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This
story begins where a previous makeover went terribly
wrong. My wife and sisters decided to redo the guest
bathroom. Their choice of paint...electric-funkadeilc-acid
trip-headhurting-clearance sale-what in God's name were
you thinking-blue. When they saw the end result all they
had to offer was, "It looked so much better in the
store." The original tile was lime green from
1972.
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So
one weekend, my wife made the mistake of leaving town.
And of course that's prime time for doing projects
without asking for permission. I started the same way I
began the kitchen remodel, I ripped up something that
couldn't be undone once the project was started. That
was my first mistake. I later learned that it's much
more prudent to leave the old floor in tact and put the
plaster over it and slap on the new tile. |
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Post
mea culpa, I found myself in the precarious position of having
to rebuild the old floor I'd just taken up. This meant
cutting and measuring plywood and backer board. Hands
and knees. Lots of trips down to the garage for cutting.
More hands and knees. When the "new old floor"
was complete, it was ready for tile. I got five boxes of
tile on e-bay for $26! I met the lady at a McDonald's to
pick them up and avoid shipping costs! |
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Here
I am cutting the tile with a wet saw my friend and
colleague Andy Phelan let me borrow. Andy would later
get trapped into helping me with another major, major,
major project. More on that later. I should've been
wearing gloves. No wait...I should've hired a
professional for the job to begin with. And yes those
are ski goggles that I'm using for eye protection.
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Here's
the $26 tile after I laid it. I was pretty amazed how it
looked after I got it in the thinset and put the grout
in it. At this point I was motivated to keep going. The
sisters were impressed as well. Much to my surprise the
lines came out rather straight. It's times like this I
wanna quit writing and be a handy man...yeah right.
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And
here she is in her finished glory. Me and the sisters
were going for a spa theme. We wanted it very tranquil
and soothing since it's the only bathroom with a tub and
guests can feel as though they were in a nice home...as
long as they kept their eyes closed when walking
through the rest of the house. Oh, my potential
brother-in-law came over and screwed a light bulb in
too. |
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I
took the old mirrors from the electric blue bath and cut
them down at a local hardware store. The guy took me in
the back of the store and showed me how to cut glass. He
gave me a tongue lashing for being a grown man and not
knowing how to cut glass. When I finished, he sent
me out of the store and didn't charge me a dime. I got
some decorative wood trim and made a frame from old wood
in the garage. Thanks, Martha!
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One
of my sisters and I spent half the day at IKEA and Home
Depot looking at overpriced accessories. We bought some
cheap ones and a bottled of spray paint the same color
as the expensive accessories and my sister spent
the evening in the garage inhaling paint fumes. Ahhh,
the sacrifice for family. |
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I
got this basket and cabinet at a neighborhood yard sale.
The basket was $5 and the cabinet $15 I think. There's a
sale at this house in our subdivision about once a month. Designer purses
for $10. Furniture, vases, very nice dinnerware. All
rock bottom prices. The neighbors
think the people are fencing stolen goods by having
these yard sales. I'll let you know when the next sale
takes place:-) |
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I
replaced the faucets on one side of the bathroom several
years ago and never got around to doing the other side.
Lucky for me, the store still carried the same style faucet.
Oh, I also finally fixed the handle so the word HOT was
no longer upside down. |
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My
sister went to buy some bath robes to give the spa theme
it's final touch. My wife called and said she was less
than two miles away. My sister pulls into the drive way
and we're literally ripping the bag open to get the
robes out before my wife gets home. Just in the nick of
time we get everything done. And once again, she absolutely
loved it. I want her to leave again so I can bust up our
concrete driveway. Shhhhhh |
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