Finally Some Tile!

Terri and Ian are both at summer camp for the Boys Choir this week, so she has left me in charge of the blog.  I'm not as cute or witty as Terri, but I'll do my best to fill her tiny open-toed shoes.

We finally had some good progress today after a string of frustrating days with little-to-no activity. The tile for the bathrooms arrived and they nearly finished the boys' bathroom in a single day.  I love the niche!  They were supposed to add the same detail trim to the boys shower that is going in the master shower though.  Another call to the contractor....

       

Last week they installed the shower pan in the master bath and the finished off the drain plumbing.  Today they got the Hardibacker board mostly installed and it's nearly ready for tile.

 

Master shower all framed out

Plumbing finished and shower pan/liner added

Hardibacker board installed and we get a niche too!

They laid some sort of sand material on the shower floor to provide the proper shape for drainage.  I've never it seen it before (not that my lack of experience means anything).  I'm also really excited for the bench!  Not that I expect to become winded in the shower and suddenly need to take a break and sit down, but it will sure look nice :)  We had hoped to make the top of the bench out of the remaining material from the travertine slab, but unfortunately there wasn't enough left.  

In parallel with our contracted renovation work, the former owner has had a list of to-do items that needs to be finished up.  He just replaced the windows a few months ago (awesome!) and he made sure to do things right.  He had the drywall completely cut away all around the windows so they could be properly insulated.  They finally got patched, sanded, and textured.  He will be putting the window sills this weekend.  He also finshed framing our the windows in the dormers on the third floor.

      

Textured windows

Framed dormer window

And if all this wasn't enough, work has begun on refinishing the kitchen cabinets.  The kitchen was just remodeled a couple of years ago and the cabinets are beautiful.  It kind of kills me inside to mess with them, but the cherry color simply would not look right with the new theme of the house.  We plan to stain them a dark espresso color, similar to the bathroom cabinets (note: NOT expresso....... that mispronunciation is a pet peeve of mine).

    

The contractor removed a drawer face to test a sample stain on it, but it is not right at all.  Way too chocolate.  Hopefully, he can get it right in the end.

Sample stain for the kitchen compared 

to the espresso cabinets in the bathroom

Well, folks, I hope you enjoyed this edition of "This Ol' House".  Please join us later after the bathroom tile is all done.