Week Six ORC: A Whole Lot of Progress

In light of world events, the @oneroomchallenge chose to cancel week five. So week six is jam-packed with progress. But first, the @oneroomchallenge is sponsored by One Room Challenge and Better Homes and Gardens.   Be sure to check out the ORC featured designers as they are the real stars of this show.  This is what has happened in week one, week two, week three and week four as we renovate our family bathroom. 

In week four, we installed the Schluter system in the shower, so this gives the perfect foundation for what comes next.  

Plumbing

I should have mentioned that there had to be some plumbing work done to install the new shower fixture.   My hubby wanted a rain shower and my priority was a separate hose for hosing down the shower, or theoretically, for our kids to hose down the shower..  I had already chosen black faucets for the sink, and this one tied in perfectly.  The previous shower faucet was pretty basic so some plumbing changes had to be made.  

Wall Tiles

We chose a basic white subway tile 3 x 6 inches to be installed in a stacked pattern.  I was so pleased to watch it be installed as I never get tired of the basic subway tile.  We used it in the shower and on the walls of the bathroom, half way up.  

We had originally planned for grey grout as it is much easier to keep clean.  But we made a last minute decision to switch to white grout so the grout lines would be less visible.  When the grouting was finished, we put a sealant on the grout to protect it.  

Shower Floor Tiles

The hex shower floors were the biggest splurge.  These caught my eye when I was tile shopping and I just had to make them work.  They work well with the star tiles I had chosen for the backsplash and the existing floor tile (more on this later). We had always planned on doing a white subway tile, so everything was in sync.  

Floor Tiles

I guess now its time to tell you about floors.  Originally we decided to keep the floors.  They were large scale tiles, in good condition, and we knew that they would be a big job to remove.  

Then one night over a few glasses of wine we decided that we would rip out the tiles.  We thought that it would be disappointing to renovate a whole bathroom and then, realize that we should have replaced the tiles.  

Then, the next morning we decided that it would add too much to the budget and be a lot more work to do new floor tiles, so we decided to keep the old tiles.  

So when this crazy floor tile indecision ended, we were pulling up old tiles and installing new ones.  

Here is a picture of my husband and son pulling up these tiles.  

I do not like to design a room without all of the information. If I was starting this all from the beginning, I would have started with some mac daddy floor tile and everything else would have been neutral.  But in this version of the story, the back splash and tile floor are the stars, and the floor is in a supporting role.  For this reason we chose a 1 ft x 2 ft greyish floor tile that blends in and looks new and fresh (so much better than the old tiles).

Painting

While the tile work was going on in the bathroom, I was painting the cabinets in Lola’s room, which we had converted into the painting room.

I took a couple of runs at a paint colour for this room. I had started with a really light blue, but once that colour was under the bright new lights, it seemed too washed out.

The colour we finally settled on is Slate Blue by Benjamin Moore. On cabinets, I always use Stick It primer from Home Hardware as I feel that it provides the best foundation.

Art Framing

I am a big fan of @Juniperprintshop and I found the “love” print that I eventually chose, on their site.  It turns out that this print was taken by @younghouselove on the beach by the home they owned in Florida.  In a partnership between @juniperprintshop and @younghouselove this one is part of a series .  I also chose “ferris wheel.”

When it came to framing the prints I was determined to work with what I had already in the house.  I had to paint the mat in the “love” print and cut both of the pieces of art down a bit, but I am so pleased with how things turned out.  

There was a lot of progress in this week.  Next week, the finishing details are coming in.

Always 

Leslie