Bathroom Renovation - Day Fifty Four & Fifty Five

Tile the last small pieces.

Saturday October 30th. THE LAST TILE!!!! Hubby fixed the tile in the nooks, finished the tile around the light switch and then did the last row of tile near the floor. And suddenly it was the last file. The tiling is complete!!!! Tomorrow we have to clean the bathroom from all the dust when the tile was cut. Then Monday the grouting starts. After the grouting dries, the toilet and sink/vanity go in. The towel racks and such go up. We have to buy the glass shower doors, paint the walls, fix the door. and then voila ten weeks after he started, the bathroom is done (remember most days he only put in about 4 hours and except for moving out the original tub -- he did all this work himself!)

The top picture -- down where the floor and tub and wall come together - is the spot for the last tile. Hubby puts in last tile. The tile in general needs a washing!! All the tile is in place. YEAH

Bathroom Renovations - Day Fifty Three

How does the tiling look in my nooks? Do I have absolutely the most talented hubby/contractor! There a few places wehre tile has to be specially cut - like around the light switch. Otherwise, tile is nearly done. I hope that Monday we'll be able to grout. The big question is what color grout? grey or beige?

To have your own bathroom (or kitchen) look beautiful, call Asher at 1 917 669 1513 or email at 3in1home@gmail.com.

Bathroom Renovation - Day Fifty Two

SHOPPING SPREE!!!!!! Had great day and celebrated by shopping. So first ... will start with the end. Hubby is doing very tedious tiling now. Lots of precision cutting to get small pieces of tile just right. Putting up the silver trim, both for the effect and portect from water seeping in where the tile meets the nook. AND, he finished my nooks. What do you think?

So why the good mood? This morning we had a really interesting session on new wireless. This was followed by a trip out to Medical Missions.

At MMC , our mission is to “transfer medical knowledge from those who have it to those who need it using the latest in communications technology.”

Medical missions does tele-medicine using NJEDge's core infrastructure to Internet 2. NJEDge.net asked MMC to make a video telling us how they are using our infrastructure to meet their goals. As part of the video, MMC decided to interview -- ME. Brian and I waited in the room -- until they took me to make up. Then I went to the studio where they mike'd me. The director asked me questions and interviewed me for about 15 minutes. It went very well. I talked about technology-mediated-communications, technology-mediated-diagnosis and treatment, the need for global community crossing into both health care and academia. It went very well. And this was followed by a good session in my Sociology of Education class that I teach at Kean University.

Back to SHOPPING SPREE. Asher needed some more trim tile and wanted me to get a few boxes of the flagstone tile to have as extra should we ever need it. While I was at Lowes, I bought handbar for the shower, a double towel bar for the wall and two towel rings. I also picked up two robe hooks and the bath tissue bar that will go in its own cute little nook (which fits an extra roll as well.) My little shopping spree came to an additional $230. So I have to add that to my totals.

Every day I get more excited!

Bathroom Renovation - Day Forty Five - Fifty One

So most of last week I was away in Denver at my favorite conference - WCET. I moderated two sessions and spoke at one session. They all went very well. I attended sessions on eLearning Consortia and the role they play in supporting higher education.
While I was away ( and working and being sick ), hubby was hoe working on the bathroom. He put in about another 24 hours -- mostly tiling. The nooks still need to be tiled, but see most of the trim and small places are done. and I love the way the tile works around the window. And the metal trim around the shower nooks. The fan in that window is used to help blow the dust out of the house.
The bathroom feels warm and cozy -- and a bit like an old castle.

Bathroom Renovation - Day Forty Three & Forty Four

Wow!! My bathroom is coming together. Look at it. Hubby put in a few hours after Shabbat last night and then worked most of today. Its not just the work though, its the love that he puts into it. I'm moral support! LOL Time together is precious and fleeting and everlasting. Will the family who buys this house from us one day know the love that Asher put into the bathroom? Will anyone appreciate the workman ship and heart that has gone into this? Each home, each place that we occupy - it represents so much more than physical location. Each place that we occupy captures the experiences, the memories, part of the essence of who we were and who we were with in that very spot. And that's why when we return - those memories are released to us. And we feel them as though we are living them again. Hopefully the good, but sometimes the bad as well. Places become part of us, and we become part of the place. We should treat each place with respect, for the memories left their by those before us, and for the memories that we've yet to have. And as funny as it seems, this bathroom will always be about love for me. My husband's love for me.

Bathroom Renovation - Day Forty Two

# hours of tiling last night, 3 hours of tiling tonight. Looks nice doesnt it? Had to finish earlier tonight because handsome hubby contractor is also a great cook. he has to make the ginger chicken for tomorrow night

Bathroom Renovation - Day Forty & Forty One

Tuesday & Wednesday. Sand the sheetrock. Sand the sheetrock. Sand the sheetrock. Then put up another row of tile. How do you like the copper glass inset accent tile. I love it!!!! My hubby is the best. and I appreciate him. I'm going to tell him that!

Bathroom Renovation - Day Thirty Nine

Asher couldnt pull permits for another job today because it was Columbus Day. He did pick up carpeting for another job - then he went to Home Depot and kept sending me pictures of different items. It was funny. Then he spent the afternoon sanding the spackling on the sheetrock. See how he looks all full of the sanded spackle!
Meanwhile, I appreciate all the work my handsome hubby is doing so I took him on a date tonight.
I told him to put on jeans and we were going. I surprised him by taking him all the way out Route 10 to minature golf. Which was unexpectedly closed early today (even though I had called them.) So I took him bowling. It was league night. So I took him to the movies, but the movie had started 10 minutes early so I took him to Home Depot. We shopped there for an hour and bought the light for above the sink and bought some more tile that we needed. The glass accent pieces are going to be beautiful.
Add to the budget. we spent $110 on the tiles, the light fixture. And Asher spent $150 yesterday on various odds and ends including the glass tile accents, thin set for the floor, plastering for the walls, floating tape, threshhold, stainless steel framing thing.
Labor is about 220 hours equaling $11,000 just in labor.

Bathroom Renovation - Day Thirty Eight

Finally, the Jewish holidays are over. Life goes to a more normal schedule. But a bit of me will miss the holidays until Passover in the Spring.
Which tile to put in the nooks. Here are all three (the difference is mostly in the size of the tile. We've decided to go with the larger tile in the top nook. It matches better with our trim.
Tiling is in total GO mode. The floor tiling is complete and the wall tiling has begun. Asher put in 2.5 hours tonight.

Bathroom Renovation - Day Thirty Seven

The tiling around the bathtub is much more complicated than it looks. There's a lip at the top of the tub to keep the water from going into the wall. But this lip would have the tile stick out a bit. So handsome talented hubby contractor - notched a piece out of every tile that goes up against the tile so the tile will be even for the wall. This notching is tremendous amount of work.
We're also talking about how we want to lay the tile out.

Bathroom Renovation - Day Thirty Six

Full day for contractor in the bathroom. Plastering, sanding and compounding the walls and ceiling. And completing the floor tile.
11 hours today. Do you think the client is paying the contractor enough money?
Now we're working on the design of the wall tile. Most wall tile is set up like a checkerboard. Our talented husband/contractor is considering more of a brick type pattern. I think it will look nice. We all have to decide how high the tile is going to go on the walls and exactly how we're going to handle the trim. Talented hubby/contractor drew it out for me on a back of an envelope.

Bathroom Renovation - Day Thirty Five

Starting Bathroom Floor Tile

Bathroom Renovation - Day Thirty Four

Completed Sheetrock all around the bathroom. No more exposed pipes and electrical. Put down the subfloor that the tile will sit on.

Bathroom Renovation - Day Thirty Three

Sheet rock Sheet Rock Sheet Rock

BathRoom Renovation - Day Twenty eight to thirty two

Electrical
A weeks' worth of electrical work. In the bathroom, living room and upstairs bedroom. Repairs to the electrical system in the house. The light above the mirror above the sink was rewired and now has a switch on the wall. Ceiling wiring was also repaired. Note the white and black wall paper sticking out by the ceiling -- its what made us decide to work in the bathroom in the first place.

BathRoom Renovation - Day Twenty-three to Twenty-seven

Plumbing