Tag: tile

Dream Bathroom: Revealed!

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It feels like we’ve been sidetracked with all of this flooring drama.  Actually, no, not “feels like”…we really have! We’ve had the bathroom about 85% done for several weeks, but all this flooring nonsense stopped us in our tracks.

This past weekend, we managed to get a lot accomplished. There’s nothing like the impending arrival of my parents from Vancouver to cross things off the to-do list. Oh yes, we have been busy bees. We can proudly say that our bathroom is now 95% done. A few finishing touches, along with the much-anticipated arrival of our bathroom art (really? 2 weeks at customs? For art posters!!??), and we’ll be able to bump that number up to 100% finito.

But I can’t wait. Must. Share. Progress. Photos.

First of all, remember this picture?

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This has got to be one of my favourite renovation-related photos of all time. Anyhoo, back in this post of yore, I shared all the challenges that we had with our tiny, oh-so-narrow bathroom: we couldn’t physically be in there at the same time, the sink literally overlapped with the toilet, the shower head hit Christian in the chest (I think I forgot to mention that one), etc etc. It really boiled down to a non-functional layout for us.

So we changed it. A lot.

Before – view as you walked into the bathroom (sorry it’s so stretched…my SnapFish album went a little crazy):

Screen Shot 2013-04-16 at 9.56.11 PMThis photo does not do the narrowness justice: the entrance was just 24″….Christian and I had to do the Tango every time we passed by each other in here. So, onto the money shot:

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Yes, our bathroom is now a VERY happy place.

Let’s zoom in on a few fabulous things!  First, the toilet.  Yep, I’m leading with the crapper.  Honestly, I never thought I’d be someone who got excited about a toilet but this thing is seriously gorgeous.  And comfortable!  I was kind of against the square at first but I’m so glad that Christian got me on-side.  It’s a conversation piece.  Yep, my toilet is a real conversation starter….what can I say?

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The floor tile is from the store that never ceases to make me chuckle at the simplicity of the store name,  The Tile Store.   Soapbox moment warning!  If there is one thing you take away from this post, let it be this: do not go to big box stores for your tiles without shopping around.  The tile options that are available in this world will blow your mind!  We have been so surprised at all the options that are out there, many at very reasonable prices.  Yes, you can get lovely tiles at Big Box stores, but if you have a specific “vision”, shop around. Go to the mom & pop shops that only sell tile…you’ll be glad you did.  Don’t compromise your vision just because Home Depot doesn’t sell it.

Moving on…..we opted for a teak-look vanity.  Originally, I was really feeling the ash-grey look vanity (which this very same one comes in, by the way) but again, points for Christian for convincing me of the “warmth” of teak (I love that my husband actually cares about these decisions):

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We picked up both the toilet and the vanity at Toronto Vanity, where Miguel was super helpful and responsive.  If you’re into a bit more of a contemporary/ modern look, this is the place to be.  Most vanities come with the sink top, faucet (see photo below for a close up of the faucet), AND medicine cabinet for around $1,000.  Even IKEA vanities have a hard time beating that price…trust us…we did our research.  What’s great is that there are about 8 different faucets you can choose from, all for the same all-in price.  Customization without all the “I love this faucet more but it’s twice the price” drama.  Cuz  you know I’m always the one who wants the more expensive one.  Always.

Now for a zoom-in on the backsplash, which matches the tile in the shower surround.  It’s a beautiful ice-blue frosted square glass tile. Again, we shopped around and had a hard time finding anything like this for under $8.00/ sq foot….on a whim, we hit up Ceramic Tile World in the east end of Toronto, and there she was…on sale for $5.00/ sq foot.  It was destiny!  And I’m in love with my marble soap pump with a hint of sparkle that I picked up at the Bay…it’s so glam-squad.

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Finally, the shower head.  Christian loves the square look so I let him run with this one.  We went to Bath City in the Beach and they were amazing.  Honestly, if you want to learn everything you ever wanted to know about plumbing on a Saturday afternoon, go here.  Their hours are awesome and the staff are super knowledgeable. We picked up the shower system and glass shower door from them.  A+

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The best part is?  The shower head doesn’t even come close to hitting Christian in the chest…or head!  It’s so tall!  Yay!  It’s a beautiful chrome finish rainfall shower and again, I’m in love.  And yes, I *might* sometimes sing into the wand that you see in the photo, as it totally resembles some kind of futuristic microphone.  Whatever.

What’s cool is that we really stuck to our “vision” board and things really came together!  What the heck did people do before Pinterest?

Bathroom inspiration

So, there you have it!  Our 95% complete bathroom!  More to come on artwork, towel bars and other riveting finishing touches.  But we’ll save that for later…too much excitement already for just one post!

xo M

Draining our resources

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From my recent update a few days ago, I shared a very important lesson learned:

concrete + pipes = BAD

Our house seems to have a love-hate relationship with water.  The majority of things that have gone wrong in this house relate to water, so I suppose it’s become some sort of sick joke.  From the major roof leaks in our guest bedroom and office, to a burst pipe leaving water pouring out of the ceiling in our basement laundry room, to a backed up clean-out that had to be replaced in late 2009…with our latest little endeavour, I’d have to estimate that we have spent close to $5,000 in water-related “incidents”.  Oh, the joys of home ownership.

So, to summarize our recent adventure, here’s what happened: as Christian and I tackled the latest of our reno projects (most recently, the front porch reno), Christian was busy mixing mortar for our tiles, and, although dating farther back but still having impact on this story, Christian had also been doing some concrete work on our back steps. 

Well, with our built-in-the-1930s 3-inch diameter pipes that twisted and turned under the floor of the basement apartment, concrete and mortar “bits” don’t fare too well when it comes to those small nooks and crannies.  What had happened over the past year or so, is that bits of concrete and mortar had gone down the drain and had found a new home in which to expand = our pipes.

What ensued was that every time it would rain, the water would come down the steps towards the basement door, and instead of going down the trench drain that Christian had put in, or even down the drain in the downstairs laundry room, it basically pooled and overflowed. 

So we called our friend Neil at Drainforce (they don’t have a site, but we’ve used them twice and they’ve been fair and reliable so wanted to provide a number for y’all) to come on down.  The conrete in our pipes was so bad, that he couldn’t even get his scope through to “scope out” the situation (get my joke?  Scope out? Yep, barrel o’ laughs over here…)

Neil and his team were great, although Christian and I were super depressed to learn that the problem extended through our newly finished floor.  All in all, the team had to break up about 30 square feet of concrete and tile, replace the pipe, and re-pour the concrete.  Here’s a “drying-stage” photo….I love the added drama of the CAUTION tape:

And here’s another angle of the damage – you can see the big trench drain I was talking about.  Please, try not to focus on the ugly conrete steps…there on the “down the road” list, we promise:

While Christian typically chooses to do this type of work himself, time was of the essence, and it turned out we fixed this in the nick of time, as Toronto and surrounding areas were hit was a serious storm on Sunday.  This was the ultimate test.  Christian and I were actually in the downstairs laundry room when the heavens opened and Noah’s flood came down the stairs…well, our $$$ were well spent – not a drop flowed onto the floor!  Everything went down the shiny, new, non-concrete filled pipe!  VICTORY!  Thanks Neil!!!

The hardest part for us was trying to match the floor tile.  Seriously, has anyone tried to do this before?  Impossible.  We were lucky enough to find about 9 tiles leftover in the garage that the previous home-owners had left us, but we needed about 29.  So off to Lowe’s and Rona we went, sample tile in tow.

I wish I had a picture of this, but it was such a work-night rush to get what we needed that I forgot the camera.  I was litterally on all fours in the middle of the aisle, comparing and contrasting 6 different tiles.  Good rule of thumb that I learned: go for the overall colour tones of the tile and try not to get too caught up with the pattern.  When it comes to grout, go darker than you think, espeically when replacing new tiles within an old floor – the older grout will always look less clean (it took me two trips to Home Depot to figure that one out).

And thus concludes our water-logged drama….and the basement has returned to normal (mis-matched yet barely noticeable tiles and all):

I sincerely hope that we are done with water drama for the next several years….and you know what, Madonna, I do not want to sing about rain right now, or think about any more water in or around our house.  At all.  Thank you, and good night.