Friday, January 14, 2011

new year . . . new bathroom

So, what seems like AGES ago, I mentioned we were having our master bathroom redone, and just in case you forgot, here are some previous posts about it here and a little bit here.  Well, it has been MOSTLY finished for weeks now.  Our friend Jeff who does home remodeling as a side business worked his butt off doing our bathroom for us.  We were paying him for his work, but I had agreed to help out with some of the work along the way.  Jeff (and his wife Ingrid) did the majority of the work, but I assisted with the demo, I painted all the walls, I grouted the backsplash, I caulked the toilet and all the baseboards, I painted the new trim around the mirror, and I installed these.  Anyway, a few weeks ago, Jeff finished all of his work, so all the remaining projects were up to ME. . . just three things:

  • seal all the grout
  • put up the towel hooks
  • put on the drawer/cabinet hardware

Doesn’t sound like that much, right?  Well, all the stuff involved with getting ready for Christmas got in the way and then I decided to paint the kitchen and family room before we hosted Christmas Eve dinner at our house and then we went on our trip to NYC and then I had to recover from our trip to NYC and then I had to take down all the Christmas decorations. . . and in the meantime, we have never been able to shower in our new bathroom because we had unsealed grout!  It was kind of annoying that we could use the sinks, the toilet, and even the tub if we wanted to (but I haven’t yet), and had to shower somewhere else.  It sounds weird, but even though I really wanted the shower to be functional (and Patrick was anxious too) I kept putting it off because I was dreading the job.  I had never sealed grout before, so my hang-ups were

A.  I knew it was going to take a while (shower walls, tub surround, floors, and counter backsplash all needed to be sealed!)

B.  I didn’t want to mess it up. 

A couple days ago I decided that I had put it off long enough and it was finally the day.  I dusted off the “impregnator sealer” and got to work. 

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From start to finish, it took a couple hours, but it really wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.  It has to cure for 72 hours, so by Saturday night, we’ll actually be able to shower in there!

I still need to install the towel hooks (actually I still need to finish CHOOSING  the towel hooks) and then install the cabinet hardware.  So until that’s done and I can show you some FINAL pictures, here are a few sneak peeks:

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7 comments:

The Kerr Family said...

Wow! That looks beautiful. Can't wait to see all the pics!

Unknown said...

It looks amazing! Good for you for getting all the "small" jobs done. Yeah, we still haven't technically sealed our grout...we just pretend our bathroom is still useable. :)

Leslie said...

You are amazing! Seriously, this looks great and I can't believe how involved you are in all your house projects. So proud of you.

Leslie said...

This looks great! I can't believe how handy you are. I am really impressed.

The Dahle Family said...

Mer, that one with the sink faucet and the backsplash is my favorite shot. It captures nicely the feel of your new bathroom! You've got style for sure!

Stephanie@Soggy Runner Girl said...

Love it! Can't wait for more pics!

Alie said...

I LOVE the tile work! I also really like the gray grout with the white tile, very nice choice!

alie @ frankfordavenue.com