Bathroom renovation - as it happens...

[wylie]

Tiler finished tiling yesterday, and grouted and siliconed edges today. I cannot believe the difference once the black lines disappear.

It is all looking rather WHITE!!! but once we get the fittings in and coloured towels it will look different again. We will paint the yellow walls white tomorrow, so it will be like a complete white out. We may have to tie a bit of string to our finger when we enter so we can find our way out again.

Ordered the sliding glass shower screen today... went with clear and will have them do the coating on the glass. If we hate the "clear" look we can always install a shower curtain around the outside .

This is the niche we pushed into the wall (only 8cm deep) with a little LED downlight above, before and after grouting -



And this is the niche we pushed into the wall behind the shower. It is also 8cm deep, and just wide enough to fit maybe three bottles. Bigger was not possible (nor needed really) as the sliding door takes up the wall area to the right of the shower outlet (which the light is clipped on)-



The underfloor heating is on and working and we put the light switches for the heater/light inside the mirror cabinet so our 17 year old cannot switch them on each time he enters the room... and then leave them on when he leaves...

He'll still leave them on, but he has to make an effort to put them on in the first place. Time will tell whether this works or not.

 

[wylie]

Well, it was 7 July when we started demo and it is now 7 August. The glass shower screen was to go in today, but they realised one fixed panel was a cat's whisker shorter than ordered, so we must wait another week for a new panel to be made, installed and allow the silicone to cure... bummer!!!

So, I'll put up a photo of the screen in a week, but meanwhile this is what we have ended up with...

Before and after -



After -



This took double the time I hoped. Stupid really, as it is not like we've never done a bathroom before, but there were a few holdups. I forgot to order the glass flush plate on the toilet and the shower fitting, and we had to wait almost a week for them.

My youngest son said that "for a bathroom so meticulously planned, there are some major design flaws". He said that just before I gave him a good whack!

But there are flaws that the best planning didn't stop from eventuating. The glass Ikea cupboard door opens onto the 350mm deep ceramic basin, so we went to Paddington Hardware and bought a window stay that is a quarter circle arc and that stops the door from smashing onto the basin if someone flings it open. Same with the LED hanging light, although if the door did knock the light it just swings away, but if it swings back hard enough it would smash the glass.

The door catch stops all that, thank goodness, or we would have had problems. If the glass smashed, we would have replaced the glass door with a solid door, but better to fix the problem than wait for the sound of smashing glass.

I'm loving the bath. It is wider but shorter than the old one, and is really comfortable to use. And I love the mixer tap for the basin and the waterfall tap for the bath. I nearly changed my mind to a different tap but the waterfall feels lovely, is gentle if it is filling whilst in the bath and doubles as somewhere to sit a glass of wine.

 

[JASA]

very nice reno, that bath looks well worth the money

 

[wylie]

Thanks JASA. I'm very happy with the bath, and these stone baths feel so nice. I'm glad we went stone and not acrylic, but it was a lot of fun getting it into the room , and so light.... NOT!

This is the photo of the loo with our white glass flush panel, well worth the extra money in my opinion, and the shower cubicle just waiting now for the panel to be remade. Our plumber tells us that the "stiff" water pipe thingy will soften when we start to use it. If not, we will swap back to the flexible hose.

This will have a sliding door because the room is not huge, and a sliding door means one less door to swing into the room.



In the earlier photos looking into the room, you can see the reason we needed clear glass. With obscure glass the room would just look so tiny. With clear glass it sort of "disappears" and the whole room can been seen from the door... including anybody on the loo . We really must learn to close the door.

If it is too hard to clean, then I suppose after a year it will be so dirty, it will pass as "obscure glass" .

 

[wylie]

Finally it is all finished. After a few hiccups and delays (one caused by me forgetting to order some things in time and another due to the glass being cut a little short) we are finally using the shower.

Luckily the bath is wide enough to move around easily so I've been using it for two weeks rather than wander downstairs to the other bathroom.

So, this is the final photo of the finished room, compared to what we started with. I'm loving the new bathroom. I thought we would do it for $10K but should have known better .

Before



After

 

[chrispy]

Its gorgeous ... well done!!!!

Chris

 

[wylie]

Thanks .

I am really enjoying being able to walk into a shower and not climb over the edge of a bath, and really enjoying not stepping onto the soap sometimes left on the floor of the old bath (great way to break a hip).

One of the best things is the three levels of lighting we put in. There is the LED strip over the basin which doubles as a make up light, but is a nice light to shower under. Second option is the one downlight right over the shower, or the full blast of heat lamps which my youngest son leaves on whenever he leaves the room.

Mood lighting in a bathroom is a luxury for us after what we had for so long.

And the heated tiles are amazing. They aren't "hot" but just "not cold" or even slightly warm, and if I put my foot in the bit at the end of the bath that has no heating, it makes me very glad we did it.

 

[Tim86]

The bathroom looks good. Well done.

 

[moyjos]

Fabulous !! Very luxurious . Tip to help keep the glass clean... While it is brand new, get some Rainex from supercheap. (it is the stuff that you put on windscreens to stop rain and road grime). Works the same on shower glass.. Stops the water and soap scum building up..

 

[wylie]

Thanks Moyjos. We saw a great spray-on product demonstrated by the lady in our local tile shop that protected the glass, and were going to go this way, and a lighting shop salesman told us about a product from Supercheap for protecting the hanging LED light. I think that is the product you mention.

In the end the glass installer offered to apply Vitroglaze. It cost us about $140 and he did it. We could have done it ourselves for much less, but this has a ten year warranty as long as we clean it once a week, and we know it is applied correctly. I didn't really want to risk doing it and stuffing it up.

Thanks for the product name because we will do our light with this spray.

Now we just have to choose the right "objet d'art" for the niche

PS. I might give our windscreen a good clean and put it there too. What a good idea.

 

[Sove18a]

Just wanted to put it out there ...I love 'before' and 'afters' too! Great work Wylie and thanks for giving a detailed coatings breakdown. Will help me when I do a reno ... one day!

 

[westminster]

Looks fantastic. Well done!

 

[wylie]

Thanks for the compliments. Just looked at my costings and realized I allowed $3500 for plumber but ended up paying $2500. Had one quote for just over $4000 and decided to choose a new plumber. Paid by the hour and he is now "our new plumber".

 

[battler]

Looks great Wylie, well done!

 

[Angel13]

Thanks .

Mood lighting in a bathroom is a luxury for us after what we had for so long.

And the heated tiles are amazing. They aren't "hot" but just "not cold"

It doesn't matter that the heated tiles are not hot. Your new mood lighting will probably get things sizzling with hubby

Great job Wylie, love the bathroom. It looks very classy. I really like your choice of basin and the cut out in the wall under the mirror.

You must be sooooo over the moon. I know I would be.

 

[Of The Vultures]

Love the bathroom Wylie, looks amazing. That bath is gorgeous.