome Spring
I've said it before, you have to love Texas weather. We welcomed spring this year with record snowfall. Friday March 20, it was close to 80 degrees. March 21, I was working late in my studio & around 11:30 pm decided to call it a day and let the dog out (it had been raining earlier) front one last time before going to bed. Imagine my surprise to see approximately 2 inches of snow on the ground. There wasn't any on the street, but I wasn't too concerned as it was Saturday night & I wasn't going anywhere the next day. Well....this is what I woke up to the next morning - 10 inches of SNOW & it continued a misty snow until early afternoon. My family in Fort Worth didn't get any snow & it was sunny all day on Sunday. Monday our highs were again close to 70, so the snow went away fast. It was pretty, though.
Tiles
I'm participating in a tile swap on one of my online groups. The criteria is to create 2 x 2 tiles, swapping out 8 of each set (2 sets) & receive back 16 tiles, plus the two you created to keep yourself. It's really not as confusing as that sounds. I used polymer clay for my tiles (big surprise). One set has a foil & chalk ink technique for the background & the other set uses alcohol inks. I'm rather pleased with how these turned out & I'm looking forward to receiving my swap tiles back. I've seen pictures of most of them & they are all fabulous - this is going to be a great swap. Thanks, Nancy for hosting.