Day 14 and 15: Bathroom Remodel

After working 13 days in a row, Rick finally was so sick of working on the bathroom that we took Tuesday off.  We both needed a day to pay attention to the rest of the house, to put gasoline in the car, and to restock the refrigerator with a few edibles before our meals disintegrated into sliced apples and yogurt.

The window once again has a frame on all four sides.

However, by Wednesday Rick was back at the walls, mudding the joints, building up the sloped wall above the closet door frame, and carefully reconstructing the frame around the window.  He added a board below it were the plaster and tile sill had been, and then added drywall on top of the board.  Eventually, the whole thing will have mud over everything.

Wednesday was a day of mudding, waiting for the mud to dry, and then sanding before more mudding, waiting for the mud to dry, and then sanding... you get the picture.  We wanted to get the walls as complete as we could before the decorator, Sarah, came to see us on Thursday.

We also made runs to Home Depot and to the paint store to pick up the primer for our project.

Today (Thursday) we started with a final small sanding job before breaking out the primer to seal the walls.  This primer got sucked into the walls like a traveler downing a cold beer after walking across a desert.  We think that the primer will be good because when we were finished with the first coat, we had a devil of a time washing it off our hands (or knees, as the case was).  This stuff was not about to be TOO water-soluble!  We will add a second coat tomorrow just to make sure that the walls really are sealed against moisture.

Sarah came right on time. She measured our space, listened to what we wanted, and probably thought we were nuts. She generally picks out the lights, sink, counter top, faucets and fixtures, paint colors, component placement, and tiles.  In this case, we already have purchased the light, sink, counter top, faucet and fixtures, and even the paint color.  All she has to do is figure out the tile and coordinate that part of the job.

She gave us some good ideas about where to put the towel bar, how to configure an alcove in the shower, and what to do with the light and mirror.  We took our 24" towel bar back to Home Depot this afternoon since we now need an 18" bar to hang above the toilet.  Rick ordered the new bar before we took the old bar back.  We also decided on a small robe hook for our guests.

A drywall sample shows how our paint choice
will coordinate with our bright teal towels.

While we were out this afternoon, we picked up a gallon of our new paint color.  We have decided to go with bright teal towels (think Key West) and to paint the walls a very light color called, appropriately enough, Barely Teal.

Rick works on the closet corner.  The
primed wall behind him shows how the
new, smooth walls will bring the room
into this century.

The primed ceiling clearly shows where the old
soffit once covered that area of the ceiling and wall.

Late this afternoon Rick mudded and added a corner to the small wall next to the closet door.  He did not do that earlier because we wanted to ask Sarah what she thought would look best.  She suggested bull-nose tile just to the edge of that wall, so Rick had to fill in and build up that corner.
Sarah said she would call us tomorrow if she had time to find tiles that might work to finish our plan. We probably will meet with her on Monday. I'm excited to see what she chooses, but not so excited to learn what all of this will cost us.

At this point, I don't know that either of us really cares.  We are ready to pass this job on to someone else to get the room completed. I am sure this weekend will entail a little more mudding and sanding, more primer, and a couple of coats of paint.  The ceiling should be finished by the end of the weekend, and I suspect that the rest of the walls that we can finish also will be complete by Sunday evening.