In the final stretch...

For the two bathrooms at least.  After my last post, I found a guy to tape, float and texture the walls of both bathrooms.  I learned a long time ago that mudding isn't hard, it's just hard to make it look good.

I also finished tiling the tub. Using spacers, tiling is pretty easy.  My kids even did some of it.











We grouted with a medium gray grout instead of the usual white.  I think it makes it look more interesting and also a little retro. 
The kids also helped with the grout.

Sticking with the gray and white theme we added gray penny tile with a marble bottom tray to the niche.

At this point I was really focused on finishing everything necessary to get the plumbers back to install all the fixtures.  The big deficiency at this point was the floor.  I had several worries about the floor.  In the old full bath, there was vinyl floor that we pulled up.  However, the backing of the vinyl was still on the concrete.  I used an oscillating tool with a scraper bit to get more of it up.  After several hours of scraping, I finally decided it was good enough 

In the half bath, there were trenches where the plumbers had jackhammered the floor to add drain pipes (see picture above).  These definitely need to be leveled.  Instead of just trying to fill those trenches evenly I decided to just pour leveling cement over the entire room.  That involved mopping all the texturing mud that fell on the floor and then rolling on primer to get the floor ready to receive the cement.  Then it was time for the leveling cement.  This stuff dries really fast; it starts to set up within 5 minutes, so you have to work quickly.  This room took 1 1/2 bags of concrete which meant two rounds of mixing for two minutes each.  I dumped it and spread as fast as I could before mixing the second batch and dumping again.  My helper was responsible for running outside to wash the tools and bucket before the cement set up.  It didn't take long but it was a little stressful.  The final product was pretty level although I have to say, not as level as I expected.  There were ridges where the mixture contained more cement and less water than other parts.

I chose a sand colored 12 x 24 inch tile with striations (lines).  I tried out a new tiling system that is supposed to help with keeping the height of the tiles the same.  That tends to be my biggest problem when using larger tile like this.  The system uses spacers that have a piece that sticks up between each set of tiles.  The part that sticks up has a hole big enough for a wedge that comes with the system.  In theory, when you insert the wedge, it forces the tops of the tiles to line up exactly.  However, in reality, that did not happen.  The pieces were hard to insert and made laying the tile more difficult.  They also made it impossible to clean up all the mortar as you went, making for a lot more scraping later.  Needless to say, I quit using the system about halfway through the room.  The part I did by hand actually came out better.  After finishing the tile, installing baseboards, mirrors and vanity, the plumber put in the toilet and the faucet.  Here it is.  (The walls are actually gray, not blue.)  Now I just need some chotchkies and artwork.


Back to the full bath.  We decided not to level the floor of the larger bathroom except filling a couple of very small spots where the jackhammering showed.  I was cleaning up the texture mud and noticed that the old vinyl seemed to be releasing when it got wet.  That definitely meant I could not tile over it or else the moisture in the cement would cause it to come off, giving the tile nothing to bond to.  Ugh, more scraping.  Nothing is more frustrating than being ready to pull the trigger on something and having to stop, back up and redo something you thought was done.  Oh well.  Once the water would not release any more of the vinyl backing, I decided to go for it.  The floor in this room is a more modern looking gray tile, also 12 x 24 inch.  The tile looks a little like pieces of concrete.  The edges are not tapered which makes it look more modern.  I didn't want this bathroom to be completely old-fashioned.  In addition to the subway tile in the tub, we had some antique pieces to use for the vanity and storage cabinet.  So the tile went in fairly easily.  The grout was just slightly darker than the tile.

Again, rushing to get things ready for the plumbers, I installed all the baseboards behind the toilet and vanity.  These are much easier to install and caulk while things are still open.  The vanity we are using is an antique buffet.  So I had to add some extra layers of polyurethane to try to protect it against water damage.  I also had to cut holes for the vessel sink and the faucet.  The plumber was reluctant to make the cuts into the furniture because it was too nice.  The funny thing is that I spend about $200 on both the vanity and the cabinet we are using for towels.  If I had bought pieces of the shelf at Lowe's, they would have cost much more.  So really it was a very cost effective decision to use these antiques.

It was so nice to get the vanity into the bath so I could start to see it put together.  Once the plumbers were done, here is what we have:

Now I just need to add shower curtain, towels, doors, trim and a few decorations.  But at least for now it is really nice to have three toilets instead of one :-)