Bathroom Tile Bliss

So very happy with how the tile in the basement bathroom is turning out.  It's all cut and laid; just need to grout it, put up the door and closet moulding, and then our contractor will finish up with the tile trim.

I'm particularly thrilled because I'm the one who picked the tile and decided how I wanted it laid out--my husband said I could do what I wanted.   I found some 18" tile from HOBO on clearance I really liked--it had a rough texture (I avoid smooth tile on the floor because of the slipping hazard), was neutral in color, and was large so we wouldn't have a lot of grout to maintain.  I wanted them installed diagonally because I read somewhere it helps liven up small spaces.

Then, several months later I found some bullnose tile while cruising Menard's that would make great trim in the bathroom.  Bought a sample, confirmed it would coordinate with the tile we already had, and then proceeded to buy 6" tile of the same type because I liked it so much.  I screwed around with the layout and decided on a pinwheel pattern laid on the diagonal.

Because the space was so small I was worried our contractor would have trouble with the pattern but he didn't.  Day 1 he cut the tiles.  Day 2 he laid them.

The 6" tile was a particular challenge because even though I hit 3 different stores to cherry pick the tiles with the most apparent streaks I couldn't find enough so I had to buy some that were plainer.   I figured it wouldn't matter if they were under the toilet, in the closet or under the vanity so I sorted them into two piles at home, "more streaky" and "less streaky" and also left instructions for our contractor, Dan, to use the streakiest tiles in the visible area of the floor and use the others where they wouldn't be easily seen.

Too bad putting in the floor mat under the tile didn't work out as well for us.  I think I mentioned in a previous post that we had installed a floor heating mat under the tile.  Turns out we screwed up somehow and didn't realize it until the concrete leveler was put on.  The heating mat works but doesn't warm up enough.  We don't know if we put down too much leveler or something else, but it might be because we didn't insulate under the mat.  The instructions that came with the mat didn't mention insulating underneath the mat but was mentioned in some forums on the internet that I searched after we realized the mat wasn't warming the floor like we wanted.  Our electrician double-checked the electrical connection so we know it's not that.  Anyhow, I called the manufacturer's tech support and they said that performance would vary depending on the temps outside, etc. and since we didn't insulate under the mat, there might just be too much concrete to heat during a Wisconsin winter.

We suspect that even if we chose a different brand, we wouldn't see an improvement in performance so decided it wouldn't be worth the cost and hassle of tearing it all out.  Although I really like the idea of heated tile floors it's not the end of the world if we end up not using it.

I'll post again once the grout is in and the trim is on.

Teen Weirds Out Parents With Black Ceiling

Used satin instead of flat on the ceiling on
purpose to bounce light around but it doesn't help much

As promised,  here are some pix of our teenager's room and future guest room.  Yes, the ceiling is black too.    To offset the darkness of it, we used a satin paint so light would bounce rather than be absorbed and put in mirrored closet doors instead of wood.

The mirrored doors also help bounce light around 

I'm guessing you think we are crazy for painting the room black but I made a deal.  The deal was that my teen could have a black room but would have to repaint the whole room, including the ceiling, before leaving for college.  That meant the stripes had to be painted very carefully so little to no sanding would be needed later on.  It also meant I had to say no to painted stars on the ceiling.  No one wants to have to sand down and re-texture a ceiling.  If stars are necessary I believe there's some kind of fluorescent tape used backstage at theatres that we could use to get the same effect.  Forgot what it's called though.

We used leftover paint from other projects to paint the stripes

Don't give away my secret, but I kind of like the wavy stripes and how the mirrored doors distort them in the reflection.  Officially though, I'm complaining about the whole darn concept, which of course, just makes it more precious to my kid.  And when the thrill of not being able to see anything in the room, even during the day, wears off, I will not say "I told you so!"

Basement SO Close to Completion!

Yeah, we know this was a stupid
thing to do.  No one got hurt.

Bad.  Bad.  Bad.  We've been so busy on the basement remodel that I totally forgot about blogging about the work in progress.  Yes, we hired out the drywalling and general carpentry work, but there was still a lot for us to do, which I didn't expect, including my husband helping with the electrical. So far I'm really happy with what's been done and am really excited to finish this project.

Overall there weren't too many problems but a few unexpected things occurred that made me really glad we hired professionals.  One of those things was our stairwell.  I had always wondered why the outer walls in the basement had been drywalled but the stairs were 1/2 drywall and 1/2 paneling.  Didn't take long to find out why.  Turns out a support beam was placed too close to the stairs and that meant that our drywaller had to bend the wall to fit past the beam.  I really didn't think he'd be able to do it but he did and it's not even noticeable unless you know what to look for!  Yay for knowledgeable craftsmanship!

Yep, that beam is right up to the stairs-I still don't
know how our contractor got drywall in between there!

Another issue was our inability to connect a switch from the top to the bottom of the stairs.  This has not been solved to my satisfaction but for now we have a motion-sensor switch at the top of the stairs and are thinking of  a motion-sensor nightlight for the bottom of the stairs.

Currently my husband is trying to figure out what's going on with our in-floor heat in the bathroom.  It just isn't heating up adequately and we haven't been able to figure out why.  This was the big screw-up on this project.  We didn't test it before the concrete was laid over it and may end up having to take up the concrete to fix it.  Thankfully the tile hasn't been laid yet!  Makes me sick to my stomach just thinking about it!

If you look you can see the bend in the drywall
but once it was painted it was no longer noticeable

We painted the entire basement a warm white which was a really good call.  We let our teenager paint the bedroom's ceiling black which, while it looks cool, was NOT a good call.  It took three coats to look right and it sucks up all the light.  Ugh!  My kid is thrilled however. (Teens are weird.)

Fireplace framed and ready for drywall

For trim we chose Minwax's Weathered Oak, which didn't match the existing trim color but didn't clash either.  The stain brought out variable colors in the red oak trim we bought so some pieces came out reddish and some grayish.  I really do like the resulting color but it was a pain to apply when trying to get some type of standard color.  For the protective coat, we started with a paint-on poly but ended up using a wipe-on poly, which I much prefer.  It had a better finish and was super easy to work with.

Fireplace after drywall, electrical and painting

Right now we're waiting on the door we ordered to replace the broken sliding door.  Once that is in, we'll get the flooring down and the space will be usable!   We had been hoping to be done by Halloween but the outside door and bathroom flooring issues are holding us up.  Oh, and now our contractors aren't available until hunting season is finished.  (We live in Wisconsin, after all...)  So, if we finish by Christmas, I have all winter to get stuff moved down to the basement and organized.  It's all very exciting!

So, I'll try to remember to put up some pix of the finished trim and the black bedroom.  Ugh!

Doubling Our Space

It's strange-the original owners intended to
finish the basement but never installed a sump so that was one of the
first things we had to do

So, we've started remodeling our basement.   We've been pretty busy so we've hired out not only the electrical and plumbing but also the framing and drywall work.  Since we aren't doing the work ourselves, there's not much to blog about.  I will mention cabinets though.  We just need a small vanity for the bathroom but finding one turned to out be rather hard.  The local cabinet maker who did our kitchen cabinets wasn't very interested in such a small job and the stuff from Home Depot and Menard's was surprisingly limited and poor quality for the price.  I was thinking Ready-To-Assemble might be a better deal but the shipping cost for one cabinet really jacked up the cost.   I found a company that makes bamboo cabinets out in California, Laguna Bamboo, that had some really nice cabinets and they were willing to ship to Wisconsin, but in the end we ordered semi-custom instead.  I'm going to keep Laguna in mind though for when we redo our master bath...

We used rigid foam board to insulate the walls
and metal studs for all except the bathroom
since no walls will be load-bearing.

Oh, and we thought we were going to have to take the frame off the patio door to get the one-piece shower we ordered into the basement but it fit just fine.  We got a 36" wide unit so it was pretty small.  We had a hard time purchasing it though.  We found it on the Delta website, ordered it from Home Depot, found out HD couldn't order it because it was a Lowe's exclusive, and then got the run-around from Lowe's and Delta but finally got one after tons of phone calls and losing a couple of months in the process.  It's just want we wanted though so I guess it's all good.

The future bathroom is small but will have a sink,
toilet and shower stall

It might just be a gimmick but we figured we'd try
out the Platon sub-floor that put a small space between
the concrete and the sub-floor to keep it warm and dry.
If we're lucky it'll help with reducing radon as well.

We have about one or two more work days for plumbing and two for electrical.  We will be putting in electrical heat under the bathroom floor and an automatic humidity-sensing fan by the shower.  We also need to update our water heater to handle another bathroom and solve some problems with our existing water flow.  Once those are out of the way, it just drywall and flooring and finish work.  And then we'll have doubled our space!

Quartz Let Me Down

There are people who don't really use their kitchens and there are those who do.  We use ours.  So when we were remodeling our kitchen, we wanted sturdy but pretty counters that could take some abuse.   We thought quartz fit the bill but now, less than a year later, we are not impressed with how they are holding up.

In fact,  I think I liked our old laminate countertops better.  I disagree with Consumer Reports and say that my laminate counters were easier to care for than the quartz.

We all know laminate can't take heat.  Turns out quartz can't either.  A couple of weeks ago I missed a trivet while setting down a hot pan.  The pan ended up on the bare countertop.  When I finally noticed what had happened and removed the pan, I noticed a sparkly, pitted ring on the counter.  It looks like the resin that holds the quartz chips together had melted away.  With laminate, heat leaves scorch marks.  With quartz it leaves sparkles.

Around the same time I found a HUGE mystery scratch near the sink.  No explanation for that one; we don't use our counters as cutting boards.  I was really shocked at how noticeable the scratch is.  Sure, our laminate had scratches, but they weren't easy to see.

I have also recently found a chip in the bottom edge of the counter above our under-mounted sink. Now every time I do dishes I worry about possible damage to the counter.  A worry I didn't have with our laminate counters.

I'll be the first to admit we are rough on our environs but that's why we went with quartz.  We bought into the hype. We were expecting an easy care, durable surface that we wouldn't have to worry about too much.  What we got is something else entirely.

Transition Moulding...A Small Success

Wow!  What a gorgeous day today!  I am practically giddy with how mild the weather has been lately.  So giddy that every little triumph seems extra special.  I am currently quite pleased with some transition moulding we put up over the weekend.

We needed it because the pre-existing moulding throughout the house is smaller than the moulding we used in the kitchen.  Was there a reason we bought taller moulding for the kitchen?  Who knows?  I can't remember.  

Anyhow,  it would have looked weird to butt the two sizes right against each other so we needed a transition piece between the two.   The block kind they sell at the stores would be too big and wouldn't look right style-wise.  So I talked my husband into making some himself, something that would work with the plain-Jane ranch moulding but also go with our cabinet moulding, which is a bit fancier.  

Happily, we had some leftover oak moulding from a book case he made for our previous home that would be perfect.  Didn't cost us a dime and looks pretty too!  (I wouldn't be such a pack-rat if it didn't pay off as often as it does!) 

Yay!  The holidays are over!  I'm no Grinch but I am always relieved and happy when all that craziness is over!  I wanted to tell you about a project we just completed.  It didn't take long to do but it was highly satisfying to finish it because it took care of a few things about my bedroom that were bugging me, one for almost 15 years!

What did we do?  We made and installed a fabric headboard for our queen bed.  It was so easy and totally changed how the bed and bedroom looked!

No place for a bed--wall 1: bathroom door,
wall 2: patio door, wall 3: closet, wall 4: window

About 15 years ago I wanted a headboard for our bed.  Like many young couples, we just had the bed frame, which made the bed look out of place in the large bedroom we had at the time.  When we finally shopped for a headboard/footboard my husband talked me into a wood and metal number that I didn't like.  I should have stuck to my guns-that darn bed bugged me from day one!

Fast forward a decade or so when we move to our current home, where our master bedroom is small and awkward. There's really no place to put a bed.  For a few years, we tried angling the bed, which looked dramatic but offended my husband's rigid taste in furniture placement and took up a lot of room.  What to do?    Make a bed that works with the space!

Years ago, a friend of mine mentioned that she made her own fabric-and-plywood headboard and that it was easy to do.  I figured I'd give it a try.  Originally we purchased sheathing wood because the Home Depot kid told us that's what most people who make covered headboards use.  Then we saw the "contains agents known to cause cancer in the state of California" stamp on the board.  No wonder the stuff smelled awful.  Didn't want that by my face each night!  (I digress but I love California for having all those strict labeling laws...CA rocks!)

So we switched to plywood, measured the width of the bed (60" for a queen) and cut it to size.  Laid out the upholstery fabric and foam, wrapped it over the edges, and secured it with a staple gun, making sure to double under the fabric edge so it wouldn't unravel.  I also double padded the sharp corners by back-tucking the foam. It's important to lay the fabric straight across the board so the pattern is level and not pull the fabric so tight so that the foam bulges like my fat thighs do in spandex!  Even though we were careful as we worked, it took only a few minutes to complete.

We then secured it to the wall using heavy duty picture hangers and wall hooks.  That was the challenging part.  Trying to do math and logic when you are overtired (and we were overtired) is not good.  It took us multiple tries to get the placement right and then even longer to get the board attached.  (If you try a wall-mounted headboard I recommend using larger hangers if your foam padding is thick.  We had to jury rig ours by using keychain rings to extend the hangers' reach.)

In the end, we triumphed and the headboard is now snugly attached to the wall. I'm happy to report we are already reaping the benefits.  Removing the headboard and footboard from the bed frame decreased its size by almost two feet so the room looks and feels a lot bigger.  Bonus-our down comforter looks better without the footboard 'cuz now you can see its plushiness.  (Love that plushiness!)  Double bonus-the new headboard is streamlined and fits with the calming, cozy feel I want in our bedroom.  Jackpot-it also physically fits under the window of the only wall you would logically put a bed.  No more angled space-hogging bed!

 The only issue is that old window above the bed leaks cold air like crazy; I was worried we'd be sleeping in a draft but last night was really cold and we didn't feel any air movement.  Maybe it won't be an issue after all.

Ta-dah!

Thanks, Cathy, for giving me that good idea all those years ago!  You always were a great neighbor!