Grandma's spiffy new shower

Here is the back story of Grandma's missing shower: Back in '03 Val Verde County forced my Grandmother from her home of 35+yrs by declaring imminent domain for the Hospital. She moved into a new house that was in horrible condition (I need to dig up this old pics because "horrible condition" does not do this thing justice). Some things got fixed right away, some things were put on the back burner. One of these things was her master bathroom shower. In 2003 the fiberglass shower was removed completely, leaving only the joists and concrete slab in its place. My Aunt and Uncle had gone back at some point and put in insulation, tar paper, and tile board. This year I decided to give Grandma the best present EVAR, a shower in the master bath. Some believed I couldn't do it (uh, do you know who you are talking to? I can do anything!). For all of those nay-sayers out there I now give you - GRANDMA'S SPIFFY NEW SHOWER

What does a dirt-filled hole have to do with this project? This is the first problem I encountered. Where was the plumbing? It was buried under 8" of dirt. I spent a whole day digging it out and then cleaning out the drain pipe I eventually found .

The second problem I had was having to build the back wall out 3 inches. 2x4's and plywood did the trick.

The wall is built up. The tile board is in place. The shower pan is in (sorry I didn't take pics of that process).

THE REVEAL

We used 16" tiles and mosaic style border from Home Depot. A shower door will be installed later.




A closer look at the tile. I also gave Grandma a rainfall shower head.

Another view of the tiles

Here is one with the fiberglass shower pan visible.

Dresser. Take two.

Ok. Here's the deal. I had this old dresser that I bought from Prater's in J'ville for $28. I am using it as an entertainment center, but it didn't really work that well because I couldn't fit my cable box, DVD, and TV on top.

After: I took out the top two drawers and their "tracks". I painted the inside of those and the rest of the dresser in Krylon black satin. I hated it at first because it is pretty thin and had to do like 3 coats, but it has the most beautiful finish now! I reused the hardware by spray painting them all silver

Remodeling pics, now with more kitchen!!!

By request here are a couple more pictures of the kitchen.

Below is the area leading to the pantry/dining room/ hallway

I rearranged the kitchen moving the little desk (which I repainted green with a black top, too

cute). A perfect area for storage and microwaving!

THE REST OF THE HOUSE

Before: The dining room was ....very brown.



Retro little table and chairs



After: Painted walls and doors, new artwork

New ceiling fan, new curtains and blinds, table painted and new chair added

Before: Living room of death. I like red, really I do. But here not so much

After: Paint, cute new mirror, painted the a/c unit, and rearranged things a bit

Does this even look like the same room? I think not!

Bedroom 2 Before: What can I say? It was drab

After: Pretty as a picture

Master Bedroom Before: Blah.

Aluminum blinds that seriously needed to GO!

Water damage to the corner

After: Painted. Mirror from Kirkland's.

Another view

I found these super cute curtains at Ross for like $6.00/panel.

TA-DA! Kitchen remodel

I am finally done. It has been a long and tedious process. I am very proud of the work I have done because I did it mostly by myself. I give credit to Zach and Josh for completing the sink cutout in the plywood after I went to the ER (no I didn't cut myself with the saw, I cut myself on the stainless steel sink - those suckers are razor blade sharp) and to Josh for grouting one side of the counter top.

Before:

I don't know where to start. School bus yellow walls. Yellow and black tile. Window looking out into garage. Crappy peel and stick floor

This is an in-between pic. Note the fluorescent light fixture.

Awkward spacing left us with this little desk as a microwave cart. Are you getting sick of yellow yet? Because I did. It made me angry every time I walked into the kitchen

Everyone who saw this picture asked me why I moved the oven so far to the left. There were a couple of reasons. The first reason being that this is a gas stove, the gas outlet stuck out from the wall. When the stove was flush with the counter you could see the gas line running from the wall to the stove. When positioned like this, you don't see the line because it fits inside the back of the oven. The second reason was because I had an idea...

When I started breaking out the tiles all of the drywall came with it. I ended up installing all new drywall behind all the sink/counter top area

My Mom didn't want to replace the sink. In hindsight it might have been a warning.

This makes me want to get a bottle of bleach and a power scrubber. And BTW this is the cleanest it would come with the above mentioned.

The day before I really got down and dirty on this remodel. I had already drywalled over the window and started putting up swatches of color. I decided on Lowe's Olympic Kitchen and Bath paint in Brandied Pears (like the rest of the house) and Some Valspar mistint paint in this deep Olive color that I got for $6.00

After Pics!!! My favorite part

My goal for tiling was to eliminate the need for a tile saw. I was able to reach this goal and save myself a little bit of money. By creating this mosaic border I didn't have to cut tiles and I came out looking pretty artistic. Go me. Around the faucet I had to fit mosaic style tiles into the top left corner of each.

I got some questions about why I did not install a new faucet. Time and money. I was running low on both. If I installed a new faucet I would have to buy a new fixture and re-route the plumbing. I decided to save the time and money and say it looked retro and leave it at that.

The sink that almost cost me a nose. Not really. But it did send me to the ER for a 5 hour wait and some Dermabond.

Another view of the counters. Did I mention this was my first ceramic tile project? Evar? My idea for the bridge between the oven and counter added almost 2 feet of extra counter space and additional storage, not to mention that it is just super cute!

I know this picture came out kind of dark. But at least you can see the flooring. This is 18x18 peel and stick tile from Lowe's. I have to rave about this product a little. I chose this particular one because it was $0.88/sq ft (thrifty!). The edges are made to look like grout so it gives it a look very similar to ceramic tile. It was super easy to install.

Other things I did to the kitchen included changing out the light fixtures, ceiling fan, and cabinet hardware (hinges and handles).

Bathroom Makeover

It all started with the plumbing. When I went to take the pipes off of the original sink, they disintegrated. I replaced the drain pipes, both water shut off valves, and supply lines. I covered the whole thing with some bead board (below)

My beautiful plumbing job and under sink organizer!!!

Here is the tile I had to work with. It's the original 1950's tile. The grout is in horrible condition.

There was a window that looks out into the garage (it was originally the carport).

Single bulb light fixture and framed medicine cabinet. Glass shelving provided the only storage because the vanity was damaged

Cheap wood tone doors throughout the house

View of bathroom from hallway. The yellow to the right is the color the kitchen is painted (what were they thinking???)

AFTER PICS!!! WOOHOOO

The doors were primed and painted ultra white.

New drywall installed over window to create this decorative area.

New light fixture and beveled medicine cabinet. Sorry for the dim picture

New hallway view of the bathroom.

Another hallway view

Breadbox redo

I found this worn out old breadbox in the pantry when I moved in this old house. It was just crying for some attention

This is the after photo. A couple of coats of leftover burgundy paint and some silver enamel on the knob