Fun with shower floors

So when the guy at the tile showroom says to just have your contractor cut it up in 3x3 pieces and you'll have a perfect match! And then you tell that to the contractor and he says "uh, it'll look horrible if I try to put little tiles down; they usually come with a web backing so everything is all spaced out evenly!".

Well, not wanting to go back to square one and pick another small tile for the shower floor, wait for that to come in... We had him cut it up into 3x3. Actually he did 4x4 by mistake and we had him change it to 2x2 (which I think is nicer anyway). Then we researched how to make our own mosaic tile work. We found the mesh and glue at a mosaic shop in Oakland and ran over there on Saturday and picked it up. Ed spent Sunday morning polishing the edges up on the 2x2's and I spent the afternoon glueing them to the mesh, using little spacers. Amazingly, it worked perfectly! This morning they were nearly dry at 5:30 when I got up. Ed flipped them and they were all dry by 8:30 when the workers arrived. I just checked and they have laid them down already. No complaints so I guess it worked!

Tile going in

Well, it took about 3 days for the drywall to dry out (Friday, Saturday, Sunday). Then we went on vacation and they started tiling while we were gone. The floor is fully tiled (not yet grouted) although covered with brown paper to protect it while they work on the rest. This is the shower area. Still deciding on paint colors as you can see by the little samples on the side. I'm thinking now lighter than any of these.

Trim is also up around the windows, doors, and ceiling (crown molding).

Walls continued...

Work on the drywall continued yesterday. That yellow wire is for the medicine cabinet which will have a plug inside for the electric razors and toothbrushes so they don't have to sit on the sink.

Fixtures

We have a nice collection of TOTO boxes. And a lot of dust!



These faucets come in a navy blue velvet bag. Odd packaging for a faucet!

Tile arrived

The tile is down sitting in the foyer. This Azul Palomar limestone is for the floor. 12x12 - we wanted 18x18 or 12x18 but couldn't find that size. It looks lighter here due to the camera flash. The stone sealer will also make it darker (dark floors good for hiding dark hairs!)

The walls around the tub area and shower will be Glacier White marble. These are 12x18. Hard to tell from the pic, but it has warmish brown/grey veining in it.

Walls!

Walls! We have walls! I think tomorrow we might get tile!

New meter

We had a cute little door on the side of the house about 2 feet off the ground. Code requires them now to be between 4 and 6 feet. Can't have those PG&E workers leaning over now can we? Unfortunately, the whole electrical system required ugliness to the outside. Our contractor thinks we can put a small piece of white painted wood over the pipe after the inspection. That'll make it look a little better.

New windows

I'll take a picture of the 2 new bathroom windows from the inside once my daughter comes home with my little camera. We had them both replaced with 2 that are the same size. This meant getting new redwood for the siding between the new windows since we had a new 8 inch gap to fill. Ed found some... or actually had it made.... in Healdsburg (Sonoma county)... So i trekked up there last week in my Prius. 8 foot boards fit nicely in a Prius! Good thing too that I took that car - traffic was horrible (Friday to the wine country in the summer- who'd have thought?!?)

Electrical junction box and new main are in between the windows... No where else to go - city code requires it travel no more than 30 feet on the interior before reaching the main panel.

New electrical box

So inside, behind that new meter on the outside, we had to put the electrical box in the funky speakeasy bar room (called the "Caberet Room" on the realtor's marketing fluff). We'll have to put something over/around this when we get around to fixing this room up. (I gotta keep that wallpaper though! martinis!) I wish there was a better spot like leaving it in the wine cellar where the old one was, but the ceiling is lower in the other part of the basement and by code the box must be in a room where the ceilnig is 6'6" (I guess to accomodate tall electricians ?!).

Scaffolding

New electrical meter and tube go up the side of the house unfortunately. No undergrounding yet in our neighborhood. The wire goes from the pole across the street into this side of the house now. This was really the only place it could go because of all the trim on the house. Even so, the trim had to be snipped a bit to accommodate this tube. We'll have it painted so it'll blend in a little more.