tiled shower

It’s not quite officially done, but close enough!! The shower is usable and everything works!

Master Bath Shower After

I am very happy with how it looks, although I will say I am not happy about the process. This “ten day renovation” ended up taking close to 8 weeks. Well, actually more than that considering there is still one piece of shoe molding to put down, and a little bit of caulking and touch-up painting to be done.

Here’s a view with my fish-eye lens, which really gives you a view of the whole room:

New Master Bath Shower room

**Update** It has been about a month since I started writing this post. They came and fixed the shoe molding, and did all the touch up work, only to find (after they left) that someone gouged the new flooring. As in, a whole plank needs to be replaced. We have a couple of spare planks, but it is disappointing.

Overall, I love it. I love how it turned out. I think it looks good and clean, it feels restful and relaxing.

Peanut Loves the New Shower

So now for some of the details– I don’t know exactly how the budget breaks down since everything went through my contractor. But I can tell you what products we used. We went with Moen “Eva” fixtures in the shower, and the matching model for the towel bar, toilet paper holder, and robe hooks. This is not the cheapo version you can find at any box store- this is the real deal that shouldn’t have any problems for a looong time to come.

Moen Eva Toilet Paper Holder

We decided to stick with shiny chrome for all the finishes as well- I like how it looks.

Moen Eva Towel Bar

The last time you saw my light fixture, it was upside down. A few minutes of taking out the screws, flipping it over, and re-screwing it took care of that problem. It is Hampton Bay from Home Depot. I like how I don’t see the light bulbs anymore.

New Light Sconce

In the shower, I really wanted to have a niche built into the wall. At first, this seemed like it would be a major problem since two-thirds of the shower shares an exterior wall. The product that our tile guys got (I didn’t catch the name) is already insulated pre-built box that was perfect. The cut a hole, stuck it in, and tiled right over it. It’s 12″ by 12″ square, and holds quite a bit!

Shower Niche

You can get a glimpse from the photo above, and below, that we used a marble accent tile called “Biltmore.” You can read more about it in the progress of the bathroom here.

Moen Eva Shower head and handle

It really is a pretty, light green that goes very well with the gray paint we picked out- “Passive” by Sherwin Williams.

New Flooring and Toilet

And I am LOVING the floor. It is a vinyl plank by Armstrong in Exotic Fruitwood- Persimmon. This pic really makes it look a bit more red, but it looks like real wood. I specifically wanted vinyl flooring because unless we went all out with heated flooring, just doing tile would mean constantly cold feet. Not only does this product stay a good temperature, but looks so good, warms up the space, and I don’t have to worry about it getting wet!

And now….for dramatic effect….the before and after!

Shower Room Before

New Master Bath Shower room

I will say I’m pleased with the product, but not the journey. I have some serious thinking to do before doing any other (big) projects in this house!!

Linking up to these parties: Thrifty Decor Chick; Remodelaholic

Master Bath Progress

Or, a comedy of errors?

We are now officially into the fifth week of this “ten-day” renovation of our master bathroom shower room. Our little five foot by six foot room is getting a complete overhaul, and it is still not done. I would wonder in a time like this if it would have actually been faster if we had done it ourselves (without knowing what we were doing). I like how it is coming together– I think I chose the right products now and feel that everything looks great together. But I am not happy with a number of things about this renovation, and where things stand at this point. I am hoping that within the next week, everything will be fixed and finished up and we can finally have a bathroom again.

So one thing I love is our tile choices:

I chose a white 6″ by 6″ tile with an accent band of white 2″ by 8″ subway tile set off by a “biltmore” marble pencil tile. I love how this looks. Everything looks clean and bright, and the marble is gorgeous. Originally, we had planned the marble accent to be a carerra marble tile, but all the tiles that came in only looked white with just enough gray to make them look dirty. There was almost no veining in any of the tile, and it really looked awful. Thankfully my husband saw it before they tiled the whole shower and stopped them. On the downside, it set us back several days until they could reschedule.

I went to the Tile Shop in Richmond to find a replacement tile when we knew the carerra wouldn’t work. They helped me immensely, and even took into the back to let me look through their selection of marble pencil tiles. I knew this was the one as soon as I saw it. It reminded me of “ming green” marble tiles that the designer Sarah Richardson likes to use in her projects. We love her portfolio, so I knew Mr. Lucky would like it. They had everything I needed in stock, and so we were ready to rock by the next day.

The tile is still not finished however– there is a small section along one side that is not finished, and there is another part that bumps out.

Bowed Out Tile

I think it’s from the drywall mud being too thick behind it. I am so disappointed by this. It looks much better grouted and caulked, but you can still see it sticking out some. I would think that for the amount of money we are paying, and that this project is a complete gut- that it should be done right. It should look good and be done well, and I find this unacceptable. I could live with it if I had to, and it might not be noticeable once the shower door is in, but come on people. Do it right the first time.

You can see in the picture above that the room has already been painted, and it’s a beautiful soft gray. I need to look up the name, but I think it was Sherwin Williams’ “Passion.” The electrician has been to visit us too, but installed the light fixture upside down.

New Light Fixture Upside Down

It’s the type of fixture you can install either up or down, but I had wanted it the other way, primarily so that I didn’t see the light bulbs. When it is on, it just glares into my eyeballs. Not fun. But! There is plenty of light in there now and it looks so much better than it did before! Hopefully in another week I will have after shots for you. In the meantime, tile needs to be fixed and finished, plumber needs to come out, and we need the shower door installed.

Here’s hoping we don’t get into week six….