Master Bath Reno - update: essentially the end! (Finally)

[k3am]

I just got into the office after letting the contractors in to start demo. I’m super excited.

Our current bathroom.. there isn’t much we can do to the layout, so it will be staying mostly the same.





Our finishing materials. The accent tile doesn’t photograph well.. it’s kind of like a blue tiger’s eye. And the hutch color is not quite as yellow as this pic makes it look.



Medicine cabinet (Robern) and lights



The shower will probably have a bump out, roughly designed below. I’m debating whether we try to run storage down the right hand side so shower items can be out of sight. It would not be symmetrical, since we can’t run shelves on the left side.



I don’t have pics of the shower or sink fixtures yet. And we still need to decide on a countertop.

[sandandsea]

Love your choice and can’t wait to see the finished result! It will be so much brighter and happier!

[mrsukyankee]

Exciting!!!

[Mrs.flang]

I love the vanity!

I like the idea of extra shelving in the shower. We had 2 little shelves put in one corner in addition to the carve out and we really need it for all our stuff. The bottom one I use more as a ledge for shaving my legs than for actual storage!

[k3am]

Demo is in full swing and should be done tomorrow.



And as a bummer, the shower bump outs (where the decorative tile is in their design) isn’t an option since there is some HVAC stuff running through there... (I had brought up during discussions that I didn’t think they randomly made the shower smaller for no reason, but I’m avoiding saying “told you so”). So now we’re back to redesigning our shower.

I like both options below, but not sure if it’s “too much” to do both, and if it is, which I prefer.








ETA: if we did the wrap around tile in the first example, I wouldn’t have the niche under the shower side, I’d do the decorative tile on the back wall and the niche on the far wall opposite the shower head.

[Mrs.flang]

I like the first of the two options. I feel like the border pieces you would need in the second one take away too much from the accent tile.

[sandandsea]

I like the second option optically but it seems harder to clean and introduces a third tile potentially.

[dr.girlfriend]

Yay! And hopefully it's not rude now to say I'm really glad you're not going with that blue-and-amber tile your husband liked earlier! :-D

[k3am]

We had the post demo walk through with the designer and the contractor.

Our options are the top one and we run the line around the whole showerand have one big niche on the righthand side (across from the shower head), or we do the vertical niches (2nd pic), but they can't be on the side with the shower controls (same issues as the cut outs they had original planned), so the only option would be to center the secondary shower bar on the back wall and do the vertical niches on either side of it. I feel like at that point, we're show casing our shampoos vs. having it be a visual feature, so I think we'll end up with the top option. I am wondering if it's weird/worth it to have them build out a smaller niche to the left of the shower controls in the white tile in order to have a place to hang toothbrushes and have them out of sight. (FFFC? We brush teeth in the shower.)

The designer suggested bringing in the floor tile (wood finish) rather than the white tile to frame out the niche, but I'm not sure. I'll have to see what that looks like.

The lead contractor on the job is new to the company.. he's been there a whopping 3 weeks. It's obvious that he hasn't worked with the designer before, but he seems to know what he's doing. I get the feeling that we'll be the first project he's managing with them, so hopefully we have a good experience.

[k3am]

Oct 25, 2019 12:36:13 GMT -5 dr.girlfriend said:

Yay! And hopefully it's not rude now to say I'm really glad you're not going with that blue-and-amber tile your husband liked earlier! :-D

It was actually a really cool tile... just definitely not for our bathroom. Maybe not any bathroom. It might be cool in a pool surround? I actually have no idea of interior place that it would get two thumbs up from me.

We hunted it down in the store and once he held it up to the cabinets for a frame of reference, I didn't even have to say anything. 

[k3am]

Our medicine cabinets arrived, both of them shattered. I didn’t even bother fully unboxing. Thanks UPS.

They are also MUCH larger than expected, so we have to adjust electrical for the lights over them. I had the designer confirm before I ordered and she said they were fine, but apparently 39 inches is... 39 inches. They’re big.

They’re going to start hot mopping shortly. And sadly, we get to be present for it since DS got sent home from daycare with a fever.

But progress.

Also change orders. None of the existing lighting is up to code, the closet doors we picked out are more expensive than originally included in the bid (we are swapping out closets in 4 rooms), and to add in the radiant flooring. So far we’re just under $50k all in now.

The prior home owners did one thing I really liked... Unlike all our prior projects, I’m trying to do a good job on documenting what we’re doing/paying for/ where things are sourced, etc. Not really sure what benefit I’ll get out of, other than knowing exactly how much we spend.

[k3am]

Fun news, the medicine cabinets are back ordered. Wayfair says we’ll either get them in a few days, 12/17, or never. They’re supposed to frame them out tomorrow... Ugh.

[aprilsails]

Oh no! I’d also be concerned that they could shatter again in transit. Are there any other medicine cabinets that you could use? I’m so sorry you are having this issue.

Yeah change orders are not fun. Sorry!

[k3am]

I think we’re two weeks in. They couldn’t do the wrap around niche in the shower exactly like our inspiration pic, so hopefully it doesn’t look too weird. They also suggested making the niche super tall since we are Costco shampoo people. We’re definitely function over optics in that aspect.





The medicine cabinets are HUGE:



I still need to design/order my closet organizer and pick out drawer pulls and/or knobs and figure out where we can to hand the hand towels.. DH votes where they were (kind of randomly placed on walls and not conveniently located near the sinks - we previously had that huge mirror and limited options) and I’m currently thinking we have them mounted on the sides of the hutch in between the sinks.

Next week should be vanity installation and tile work. They’re also going to start tiling the kitchen - hopefully that’s only a day or two project. 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻

[k3am]

Apparently the deco tile we chose for the run around the shower and to line the niche is giving the tile guys issues. The tiles are 12x12 and the run/ niche is 14” tall. When they cut a two inch piece, the small tiles aren’t staying straight, are popping off the mesh, etc, so they don’t think they’ll be able to get a smooth lay without having obvious grout lines.

Our “solution” is to run 1” of floor tile along the top and bottom, something like this:



I’m really worried it’s going to look really weird.

[Mrs.flang]

This seems too obvious, but they can't just cut the tiles to 7" to have two bigger pieces that won't fall apart?

The pic you posted is kind of different/unusual, but I think the wood looks cool!

[k3am]

Nov 14, 2019 10:07:14 GMT -5 Mrs.flang said:

This seems too obvious, but they can't just cut the tiles to 7" to have two bigger pieces that won't fall apart?

The pic you posted is kind of different/unusual, but I think the wood looks cool!

No clue. Apparently what we thought was a solution won't work either. 

DH is meeting with the designer in a bit to figure out what the actual issue is and what our actual options are. I chose not to be there since I feel like my big mouth might say something that doesn't help the situation. 

[sandandsea]

Nov 14, 2019 10:07:14 GMT -5 Mrs.flang said:

This seems too obvious, but they can't just cut the tiles to 7" to have two bigger pieces that won't fall apart?

The pic you posted is kind of different/unusual, but I think the wood looks cool!

I agree with this.

[k3am]

So the answer is that the original design supposedly works now somehow. I haven't heard anything all day, so I'm assuming there aren't any issues with it.

I am hopeful that they'll at least be done with the kitchen and it will be fully reassembled when I get home today.

[k3am]

We have progress! We also have really visible seams. It’s not grouted yet, so hopefully it looks better once that happens. I’m not confident.

They also started running the floor tiles the wrong direction. Apparently the design layout they gave the guys shows it wrong.

I hate this process.

[mrsukyankee]

Grout makes everything look a lot better. I hope it works out!

[k3am]

I am very unhappy with how the deco tiles look. I’m not even sure what our options are.

[sandandsea]

Ugh. That’s super annoying. They should have known better. I hate that you have to be the one to point out the obvious.

[winecat]

I take it that your last picture is post-grout?

[dr.girlfriend]

I feel like it's the kind of thing most people wouldn't notice, but unfortunately you'll notice it every time. Can you even change out tiles without messing up the shower waterproofing? I would rather live with it than deal with a leaky shower, but if it's possible to change it out I would look for a mosaic that actually fits that space.
These are all 14" tall:

i1.adis.ws/i/flooranddecor/100572155_gables-plateau-white-bardiglio-marble-mosaic_main?w=620&h=620&img404=404&v=1

[k3am]

winecat - yes, the pics are post grout.

There are a couple seams that are perfect, so clearly, the tile can work.

The designer and owner are blaming it on the tiler. I don’t care whose fault it was, I just want to know how they’re going to fix it and what our options are. And I don’t want to pay for fixing it. They’re still stuck on the “what went wrong” portion of the drama.

We’re meeting with them Monday and hopefully can figure out something.

[winecat]

k3am- It's hard to tell from the pictures but it looks like you can still see some of the "north/south" seams which makes me think it is an installation issue? For the two inch section on the bottom, it doesn't look like they lined it up so that the pattern follows the same way all the way down.

[aspentosh]

Whoa, those seams are super obvious. I'd definitely have them fix it- at their cost. I'm sorry

[aspentosh]

Also, we did a similar idea to your strip- ours is just vertical vs horizontal. And our strip is 14" wide (and the sheets were 12x12). I know the tile is different, but the seams SHOULD disappear. 

[dr.girlfriend]

Nov 23, 2019 15:05:59 GMT -5 winecat said:

k3am- It's hard to tell from the pictures but it looks like you can still see some of the "north/south" seams which makes me think it is an installation issue? For the two inch section on the bottom, it doesn't look like they lined it up so that the pattern follows the same way all the way down.

I zoomed in and I think it’s just that there’s no straight lines on the tile themselves. Given that, I don’t think there’s any way the seam wouldn’t stand out.