More Bonding

As I mentioned yesterday, Jeff and I made a quick trip to "the mainland" for the weekend. It was great to have a change of scenery, take a break from the bathroom project, see some friends and do a bit of shopping. Since we last saw him in June, our nephew T has grown not only in physical stature, but in personality, curiosity, potential for mischief and overall sweetness. It was a great fun to spend some time together and get to know him a little more.

At the MCC Relief Sale (click on the arrow to start the video)

                                                                                       Video by T's Mom J

Waiting in the car at Costco 

You're right, Uncle Jeff. Looking forward is WAY more fun. 

Mastering the one-arm-on-the-wheel backing up technique

And just hanging out with Uncle Jeff at home

Photo by T's Mom J

Build-a-Bathroom Day 6

After a few slow days of frustrating tub installation, the renovation pace picked up on Day 6 (which was actually last Thursday). Jeff started the day by installing all the tub/shower plumbing. By lunch he had run successful water tests and we were ready to push the tub in place for the final time (two things that both yielded dances of joy). In the afternoon, we filled the tub with water and attached it to the wall studs, then started putting up the Hardie Board gyproc. With the two of us measuring and drilling, we were done in plenty of time to sail off on the 5:20 PM ferry to Vancouver for a much needed weekend break.

Jeff and I are both back at work today- that means tiling and finishing work will be happening evenings and weekends. I'll check back with our progress later in the week. 

Praise. Jazz. Five.

Most churches today are having some sort if fall kick-off. I thought I'd do the same... and ask why more churches don't integrate jazz into their music? This video, from Jazz Church in England, is a resetting of an old hymn, Sing of the Lord's Goodness into Dave Brubeck's iconic Take Five. I think it's brilliant. If we're going to "jazz up" old hymns and choruses, isn't this a great way to do it?

After listening to this, I really think more hymns and worship songs should be written in 5/4 time. Somehow, it just works. 

Build-a-Bathroom Day 4-5

Somewhere along this project I lost track of days; I suspect that most of the work to support and level the tub I wrote about yesterday actually happened on Day 4. All I can say is that we had several days of tub trauma which seem to have blended together. Nevertheless, things continue to move forward. Here's where we're at:

• tweaked the tub leveling. It's DONE! 
• figured out placement of the shower fixtures and recessed niches (to hold shampoo etc.). In our original plan, the niches were set in the wall directly opposite the shower head. Once we opened up the wall and realized the wall behind the shower was completely open, it seemed crazy to rip apart the back wall (there was a stud going smack down the middle of where the niches were supposed to go and we already were nervous about moving studs from this exterior wall) when the front one was all ready to go. 
• framed the aforementioned niches (12 inches wide, 3 inches deep and 14 or 6 inches high)

• framed out the bath/shower plumbing and started installing it  

This stuff doesn't translate well to photographs; I guess what's most important is that we see progress and that keeps us forging ahead. Tomorrow, once the plumbing is done, we can test it and put water in the tub. After all the headaches caused by that tub this week, it feels like a pretty big milestone to us. Hooray!

My View Wednesday

I think this is what happens when music-loving engineers work on plumbing too late at night.

Those of you who know Jeff will find this especially amusing in light of his deep loathing of saxophones. 

Build-a-Bathroom Days 2-3

The problem with bathroom renovations is that they require a lot of plumbing. And plumbing work is SLOW (especially when your beautiful new bathtub comes without built-in structures to support, shim and level the stupid thing). Even with this hiccup, things are still (thankfully) moving forward.

Because we weren't able to plan our recessed medicine cabinet until the wall was open and we knew how much space we had to work with, that was our first order of business on Day 2. Once we had a plan, I measured and cut out the rough hole in the wall while Jeff built and then installed the cabinet. Before installation, he had to reroute the vent pipe (visible in through the hole in the wall below). By doing this, we were able to fit in a recessed cabinet measuring 15"x15"x42".  It's HUGE! That was a seriously happy surprise.

Once the cabinet was in, Jeff rerouted the vent pipe (with about 1/4 inch of clearance) and figured out the new drain pipe configuration.

Once that was all done, it was on to the biggest job-  figuring out how to support and level the tub... then building the structure to do this. Thankfully, Jeff's dad came to help and they came up with a brilliant solution. This is probably a good time to say how unhappy we are with Venco (the Canadian tub manufacturer) and their inability to provide any built-in structure to do this in the first place.

By the end of the third day, we had a tub sitting in place, a layer of moisture barrier covering the insulation, and a cabinet in the wall. I'll admit- as much frustration as that tub caused, I think it looks beautiful.

Build-a-Bathroom Day 1

On Friday when Jeff came home from work, our bathroom looked like this:

Here's how we spent our evening:

Cutting apart the old molded shower to be able to get it out of the house

Fiberglass dust EVERYWHERE. 

We cut out rest of the gyproc (nearly up to the ceiling) and removed enough wood flooring to make room for the new tub, then called it a night. There's certainly no turning back now.

Creativity in our reality

At this point in my life, I like to read decor magazines and decorating blogs. I love gleaning new ideas and I enjoy keeping track of current decorating trends (even if I'm not fond of them). I knew at some point that Jeff and I would renovate our main bathroom so for several years, I've kept an "idea" file. Over the past decade, a strong trend in bathrooms has been what I call "New Vintage"- white cabinets with traditional profiles, marble counters, mosaic floors and subway tile. You've probably seen the kind of bathroom I'm describing:

Bathroom design by Kirsten Anthony Kaplan

When we started out planning our bathroom remodel, this is the look I thought we would go for. A simplified, low-budget version of this style worked well for our guest bathroom renovation last year and I was looking forward to repeating it, but with a slightly more flexible budget. This kind of look was also a great compromise between our different tastes (remember our initial vanity picks here?!) and seemed so classic.

Real life, however, has a way of not fitting magazine photos. Marble counters or mosaic floors simply do not fit with our home, our lifestyle, our budget, and our town (marble is still pretty uncommon in Nanaimo). A "New Vintage" bathroom, while incredibly beautiful, was just not a fit for us. And when we found a talented local cabinet maker who quoted us a great price on a solid wood vanity, we decided to go with a much more streamlined, clean, West Coast-y kind of vibe. 

It's not what we thought we would choose at the beginning of this whole process. It's taken a bit of rethinking, creativity, and lots of asking each other "What do you think if instead, we do this..." but in the end, I think our new and unexpected plan is the right one. I guess that's what the creative process is all about. And in the end, we're both more excited about this bathroom than we thought we would be.