TERRIBLE DECISIONS: I am Grout!

On January 1, 2022 By Luther M. SilerIn idiocyLeave a comment

It’s my dad’s birthday and we’re watching football, so it may be quiet around here. But the grout looks fantastic.

TERRIBLE DECISIONS: Shower tile!

On December 31, 2021 By Luther M. SilerIn idiocyLeave a comment

I am so Goddamn happy at how good this looks:

A good look at three of the four major design decisions we made, although you can’t see the wall color in this one. I’m ecstatic. I was not prepared for how the accent tile was going to look like a waterfall coming down from the shower mechanicals. I love it.

(We did go with the white grout. Black grout will be done tomorrow, and then all we have is to put the actual hardware in and the shower door.)

You get a llttle bit of the look of the ceiling color here, and a better look at the accent tile.

The shower niche, with a better look at the white grout and the different shelf that the tile guy recommended; I think it was the right call. God, this is gonna look so good when it’s all cleaned up and the black grout is in.

I think the grouting is the only thing that’ll happen tomorrow; I can’t believe they’re coming out on a Sunday and on New Year’s Day, but they’re gonna. I may or may not post more pictures depending on how stark the difference is.

(Possibly still one more post coming today, believe it or not.)

TERRIBLE DECISIONS: Almost there

On December 30, 2021 By Luther M. SilerIn idiocyLeave a comment

Substantial progress in the last couple of days:

A good look at the flooring, which is completely installed, and the wall color, which is a light grey. I love how this turned out. Love it.

This is the shower, which gets tiled tomorrow, and the fan/lighting sconce overhead. Nice and simple.

The niche and the bench. We’re using a different shelf than the one that’s sitting in there; it’s got holes in it for drainage and is considerably thinner.

The hardwood in the bedroom is a freaking mess, but I love that the transition pieces match the flooring. I don’t know if I should have expected this but I love it as a little detail.

And the first parts of the tile are in! This literally just happened; it was the last of the work for today as this needs to set before they can tile the rest of the shower tomorrow. The wall tiles will be a lot bigger, with an accent stripe going underneath all the shower hardware and more accent tile inside the niche. The grout here will be black; we were going to go with black everywhere but the tile guy thinks it has a good chance of bleeding into the accent tile, which is more the color of the floor, so we might go with white there.

The rest of the shower gets tiled tomorrow, and then all that’s left is trim, the toilet and bidet, the vanity, the closet, the hangers and shelving, grout, and finishing up the last details on the electric. Oh, and the shower door. That’s kind of important. I think they’re planning on working through the weekend, so we should be done Tuesday or Wednesday. I cannot wait to see what the shower looks like.

TERRIBLE DECISIONS: Drywall Edition

On December 22, 2021 By Luther M. SilerIn idiocyLeave a comment

Walls! A ceiling! Relatively boring pictures!

There’s no light in the room any more other than the spots they’ve got set up, but you get the idea. Drywall!

The shower walls are up too, and man, does it look enormous. My wife’s idea to eat the closet was absolutely the right call. There’s still going to be a bench going in here on the right side, but even once that’s in place there’s still a ton more room.

And the most important arrival of the day: the bidet is here! It’s still in a box. I could show you a picture of the box, but it’s just a cardboard shipping box. Not super exciting.

I don’t know if they’re working tomorrow yet– one guy is still here, doing something up in the attic, so I’ll ask him before he leaves– so there may not be any updates until after Christmas. If they do more tomorrow, I’ll update again, of course.

And Now: The Continuation of TERRIBLE DECISIONS

On December 21, 2021December 21, 2021 By Luther M. SilerIn idiocyLeave a comment

Compared to the staggering changes yesterday, when the whole bathroom got torn down to the studs, the progression today doesn’t seem too extensive, but they basically got a ton of stuff done that involved precise measuring and cutting. I didn’t get pictures of everything, because junction boxes and power switches and GCFI outlets aren’t really all that interesting, but here’s the shower:

The new back wall, formerly the closet, is properly studded out now and the niche is in place, along with the curb and the shower drain. The little extra bit in the niche is the middle shelf and just isn’t in place yet. This also involved a fair amount of fuckery in our utterly unacceptable crawlspace so it was a hell of a job. The last bits of tile on the floor from the flooring before the linoleum we had are also gone. There’s also a ton of new studding in other places where they wanted to augment the preexisting wood a bit. Here’s the other side of the shower:

The copper pipes at the very bottom are preexisting; the PEX pipe, the fittings, and the shower hardware are all, obviously, new.

Tomorrow, the electrical gets finished up, the rest of the shower hardware goes in place, and they’ll start putting up drywall. We’ve been told that this is the last night that we’ll have a freezing cold bedroom, which honestly is disappointing, because last night might have been the best night of sleep of my entire fucking life. There’s nothing I love more than sleeping in a cold bedroom.

Adultifying!

On April 10, 2021 By Luther M. SilerIn lifeLeave a comment

We met our contractor– the same people that did the roof– at a flooring supply place today and picked out the look for the new bathroom. On the left, vinyl flooring that will extend into the laundry room and looks like tile. On the right, the walls in the shower (12×24, nice big tiles) and, divided into little squares, also the floor for the shower. In the middle, accent tile for the shower. It’s going to run vertically from the showerhead to the handles, form the back of a niche for shampoo and such, and possibly also be a little vertical accent stripe on the bench that’s going to be in there.

We’ll go to a different place for fixtures and a custom vanity in a week and a half or so. Will there be body jets in the shower and a bidet on the toilet? Yep. There sure as hell will.

Whee!

GOD DAMN YOU FOUR TILES

On August 17, 2014 By Luther M. SilerIn idiocy1 Comment

The accent tile has got to be completely dry before I can put a tile above it, or it crushes the mesh and shoves them together.

The accent tile is not dry. It’ll take another hour before I’m comfortable.

My mortar is not going to last another hour, and I’m out of mortar. As it is 8 PM on a Sunday, I cannot acquire more mortar at this time.

Which means it’s going to take ANOTHER GODDAMN DAY TO GET MY TILE DONE.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGGHHHHHHH.

(There’s a weird optical illusion on the left side of the image, where it looks like some of the tiles are either totally the wrong size or cut in weird places. Not the case. it’s the reflection of the grout lines on the tile on the side facing the shower faucet.)

Terrible Decisions: So far so good

On July 27, 2014July 27, 2014 By Luther M. SilerIn idiocy1 Comment

The left wall is completed except for the bullnose edge, which is going to be a piece of cake, and the larger middle wall is well along its way– the gap in between it and the walls on the left and right are all tiles that have to be cut to size. We are figuring that we’ll spend the evening after the boy goes to bed cutting tiles and then we’ll actually finish the job later this week. I hung nineteen tiles today, which doesn’t sound like a lot, but shit, I’m exhausted. Bek has been trying to cut the tile, which is turning out to be hellishly complicated, and we’ve each ruined a couple of them trying to get it done right.

One more day ought to do it, though.