Category: Bathroom Remodel

The frameless glass enclosure is in place and the work is finished for all intents and purposes. I still need to figure out where to place a towel bar and a ring for a hand towel and ultimately some other decorative enhancements just to really finish off the whole thing.

The shower is awesome!! It really provides an experience as good as I was imagining. The GC I used was a guy (Roberto Moreno) that was recommended to me by a realtor that I know, in fact I think he did a bathroom remodel for her as well, and I would definitely recommend him as well.

I need to put together a picture gallery with higher resolution pictures and I will include a link to Roberto as well.

Frameless Glass

   

Not that I’m really borrowing from first Genesis, Chapter 1, Verse 3….but I now have a mirror and lights in the bathroom. Another step closer.

Not much else to really say other than the LED lights give off almost as much light as I was expecting and the mirror is almost as big as i desired. I still like the look of it all though…or maybe I’m just really weary of the entire remodel process and ready to use my bathroom again.

I think when everything is finally in, with additional decorative elements, I will be pleased.

Mirrors And Lights

   

And then there was granite……

The granite arrived and went in fairly smoothly. We had to ream out one of the holes so that the faucet would fit but that’s a really simple fix…..go up one size in stone coring bit. It was interesting to see how the piece was fit onto the vanity since the granite guys had to grind away some of the material underneath that affixes the sink bowl onto the granite. I can’t adequately describe the nature of this material other than it has the hardness of stone or dried epoxy but look like epoxy. Regardless, it is how an under-mount sink is attached to the granite and had to have some material removed so that everything would fit within the recesses of the vanity structure.

The choice of Sienna Bordeaux granite was a process of walking around the stone shop, Blue Label Granite, with a piece of marble used in the shower and a piece of floor tile and seeing what colors seemed to blend well. I don’t know how precise that process is but I think having a collection of 5″ by 5″ granite samples would have been less useful. A large slab of Sienna Bordeaux seemed to draw my attention from across the shop and everything else became a distant second choice. Blue Label Granite, by the way, is a shop run by 2 ladies who were recommended to me by a cabinet shop and the experience couldn’t have been better. I will definitely be recommending them.

Now things are really starting to take shape….

Vanity….meet Granite

   

   

So let’s talk about agreeable gray…..and why it’s now adorning the walls of my master bath. First, to frame this discussion, I have to relate the experience of visiting a lot of model homes over the summer, as I was gearing up for this remodel, and finding that gray is this year’s “it” color. I had declared that I would not be using gray, ever, in my own home but I have to now confess that may have been an aversion to “me too”-ness!!

The existing color in my house is something between sand and beige but let’s not kid ourselves about the generic blandness of beige. It’s a pleasant enough background for the palette of colors my home presently sports but I really wanted something new and different. After ridding myself of a “gray” prejudice that I could’t really rationalize, I went with “agreeable gray” because it really does appear to work well with the new color palette of the bath.

Granted, some of the colors, like the granite countertop, are not here yet and only exist in photos or in my head, I really think this will work well.

My walls are painted agreeable gray with white ceilings. The last of the shower trim is in place. The Habana Cherry vanity is now installed and will be mated to its granite countertop on Monday. The baseboard trim, as well as the framed mirror, sconce lights, and electrical plugs will all be installed on Monday as well. That will only leave the frameless glass for the middle of the week.

The Gray Is Agreeable

   

   

Getting down to the final body of work. A lot of the sheetrock from behind the old vanity was damaged and needed to be replaced….plus the adjustment of things like electrical plugs and mounting areas for light fixtures. Putting in new sheetrock and taping and floating is something I was familiar with but I had never seen the application of texture before. There’s a little artistry to it….like a painter. You could think of it as a lumpy fresco that is all one color.

There is some additional plumbing that needs to be adjusted since I’m moving from a vanity with 2 sinks to a vanity with 1. Pipes and such will be consolidated and some additional sheetrock work will follow. I still think I will end the week with painting complete and new baseboard in as well.

The shower fixture trim is starting to go in as well. That will be a real moment to see how well I have done with fixture selection. Will this new shower look as good in reality as it did in my head when I dreamed it up.

Sheetrock, Texture, and Trim