…and then there was paint…

…and what a difference it makes!

It took the collective efforts of two girlfriends, three masks, about a half dozen bottles of beer and lots and lots of elbow grease to get those walls sanded down and ready for texture.  Then putting on the texture was fairly seamless (though we did have to go to Home Depot 4 times on Saturday to keep buying bottles of texture), which means we could then prime, then paint and VOILA!  Painted room!!!  The color is Light French Gray by Behr and is a very light and airy blue-gray color.  I love the color!  It’s definitely very calming and soothing – and certainly better than looking at holes in walls!!!

Speaking of holes in walls:

…haha….yea…still no shower yet.  We finally *finally* decided on a shower “system” for our shower (more on that later).  Once that hurdle was out of the way, we could finally get around to installing plumbing.  Once the plumbing was installed (and checked and double checked for leaks) we could put up the vapor barrier!  After that it comes walls, then the tiles!!  Wheeee!!!  Still much to be done in here, but it’s progressive.

Ok, so now about the shower “system”.  Since we gave ourselves about 6 extra square feet of showering space, we thought it would be fun to have two shower heads – ya know, for parties and stuff!  I personally like the flexibility of having a shower wand for cleaning (and the occasional dog bath) but I prefer a fixed shower head (waaaay prettier!).  So we got both!  We had to compromise and get chrome, which we are finding is so much cheaper than brushed nickle or oil-rubbed bronze (which we prefer).  Chrome is a little harder to keep clean (and fingerprint free!), but when it’s clean and shiny it kind of has the same effect as a clean black car – sharp, glitzy and glam!  Chrome it is from here on out!  The other thing we figured out was that buying a shower “system” is damn expensive!  We looked all over the place (including Overstock, the big box stores, directly from the manufacturer, etc, etc) before I found Faucetdirect.com.  It’s so much easier to use than Overstock (at least when it comes to bathroom fixtures anyway) and they’re headquartered in Kennewick, Washington, which is only a hop-skip from Portland so we literally ordered our faucets and got them about two days later – score!  I think we’ll be making a return trip to their store when we get around to the tub and sink faucets…le sigh…

Oh, do you wanna see something weird?  So it’s probably not readily evident in the photos, but we moved the shower wall out a wee bit and reduced the loo wall a wee bit (we don’t need THAT much privacy, okay?).  But tell me if you can spot the big change in the photos below??  Hint – focus on the light fixture…

Before we moved the walls...

After we moved the walls...

Did you figure it out?  When we moved and patched up the walls, we “centered” the light fixture.  No, we didn’t move the light fixture.  But NOW it is centered….ahh builders and their irregular measurements and design sensibilities.  Don’t they know lights should be centered??  Le sigh….Oh, and we still have to finish patching the ceiling and paint it, but we’ll wait to do that until later…

If I had to predict?  I’d say we still have four-five more weekends left of work plus some last minute touch ups.  Given the fact that we have to wait on outside factors for the shower door and counters, I’m hoping we’ll get everything wrapped up by Memorial Day….sorry, sis…looks like we’ll still be sharing a bathroom when you come and visit!  😦

We’re remodeling our master bathroom and it’s a doozy!  You can click on the following links below to see what it’s all about: The Bathroom begins…, Demolition Day 1 and Day 2 and how we got rid of all that trash!  Our budget and a tile preview and a little look-see into what MY view is when my hubby is installing electrical and a video view of what all of the demolition looked like before we started installing things. Check out our desperate attempt to keep the house clean while we renovate and another video update with a sneak peek at our gorgeous marble floors!  Then you can also see moments of despair as we struggle to maintain sanity after over a month of bathroom renovating!  Stay tuned for more updates!