Master Bath: a sink, with feeling!

Good morning!

I just wanted to let you know that today's entry will be featured as guest post Over at Nette's "This Dusty House"Blog. You can check it out here:

"This Dusty House" is one of my absolute favourites, and checking in on Nette and her latest project is on my daily to-do list.

We both share that we're writing renovating blogs, not decorating blogs. While we occasionally take a break from the bigger DIY projects to toss in an adventure in hanging curtains, spray painting accessories and upholstering a chair, we're still up to our ears in bathroom remodels, total kitchen gut jobs and more drywall dust than we probbly ever wanted.

So hop on over and find out what's going on with this:

[Peekabo - I see you!]

Masterbath: Fixing some more fixtures

The Master Bathroom Saga continues!

The husband got to spend some time alone at home over the past week and decided to tackle some of those manly jobs from the project bin: he installed the commode aka toilet aka the crapper in our Master bathroom.

Olin, our favorite plumber, told us he was confident we could do that on our own (*gasp!*) and after much googling for information and tutorials on the intarwebs, the husband decided to give it a go. If we got stuck, we had Olin on speed dial. Just in case.

You know, old house and all.

Thanks to our completely updated plumbing, things went pleasantly smoothly. Since we started with a piece of pvc piping sticking out of wall (water supply) and floor (waste pipe), the first order of business were installing faucets and supply lines (wall) and a flange (floor). Husband was a bit concerned about drilling into the tiles to anchor the flange but he found comfort in knowing that the actual toilet would hide any cracks and that it's easy to fix a broken mosaic tile (you just pop'em out and replace them).

[In Progress: Flange and water supply installed]

I was there for the part that revolved in installing the actual bowl. First, the husband stuck the wax ring into place and while he lifted the bowl, I was his guide to make sure he set it down right on top of the wax ring so that the screws slid right through the openings.

[In progress: Just like that we have a toilet bowl!]

Ours is a regular Joe kind of toilet, a two piece commode with an elongated bowl. I just can't get excited over toilets (Designer? One piece? Electric? Light show? Puuuu-lease ...) - as long as it's white, clean and flushes I'm a-okay.

[In progress: Getting the tank on]

After carefully tightening the screws that hold the bowl to the flange (and thus to the floor), husband installed the tank. It felt a bit wobbly at first and it turned out that our anxiety over losing our toilet bowl and/or tank to a crank due to over-tightening the screws lead to a not so sufficient seal, a slightly wobbly tank and after a couple of hours to a minor leak.

Luckily we discovered the leak before it could cause any more trouble than a wet towel from mopping up the small puddle that had collected next to our toilet. We tightened the screws, the tank stopped wobbling and just like that! no more leaking.


Here's the husband checking the seal making sure that no un-authorized drop could sneak by. Yes, we do DIY barefoot, in shorts and with sharp cutting devices next to our bare limps. Do as I say, not do as I do. Shoo-bi-doo :o) But look, we do wear knee pads!

One step closer to a fully fixture-ized master bath!

Stay tuned - we'll be tackling the vanity venture next!

Splish-Splash, I'm taking a bath!

After my parents' visit in August, followed by my husband's family's visit in September, we were a little sluggish to return to our DIY "fixin' up da house" mode. Sure, we've painted some trim (That one's a no-brainer ...on so many levels), started decorating for fall including replanting and planting some plants and we crafted some window treatments, but overall, we've been laying rather low.
Really. There's only so much DIY you can cram into a day or weekend after work and family and regular household chores.

Anyways, the BIG project that is still underway is, of course, our Master Bath. We were fortunate that the groundwork was part of our 203k renovation so demolition, plumbing and electric and the creation of the wall turning the then kitchen into bathroom and dressing room for a sweet master suite were done by the professionals.

Star of our newly created bathroom is the clawfooted tub rocking a free-standing telephone style faucet we scored for a steal at Cabinetstogo.com in Orlando

[source: cabinetstogo.com]

Looooovely tub! And exactly the kind of clawfoot action an almost 100 year old house needs. Decades of rental life had robbed our little old house most of its vintage touches so it was up to us to add them back in.

[Every which way: Positioning the tub]

We mused over just how to position the tub and finally settled on the spot that positions it parallel to the window to the backyard. Since we're on the same level as the top of the holly tree right next to our house, it makes us feel like we're in a tree house. We also have fun plans for the wall you look at when sitting in the tub that have me rubbing my hands gleefully. More on that later.

Olin, our favorite plumber, advised us to tile the floor first before he'd come by to install the faucet and drain for our tub. This required drilling holes for the drainage and water supplies through layers of tile, mortar, cementboard, plywood subflooring and God only knows how many more layers of floor/ceiling. He did it without breaking a tile. Amazing, this guy! It did, however, take longer than even he did anticipate but after much grumbling and running up and down from bath room to the little cubby in the ceiling above the laundry room where the plumbing is hidden away, he finished it up and left us with the first functioning fixture in our master bath!


And gosh, it's a pretty tub and faucet! I can't wait to see this room finished for a first luxurious bubble bath and ice cream...

Every which way

Now that the bathroom floor is in place, I couldn't wait another minute to shovel all the hardware bits and bops into it to clear out the dressing room. So in went the vanity desk and the big box with the vessel sink and the accompanying faucet, the boxed up toilet and the star of the room: the clawfoot tub.

The plumbing for both, sink and toilet, is already in place but our plumber still needs to hook up our tub so we're still free to pick a location for it.

[Position 1: To the left side, parallel to the window]

Our master bathroom measures a whooping and rather luxurious 132 sqft (that's 12 square meters for the European readers here). It's beautifully spacious and bright which is great, especially since the room is in a later top floor addition that has rather low ceilings. Position 1 sees the tub to the left side of the room next to the window. It's the first thing you see when you open the door to the bathroom and when you're lolling in it you have a view of the tree tops through the window and the future location of a wall-mount fireplace. There's plenty of room between the tub and all the other fixtures that are on the other side of the room.

[Position 2: At an angle in the corner]

Joe, our contractor, suggested we might as well flaunt the amount of space by angling the tub in the corner. Sink and toilet would remain on their side, but the tub would claim the majority of the space and the attention on the left side of the room. It looks a bit more dynamic but it needs some sort of visual counterweight on the left to help anchor the tub, don't you think?

There might even be another position possible: Position 3 (no picture though because I just thought of it). Technically we could turn the tub at a 90 degree angle to the left wall so it's parallel to the entry way and faces the side with the sink and the toilet (although that's not necessarily -the- most beautiful view).

I don't know. What do you think?

It's here!

Just a few days ago I posted about my great find for a tiny corner sink and a pretty faucet to go with it for our little downstairs half bath [read full entry here] at Vintage Tub & Bath. Within a week after submitting my order online the sink arrived, safely packaged in layers of foamy cushions in a box within a bigger box, and the faucet followed shortly there after.

I doubt this will be my last order from them; this was one of the smoothest shopping experiences ever (and shipping is free!)

[sink-in-a-box]

It's the smallest sink I have ever seen and so far, not many seem to be able to stop themselves from squeaking "It's so cute!" in the highest pitch they are capable. See for yourself. That's my (size 7) foot in the picture, for comparison (a quarter would have been a bit too small).

My only worry was that the faucet might be too big. It is solid and sturdy - not a flimsy bit of a fixture - and since its mate, the sink, was over at the Ugly Duckling already I had to wait until the next morning for a quick dry fit.

[Together for the first time]

[Love the hot-cold label! And it looks like a big happy smile to boot :o)]

So, there. Fixture dilemma downstairs bath solved! Great new shopping venue confirmed and one step closer to completion. Now, if we could only close up those walls for good ...

A thing of beauty

You know, fresh paint, great furniture and fantastic accessories make for a lovely home but if the hardware of your house aka electric, plumbing, roof, heat and air, don't work right, you're hosed. Really.

While the work on the electric at the Ugly Duckling is still a work in progress, the plumbing is pretty much done. We went from this

[Look - it's bad stuff just waiting to happen ...]

[Cast iron stack past its prime]

and this

[Old plumbing including "ghost plumbing" ie old plumbing lines that aren't connected to anything anymore
except for the underside of your house.]

[Everything was removed and replaced with shiny new and fresh PVC]

Here's our brand new stack waiting to pass inspection so we can close up the wall again (and paint ...uh).

[New stack]

and the updated plumbing for the Master Bathroom and hall bathroom upstairs.

It's a thing of beauty, really.

Our plumber really went to town, dropped in on the weekend even and finished up in no time. He even handled the Little Man tagging along with grace and patience which which left quite an impression. Right now, the junior assistant plumber wants to grow up to be a real plumber, just like Olin

[Junior Assistant Plumber in training]

Look what I got!

At the beginning the Ugly Duckling had 2 full baths, one downstairs and one upstairs. In favor of a useful laundry-mudroom the downstairs bathroom had to lose its bath tub and be demoted to a powder room aka half bath with just a sink and a toilet (bringing us with the addition of the master bath to a total of 2 full baths and 1 half bath). The somewhat funky door placement (and a lack of desire to bust open yet another wall if we could help it) made a corner wall-mount sink the most sensible choice for our little powder room.

Enter "Vintage Tub & Bath", a recent favorite online store of mine!

Prices are -very- reasonable compared to other reproduction fixtures for bathrooms and kitchens, not to mention that they sell ranges and refrigerators featuring the antique look (wish I could afford those!) but with all of the modern conveniences, and those hard to come by clawfooted shower sets.

So currently on their way to the Ugly Duckling are this ittibitty corner sink
(minus the quirky faucet)
[Source: Vintage Tub & Bath]

and this pretty Kohler faucet

[Source: Vintage Tub & Bath]

for a very reasonable price including free shipping! Within a day I received my shipping notification and the faucet is due today (and the sink will be delivered Monday).

Ding Dong, the stack is gone!

After happily discovering the original pocket doors inside the walls of the living room it was only fair that we would find something not quite so fun in the walls somewhere else, I guess.

Enter the stage: the drain-waste-vent system, short DWVS, also called "The Stack". This is the center pipe of your house's plumbing system connecting your vent at the top of the roof with the sewer at the bottom. This is the way your waste (grey water and unmentionables from your toilet) drains down and gases vent out the top.

[source: Wikipedia]

Despite a decent amount of visible new-ish PVC piping we discovered during the demolition phase that the Ugly Duckling still had its original cast iron stack. Its original 95 year old cast iron stack. Now, there's nothing wrong with having a cast-iron stack per se. In fact, it's well-known for its reliability, sustainability and longevity but 95 years are 95 years and a quick googling around showed that the estimated lifespan averages about 80 years. That put us at 15 years past the expiration date and a little frown on our contractor's face.

[Meet our stack]

See, the problem is, it's hard to tell from the outside whether your cast-iron stack is in ship-shape or not. Unless an issue is staring you right in the face (cracks, corrosion or Lord have mercy, a very obvious leak) your stack could look great on the outside and be brewing trouble on the inside. The mental image of having our ...ahem, waste burst through a pipe -within- our house's walls was enough for us to bite the bullet and sign away a couple of hundred dollars to remove this original feature of our house and replace it with something younger and fresher.

We are blessed with a great contractor team, though, and they decided to check the stack out after all. Maybe it was still in great shape and we could use the saved money on something else? Something fun, like a restored staircase? So we played whack-a-mole upstairs were shorter sections made it easier to open up one part for a quick peek and easy replacement.

[Here're Mr P and the stack after hacking a hole in it]

Yeaaah, see that stack? Notice how the center appears to be solid? Solid as in "nothing can go down" (or up)? Basically our stack was filled with corrosion on the inside and some parts of the walls were worn down card-board-thin. It -really- needed to be replaced.

[Come a little closer: a rusty corroded mess]

[Oh, and this? This is the lead from between the joints of the stack.]

[Ding, dong, the stack is gone: looking up from the first floor all the way to the roof]

Until the plumber gets to the Ugly Duckling to re-plumb our house we're left with a gaping hole where the stack once was but at least we're well on our way to a DWVS that won't explode inside our walls the moment we flush the toilet for the first time. You know, if it would have taken that long for us to notice that there is something seriously wrong with our plumbing.

[Yes, that is a big crack in the stack]

So far that's the scariest surprise our Ugly Ducking has thrown at us. Not bad for a 95 year old house that hasn't been your average well-loved family residence for most of its lifespan.

There's one scary spot to explore left: What's hiding underneath all those layers of linoleum in the hallway and on the landing of the stairs upstairs?

Big steps - little steps

Learning to dance an Old English Folk Dance we loved to imitate our dance teacher's "BIG step, BIG step, leeetle step, leeetle step" with a slightly exaggerated Eastern European accent. Our contractor's warning that the beginning and the end of a rehab feel like a whirlwind and that the middle seems to drag, somehow follows the same idea. Looks like she's spot on, too :o)

Right now, things are dragging a bit. Our electrician is working at repairing, updating, moving and installing fixtures and outlets so that electricity can be restored to our Ugly Duckling. This is such a lengthy process [most likely a week] because the Ugly Duckling has been vacant for so long that JEA requires a re-inspection before turning on the "juice" again. Until then, all carpentry work and any work after 5:30pm is on hold because you can't use any power tools and it still gets dark early.

We got bids for the HVAC system which of course turned out a little higher than we'd hoped because code now requires that the compressors are at least 4 ft from the next house. That means the one that was installed on the right side of the house needs to move into the backyard and copper lines ain't cheap.

Plumbing will be equally fun since we discovered that the original cast-iron stack is still in use. As we're vehemently opposed to "shit hitting fan" moments in the near future should that stack decide to rust through on us, we'll have it replaced. After all, the walls are open and the plumber is already in the house. Right? Right.

In good news we have word that my super special tub beauty will be delivered today, the kitchen plans are finalized, my pretty pretty sink is here, the walls in the Little Man's room got their second coat of paint and the rain gave us a 2-day break (it'll be back for a brief stint tomorrow and then leave fo good).