Main Bathroom Reno Day 3

Main bathroom is one of the smallest reno projects we've done so far, yet it's nevertheless the most nerve-wracking one.

Why?

Firstly, we are working with a new contractor that we've never dealt with before. It takes as much time (by that I mean "never") for me to get used to his "bump-into-everything-in-his-way" type of free spirit, as it does for him to adapt to my "make-everything-perfect-to-human-eye" type of OCD.

Secondly, this morning just before the contractor tiled the floor, he wouldn't stop whining about the fact that he needed to be mindful of color/texture mix of the Carrara marble tiles. Our regular contractor always sorted the tiles for us to maintain a most consistent yet organic look. This time around we sorted all the tiles ourselves into different boxes ahead of time, and all we wanted our contractor to do is to pull different tiles out of different boxes for different areas in the room. But he wouldn't do it. So I had to offer my time (good that I was working from home today!) by handing him certain tiles for certain areas, and that calmed him down. Seriously, he couldn't afford my hour rates!

Lastly, this contractor nickle and dimed us on everything, or so as he explained, he didn't anticipate these costs. He would charge us an extra $150 just to put in the new baseboards; another $100 to buy PVC pipes for reconstructing the vanity faucet rough-in (our reno contract clearly states it includes all plumbing and installation of faucets!). When I questioned him on why the extra charge, he threw a tantrum by complaining how much time he had to wait to dispose all the wastes at the dump site for us and how I never thanked him for picking up the baseboards on our behalf. I don't mind paying petty cash like this (as a matter of fact, I always tipped my regular contractor), but in this case on principle I feel sick to my stomach that I have to pay extra.

If you are still reading up to this point, I thank you for sticking with me and listening to my rant. I will end my post with a picture from today's floor tiles.

I am traveling tomorrow so I won't be home early enough to take any pictures. I expect to be wowed by the time I get home. More updates to follow on Friday.

Main Bathroom Reno Day 2

Today our contractor tiled the shower surround using the 4x16 subway tiles in a stacked pattern. After much debate I finally decided to give a more modern stacked layout a try.

The best part is...the useless bulkhead in the shower is gone. Why on earth would a builder build something that serves absolutely no purpose? I feel I could breathe again in the shower with the much higher ceiling.

Do you also see the off-centred recessed shelf? I would rather keep the middle wall clean so I settled for it. There was exhaustion pipe behind the wall into the attic outside of the house, so if at all possible, before you became fixated on a certain design, make sure all the plumbing and pipes behind the scene would support you vision, see here. 

This time around we didn't use our regular contractor. His father is ill so he moved down to the States to be with him for a while. I use another contractor a friend recommended, and I can't say I am all that thrilled so far. As much as I understand there's no such contractor that'd do "perfect" work, I still expect to see best efforts and necessary skills put into making sure tiles are "perfectly" stacked to human eyes. You probably can't tell from the pictures but I do see uneven gaps and surfaces. I can't help but wonder if I would probably do a better job than this contractor -- after all, I am a perfectionist. Another downside about this contractor is that he is not neat at all. The drop cloth must have been used for hundreds of times and never been washed. I think it trapped more dust into the house than the reno itself.

Enough said. The contractor is however very efficient. For a one-man shop, he seemed to have accomplished a lot within a day. Was my friend happy with his work? Yes. Could our expectations be different? Absolutely.

Tomorrow the floor tiles go in. It should be fun (and dusty) again.

Main Bathroom Reno Day 1

When I came home early from a meeting this was waiting for me. It's only 3pm and our contractor has already finished gutting our entire bathroom!

This was what the bathroom looked like when I left home this morning.

And this is what it looks like now.

This is the annoying ventilation pipe that couldn't be relocated. The recessed shelf is going to be off-centred. :(

Some major work such as dry wall and tiling will be done tomorrow so I will share more pictures then.

All Taped Up

Our main bathroom demo starts tomorrow so this weekend we spent some time taping up the stuff we wanted to protect. One thing we've learnt from our years' of renovations is that the onus is always on the home owner to protect what's in the way. Our contractors will put down drop cloth and tarp but nobody else is ever going to care more about your house than you do so it doesn't hurt to go a bit overboard.  

I am a bit embarrassed to show you this picture...we pretty much gift-wrapped the bath tub.

We also put down heavy-duty paint booth floor paper along the path from the front door leading to the main bathroom. Note we used the Blue Painters Tape for Delicate Surfaces for the hardwood floor, and cheaper Green Painter's Tape for all other surfaces.

Drop cloth will go on the staircase to prevent slips.

Dust and chaos awaits tomorrow, but considering in just over a week my main bathroom could look like this, it all seems worthwhile. 

 

Love It or Leave It?

Today Mom and I spent some quality time together shopping at the Vaughan Mills. As I wandered into HomeSense, these glass decanters popped in my eyes. I've been looking for the right decorative objects to add colors to my dining room, and I think they might just be the ones. What do you think? Love it or leave it?

Plum/purple glass decanters from HomeSense in my dining room. They add a touch of fall colors, no?

What I would really love to have are the super stylish Joe Cariati Glass Decanters, each costs $795.

And this is the Ash & Lacquer Tray I purchased from Indigo.

This is a corner of the dining room. I hope the pink coral doesn't compete with the decanters. I am going to leave them where they are for a few days and see.