GROUTED Tub Surround!! DONE!!

Well, we FINALLY grouted the tub surround  :)  We used Spectralock and let me just say...you've gotta work pretty quickly when you use that stuff.  It's an epoxy grout...never needs to be sealed..resists stains, mold & mildew...so hopefully it was worth it.  It wasn't cheap either...I think we spent $100 on grout alone!!

I had to have Kade do the "up high" parts again...he's so lucky that he's tall  :)

Here I am cleaning up the grout haze before it's too late.

DONE!!  Now I've just got to paint around the top and caulk the edges & corners!!

Wow, I am so glad that we've got that done! (and I'm so glad that I decided I wanted hardwood floor int he bathroom with my clawfoot tub, lol!!)

Something We've Been Waiting For

FLOORING!!!  Well...why is it that NOTHING can go as planned??  We gave the delivery company 4 out of 5 days that they COULD deliver the flooring...and they wanted to do it on the ONE day that we weren't available. UGH!!  SO....Harmans to the rescue again!!  Mike and I went to Litchfield this afternoon and picked up the flooring at the delivery company's building.  To top it off....the guys all came after work and helped carry all of the flooring into the house....So...a special thanks to Mike, Mark, Jeffie and Johnny Harman and Al Dugan!!  With the 5 of them and Kade they got it moved in in no time at all!

There's Mike out there giving the guy some instruction.

 Mike lending a helping hand

Jeffie

The Home Depot delivery guy....

wait....what's he doing here??

Oh wait...that's just Mark, lol.

He's way better than any Home Depot delivery guy :)

SOME of the new floor.  We had 72 boxes total...

at 70lbs per box.  And the best part, I didn't even have to carry one of them  :)

I had to open a box just to get a look at what we've got...oh man...I LOVE IT!

Look at the gorgeous antique look.  Can't wait till it's installed!

After the guys left Kade and I got busy and we got the Ditra installed as promised :)  It went in a lot easier than I thought it would.

 

And we got to install the final bullnose tiles with the mortar we used laying the Ditra!

FINALLY....THE TUB SURROUND IS TILED!!

Now I'm going to start worrying about the grout, ha ha!

MORE Tub Surround

Seriously...we thought we'd get to finish the tub surround today...but no such luck.  We were SOOOOO close though.  I got the tiles all cleaned up though...got the extra mortar out from in between, etc.  What a mess I made!

Look at how serious I am, lol.  Very determined.

The ALMOST finished product.

Seriously....3 Bullnose tiles short....so we didn't put the rest of it up.  We'll make ANOTHER trip to Lowes for tile and then get it finished up when we have everything we need.  Who figured up our supplies list??  I don't THINK it was me  ;)

More Tub Surround

We worked some more on the tub surround today.  Why is this taking so long??  Are we the slowest tilers EVER??  (I'm thinking the answer to that is YES!)

 

I had to have Kade help me with the "up high" areas...my arms were already tired, plus I can barely reach that high, lol.  I'm not even short...so maybe we made it too tall?

Look, I do exist...and I do actually work!

Had to have Kade snap a pic today as he was sitting in the hallway waiting on me to tell him what I needed.

Still not done...but close...It got a little too late so we decided to save the last wall for another day.

Here's a little closeup of the pattern...what you can't tell is that the dark tile is actually brown glass.  I just LOVE how this is turning out!

Tiled Tub Surround...the beginning

Started the tub surround today!  Talk about nerve wracking...lol...why do I let everything stress me out soooo badly??  I guess it's because I just don't want to screw it up.  I think it looks pretty good so far.  This is the first tub surround that I've tiled, so it's a new experience for me.  I did do the backsplash in our current kitchen though...I guess it's KIND of similar...just a whole lot smaller!!

 Had to stop at this point because I really felt like the mortar was a bit dry.  I'll work on it some more tomorrow when we've got more time.  I think I might be able to handle this  :)

More RedGard

Today I finished the RedGard for the tub surround (that means we're THAT much closer to tiling, yikes!)  I'm not gonna lie...the stuff is kinda stinky...but it's not terrible bad.

1st REAL coat at full strength...

After it dried...RED

 

I actually did 3 coats at full strenght...I figured if 2 was good, then 3 was better, lol.  Hopefully that is true with RedGard.  I just didn't feel like the coating was as thick as it should be.  I applied the full strength coats with a 3/4" nap roller.  While all this was drying I decided it was time to cut the whole in the old dresser for the sink.

 

That looks just right!  I left a pretty good edge to support the sink bowl...didn't want to take any chances.  Now I've just got to fix where the old finish is all gummed up where the old mirror was.  Mabye later  :)

The Little Things

Are we done yet??  Ha!  NOT EVEN CLOSE!  At least we're not looking at stud walls with wiring & unfinished plumbing hanging out!! On Wednesday we drove over to STL and went to Lumber Liquidators to pick up the tongue & groove pine for the sunroom and the stairway walls.  Today it was a little bit cooler so I decided I'd better get the closet lights out and painted while I could still breathe, lol.  I found these lights on ebay for about $8 each after shipping...I thought they were so cute and went well with the traditional/vintage style that we have.  I got such a good deal because they are SHINY brass, lol.  I picked up some Rustoleum Metallic paint & primer in one spray paint in Oil Rubbed Bronze (that's what the rest of our fixtures are)

Minus the color I think they'll be cute!

layed them all out on some cardboard...

Wow....that IS shiny, lol...

MUCH BETTER!!  I'll have to take a pic when we get them put up!

I also laid out the pattern for the tub surround.  3x6 white subway tile w/2 stripes of brown glass....LOVE IT!

I think we've got the right height and everything...the idea of tiling is making me so nervous!

HardiBacker

We finally got around to getting the tile backer up today.  It's so dark in a bathroom with no windows or electricity, lol.  Anyway...we had to have this done for the drywall finisher who's coming in the morning so he can finish around the edges.

This stuff is kinda hard on the drill batteries...we went through 2 batteries just on this little area.

It was soooo hot in there...the air was just DEAD!

I think Kade is actually sweating through his shirt there!

DONE!!  Ready for drywall finishing!!  WOO-HOO!!

Now I have to worry about tiling a tub surround...haven't done that one before!