Day 1: Demo begins

Today the tile demo began. First, I had to remove the shower doors. The tile underneath the shower door was okay except for at the base near the tub where the tile was cracked and needs to be replaced!

Thanks to Mike and Amber for helping me demo. Without them I wouldn't have been able to move the toilet and sink out of the room and into the hallway and I wouldn't have had the confidence to decide to remove all of the drywall when we started making holes in the walls due to the strong glue used to adhere the tile to the wall.

There is still about half of the tile to remove from the walls which will be done tomorrow. I also need to buy a keyhole saw tomorrow to cut straight edges in the remaining drywall on the walls. And I need to get some work gloves. My hands hurt.

Note: don't ever do demo work without good work gloves. It's not worth it.

The tile didn't arrive on Tuesday like it was supposed to so now I have to wait until this coming Tuesday. It's really fine, though, because I do have a ton of work to do. I'll start and hopefully complete the demo tomorrow as well as the clean-up. I'll then paint on Monday and maybe tile the floor on Tuesday (depending on what time the tile arrives). I then plan to tile the walls on Wednesday and then grout everything on Thursday. The light and medicine cabinet are supposed to arrive on Tuesday, too, so hopefully I'll install them on Wednesday.


My sister-in-law's father (Jerry) gave me some great advice about making sure the wall tiles match up with the floor tiles. He said this will give the job a professional look. I think I'm OCD enough to make this happen :)


Okay, time to prep my work space, pick out paint color, and try out the tile cutter on my samples!

I'm rethinking the light fixture. I think the one from my last note is not the right style. As much as I love it, I think I should save the thought for a different place with a different feel. Instead I think I'm going to go with something more transitional. Follow this link to see the fixture I will likely order today along with the medicine cabinet...

I spent all morning playing with the floor tile layout and I think I've settled on this one (see above). This was my mom's idea from months ago as I think this is the pattern she has in her bathroom. Regardless of the pattern I do I'm going to have to cut several tiles so I might as well go with the pattern I like the most.

Here is the light fixture I think I want to go with for above the mirror. I found it online at Home Depot. Check it out!



I took some pictures of my tile samples with my iPhone. The tiles are porcelain (not ceramic) and made in Italy. Both tile types I ordered are 6x6; the darker tile is for the floor and the lighter tile is for the wall. I particularly like the subtle brick red veins in the darker tile.

I pick up some tile tools from Michelle on Saturday. I love how this project is coming together :)

Ordered my ceramic tile last night. It should arrive on 12/22, just in time for Christmas :)

My Uncle Jim was in town last night and he made some comment about how he wishes he was staying for a few days so he could help me with demo and tiling. Thanks, Jim! If the tiling doesn't work out the first time I may just fly you down to SF to help me redo it.

I intend to start demoing on 12/27 and hopefully start laying tile on 12/28. Before that, though, I need to procure or borrow tools for demo, tiling, replacing the medicine cabinet, removing the toilet and sink, replacing the sink and tub faucets, and other things I'm sure I have not thought of yet.

A few other things to think about:

• What color do I paint the walls and ceiling?
• I want to replace the door but my longer term thought is to put in a sliding door or pocket door. Is it worth buying a new door (the current door is literally falling off its hinges) in the mean time or do I push getting the sliding door in sooner than later?
• What about a soap dish? Should I build one into the tile around the tub?

I woke up at 5:30 this morning worrying about all of this. The more I plan ahead of time, the more sleep I'll get and the less heartburn I'll have. Yes, planning is good for the internal body.

I'm thinking this beautiful warm-toned glass tile for my accent piece. I'm going to order it from Home Depot. Each tile is 9/16-in and each sheet has 18 tiles (12-in x 12-in). If I go with 3 tiles per strip that will give me 6 strips per sheet. The perimeter of my bathroom is 284 linear inches or 23.7 linear feet. Adding on 10% gives me 26 linear feet. Because I can only buy this tile in 6-1ft. strips I'll need to buy enough for 30 feet (which is 5 sheets). At $16.89/sheet I'll spend $84.45 on the accent tile. I can live with that.

The sink faucet I'm thinking of it this lovely 2-handle high-arc faucet by Pfister. I can also order this from Home Depot for $99. The question is, do I also replace the bathtub faucet and shower head? I think I have to but for some reason that seems more daunting.

I found an accessories collection that I think will work with the sink faucet mentioned above. Click here to view the items in the collection.

I'm still searching for the right vanity lighting. Any ideas anyone?

Thanks to Locipoo (cravenshome.blogspot.com) I now have a .jpg file of my bathroom schematic and so I have a way to post it to this blog (see above).

To give you an idea of the amount of tile I'll need, let me explain the 3-D layout. The floor tile will cover the main part of the bathroom (not the tub area, of course). The wall tile will go up 45in in the main part of the bathroom and it will go 61in above the tub surrounding the entire tub.

I got a Do-It-Yourself Tile book from a friend from work (thanks, Michelle!). I've read through the relevant sections and it's scaring me just a little bit to do this myself, but as a whole I'm pretty certain this task won't be too bad once I get started. My biggest concern is that the flooring beneath the current tile isn't up to snuff. The reason why I have my suspicions about the floor is the grout on the floor has started to chip away and I feel like everything is a little bit uneven. So, I asked myself: "why would grout chip away?" and I came up with the possibility that the flooring underneath isn't what it should be. I guess the only way to know for sure is to remove the current tile and take a look. I plan to get started right after Christmas.

My first project is my bathroom remodel. Here is what my bathroom currently looks like. These pics are a little old as the window has been replaced with a beautiful wood composite window. Otherwise, though, everything is essentially the same.

I'm thinking warm colors. The tile I think I'll go with is ceramic. The floor tile is a peach and gray blend with veins of dark red. The tile for the wall is peach with a little bit of gray and white and dark brown and yellow specs--for texture! Both tiles have a shiny element to them in certain light. Unfortunately, I don't have pics of them right now.

The medicine cabinet can be seen here. And my intention is to replace all of the hardware to be aged bronze (to match the medicine cabinet and bring out the dark red veins in the floor).

For now I'll keep the pedastal sink, the toilet and the tub, although I'm taking down the shower doors the first chance I get and putting up a curtain rod. I hate those shower doors. I will also replace the light fixture above the mirror.

Next, I'll try to post a schematic of the bathroom with dimensions.