Category: Main Bathroom

Puttin’ On My Painting Clothes

Published on by Our Humble Abode17 Comments

Welp, over the last four days I did a lot of prep and painting.   Thought it may not look like I did.  You know, the main bathroom is deceptively large and then factor in the trim detail I had to work with.  It took most of my weekend, but we’re one step closer to a finished bathroom.  Last weekend, Ben installed most of the trim.  He finished up on Tuesday, installing the cap and details around the vanity.  I spent a few hours filling nail holes and caulking the seams on Wednesday.  After that, I packed up the boys and we took a trip to the lumber yard to search for the perfect crown molding.  Five samples came home with me, but I had a clear favorite.  That one, at the top of the pile.

Ben agreed, and it was the second cheapest option.  Hooray!  Thursday I sanded everything and started priming.  Then on Friday I put on the first coat of white paint.  After our home-made waffle breakfast, our little family made another trip to the lumber yard to buy our crown molding to finish off the bathroom.  Ben installed it once we got home.  Of course that gave me more nail holes to fill and seams to caulk, but the end was in sight.  While letting the caulk dry, I put a second coat of white on the lower half.  Bright and early on Sunday morning, I sanded the crown and gave it a quick, heavy coat of white.  Luckily, one coat covered the crown completely, so I let that dry and worked on the entertainment center.  (More on that project soon!)  Then I taped off the white trim to give the walls and ceiling a second coat of gray.  And so I did.  Because I worked my butt off to get this all done, I thought it be best to tell you every detail of the process so you feel like you’ve painted with me.  Haha.  I told you all of that to show you this; our (almost) finished bathroom.

While I’m biased, I’m completely in love.  And it’s nice to see the trim one color.  So much whiter and brighter.

We’ve got a few little things to do, like build faux drawers for the vanity, paint the door (which means the rest of the doors in the house will get painted as well-I think I’ve landed on a color), and spray paint the fan cover.

The rest is d.o.n.e.  As I mentioned, Ben and I had a few disagreements about trim placement.  Lucky for me, he agreed to add 1/4 inch detail trim around the side of the linen closet.

The rest of the room has a decorative trim (which also functions to hide the peeled sheet rock).

The same trim wraps around the vanity acting as a back splash.

Details make me happy.  While this trim is simple, I think it works well with the modern meets traditional aesthetic we’re going for.

Simple square door casement with a touch of detail.

And let’s talk about the crown.  We had the option to use traditional crown, similar to what is in the rest of the house, like this for 55 and 75 cents per linear foot.

But it all felt too formal and traditional.  Instead, we landed on a door casement with a slightly detailed, but still clean lined profile.  For us, this works.  We used casement as crown in our first house with great results.  And, this trim is only 45 cents a linear foot.  At that price, for our 8 foot square bathroom, the crown cost only $11.25.

Big impact for little money.  And the casement is easier to work with that true crown.

What do you think of our almost finished bathroom?  Did you work all weekend?  Or did you take some time to relax?  I’m off to work on the entertainment center now.

Nailed It

Published on by Our Humble Abode9 Comments

Well, almost nailed it.  Guess what?  We’re thisclose to finishing the main bathroom.  Over the weekend, Ben put up most of the trim.  Then he ran out.  Of course I couldn’t wait, so I filled holes and caulked all the seams I could.  It’s looking a little rough, but we’re getting there.

But nothing is ever simple with us.  That plan we had talked about a few months ago must have been forgotten, thus causing an argument or two.  First off, the door trim.  Ben cut a piece of the casement for the top, but it looked wimpy, and I insisted suggested he beef it up to five inches.  (That’s what she said.)

While annoyed, he must have agreed because he didn’t protest.  The toilet nook (doesn’t that sound cozy) was easy to agree on.

However, the vanity area had many issues.  For starters, Ben forgot that I wanted false drawers on the front of the vanity.  Sure, we could cover it with a flat piece, but I think it needs some more character and bling.  Good grief, I want to use pretty drawer pulls.

Until Ben decides he wants to work on that, we’ve still got this going on.

He cut a piece of trim to go along the side of the counter top, and I’m just not feeling it.  Just too bulky.

And I really don’t like the way the end looks against the linen closet.

Most likely we’ll add 1/4 inch thick by 3 inch wide trim instead to make a border around the closet end.  Because the walls aren’t perfectly straight, we’ve got a gap to fill at the back of the closet.

Basically, the visible side of the linen closet will have shaker style details similar to the kitchen cabinets we built for our first house.  And faux drawers to match, please.  Then we still have to cut thin strips to cap off the chair rail.

To cap it off, we’ll add crown molding, which I still have to find.  Something simple with a little bit of detail would be great.

Gotta sand down the filled areas to get ready for priming and painting.  Perhaps between scraping wallpaper off I’ll find some time.

I know Ben gets annoyed, but I’m fairly certain he likes the results, despite my uncanny ability to request changes.  Hey, I have a vision and I’m not good at compromising.  Haha.

What differences do you and your spouse have about projects?  Did you get a project almost done over the weekend?

The Sky Is Falling

Published on by Our Humble Abode23 Comments

Wow, it’s crazy how much we can get done on the house now without the roof demanding so much attention.  We’re currently between big projects, having just finished the roof and waiting for our windows to arrive.  Which gave Ben some time to tackle a few, slightly smaller projects, including installing the Sky Tube in the bathroom.

After some debating from everyone (you included!) we landed on centering it over the tub width wise, and centered over the shower curtain depth wise.  Ben started by tracing and cutting most of the outline of the light.  Before cutting it completely through, dumping a pile of insulation on our heads, be climbed up in the attic and moved the offending insulation.  From there, Sam cut the rest of the sheet rock left, and installed the bottom glass part of the light, screwing it into the joists above.

Ben attached the flexible duct work to the cover he had already installed while roofing and we were ready to rock.  And on an overcast, rainy day, this bathroom saw its first shred of natural light in existence.

Monumental, right?  Haha.

When the clouds parted and the sun popped out, our bathroom lit up, too.

Of course I had to hop in the shower to see what it was like with the curtain closed.  Look at all that light, without any electricity.

Ben was right, I’m glad we decided to center it over the tub.

Not only does the sky tube give great light to the tub area, but the rest of the bathroom as well.  The vanity area is light and bright.

Trust me when I say the change is dramatic.  Actually, why don’t you take a look at the before and after:

Light, bright, airy, and not at all yellow toned.  Ahh, I see the light.

How was your weekend?  Did you spend some time crossing things off the honey do list?  Or relax knowing fall is around the corner?

Finding Our Center

Published on by Our Humble Abode42 Comments

While the boys and I relaxed, played, ate, and shopped, Ben was still working his butt off at/on our house.  In fact, he finished the shingling on the house roof, with only the pool roof left.  While he was up there, he started determining the placement of the Sky Tube.  If you’re not familiar with a Sky Tube, it’s a small, round sky light, similarly installed like a vent.  Ben installed one in the windowless main bathroom at our first house and we loved how much brighter it made the room.

The main bathroom in the Mountain house is windowless, and very dark.  As fate would have it, Ben was looking at Craigslist for insulation and found a 14 inch wide, brand spanking new in the box Sky Tube.

But, let’s go back to our recent Sky Tube conversation.  First, take a look at the bathroom as it now stands.

Before leaving for Minnesota, Ben and I discussed the placement of the Sky Tube.  I thought centering it on the 8 foot by 8 foot room would spread the light around the best, like this:

He agreed and that was settled, right?  Wrong.  While away, Ben installed the roof part of the Sky Tube, and decided he preferred it centered on the bath tub, like it was at our first house, which would look like this:

And like this from the door:

Either placement is fine with what Ben has already done on the roof.  The flexible duct work can move to either place.  I see where he’s coming from, because when centered on the room, the Sky Tube doesn’t look centered on anything. With the shower curtain closed, the shower is slightly darker than I’d like.  And it would be nice to have the additional natural light in there, so maybe centering it over the shower is the best placement?

Really, the placement is only a few feet apart, so it’s not the biggest deal.  But I’m wondering, which do you prefer?  Centered on the room? Or over the bath tub?

Other than a small hole to mark the location for Ben to find in the attic, we haven’t done anything in the bathroom for it yet.

So that’s the latest debate.  What have you been debating over recently?  Which rug to buy?  Where to hang something?  Let’s share so everyone can vent and feel better.

Un Homme & Une Femme

Published on by Our Humble Abode30 Comments

As I mentioned yesterday, the main bathroom isn’t finished, but that’s not stopping me from working on finishing touches.  I could resist making art for the back wall.  A large piece of art at that.  For bathrooms, I try to stay away from anything with eyes, because that just seems creepy to me.  Who wants to feel watched while doing your private business anyway?  So, I thought up bathroom appropriate art, but nothing felt perfect.  I didn’t want anything frilly.  Nothing too fancy.  Nothing to compete with the patterned shower curtain.  But something bold, simple, and most importantly, fun.  Then, it came to me.  Why not make an over sized version of the classic man/woman signs to mark commercial bathrooms?  It’s bold.  It’s simple.  It’s fun.  And bonus, it was easy to make. 

 

I started with a 2 foot by 3 foot frame I had sitting in the basement.  For my background, I painted a large piece of paper I had on hand navy blue.  An internet search gave me photos of the signs, so I made a design in Photoshop, printed it to plain paper, and used the designs as a template.  Then, I cut a man and a woman from card stock.  A few piece of rolled tape on the back held my people in place.  Popping it in the frame instantly made it look more chic and cheeky than the standard bathroom sign.

It certainly adds a dose of fun to the bathroom.  Best of all, it cost me under five bucks for materials!

Would it be too much to hang one of each of these vases over the toilet?

In other breaking bathroom news, Ben grouted the shower.  Crisp white grout is nice to see.  Once we, ah hem, Ben installs the faucet set, we can shower in here.  Yippee skippy. 

One of these days, I should wash that mirror.

So there ya have it, cheap, funny, eyeless bathroom art.  What do you think?  Too commercial feeling?  Just the right amount of kitsch to add personality to the space?  What do you have on your bathroom walls?