The Shower Renovation!

We got done!  Not a minute too soon, I swear I had nothing left in me at the end of it.  I had the best weekend of my life last weekend (pregnancy gives you short term memory ;-)), I had to do nothing.  I CHOOSE still to do somethings, even work on the house but I was not under any deadlines, so it is different, mentally.

So here is what the addition all shakes out to:

• our house is now 36 s.f. (~20%) bigger, bringing the total to 232 s.f. of goodness.
• In that extra square footage we have gained two children’s beds, clothes and toy storage for those kiddos and open floor space to play in, which I am contemplating filling with a kids table set that I will make for Hazel to have her tea parties on… but that is a different post…
• We lost a patio 🙁 (so worth it already!)
• We changed out all of the flooring in the entire house and nixed the radiant heat floor (It wasn’t doing us any good)
• All the metal that was getting rusty looking from moisture issues and not being sealed properly from the start is now a crisp white.
• The counter tops, bathroom sink and barn door have been updated to match,
• The original plan was to add a bathtub but I ran out of steam for a big re-tile job so I made due with refinishing the existing shower, taking it from a black cave to a refreshing white and clean look!

So, budget… I had originally planned $1,500 to do the addition.  But then I added reflooring and refinishing the counters so I bumped it up to $2,000 (even though the flooring actually cost $700… so you see I robbed Peter to pay Paul… I try to trick myself like that)  Well, it came out to just over $2,200 so it didn’t really help to try to trick myself into robbing Peter, I ultimately spent the original $1,500 plus the full $700 for new floors… so kind of on budget, right :).  The total cost, I believe was $2,227.15, which if you add that to the entire previous house cost ($11,416.16) comes to $13,643.31 for my completed tiny house.  The house as is would not have been comfortable for all of us after Mr. T is born in Sept/Oct.  This small addition will make the tiny house a viable option for all of us for a good 3-5 more years, so I think it was a pretty solid investment!

So I am going to start off with the shower redo:

If you want more info on the specifics of the product used you can find the exact paint here, Rust-Oleum two part tub and tile refinishing kit

And the respirator I used, which I HIGHLY recommend, even if not pregnant (the reviews on just the face mask versions were not great with this paint, it smells terrible!).  I did not smell a thing and this one is only a little more expensive then the others… you can see it HERE, it worked well for this pregnant lady and my midwife was not even a little concerned, she found my below pregnancy picture hilarious! 🙂

Getting things ready with a good cleaning. I used soap and water, then lime-a-way. the box said to sand with 400-600 grit sandpaper to get asurface paint would stick to... I started this but it actually made my tiles smoother since they kind of had a rough surface anyway, the paint is intended for the smooth subway tiles too... so I skipped that on the rest of the shower.

It's only a couple years old and I've not used much in the way of non-natural soaps and cleaning supplies so it was a pretty simple clean really.

The cubby for the shampoos 🙂

And the floor

Then I taped the edges just like any other paint job

I missed a picture here but the instructions said to cut in the corners and edges first like any other paint job and then go onto the rest of it with a roller

The base/entry gets a little tricky but it works 'well enough' 🙂

Here is the first layer put on. I emailed the manufacturere before purchase and made sure to ask if it would cover black tiles...

They said yes but it may take 2-3 coats... I was a bit skeptical after one 🙂

I definitely had that 'I've made a terrible mistake' feeling...

But I was glad I bought enough to do 4-6 coats, thinking they were a bit light on the estimate... turns out I only bought enough for 3 coats max though. The box said it would do a shower stall and tub... I had less than that area so I assumed each box would do 1.5-2 coats... each box BARELY did one full coat because all of the brushes I went through, that disintegrated while full of paint, becoming unusable and wasting that paint! there was a little bit of panic

This is how you paint with epoxy acrylic paint (aka STINKIE!!!) while 7 months pregnant! Couldn't smell a thing!

the box says you are able to paint a second coat withing 2 hours (but not more than 6 if it's the same bucket of paint, it will set) BUT if you are doing more than 2 coats it asked you to wait 18 hours between coats. After reading the online reviews many people said to wait the 18 hours between coats, if you try to do a second coat too soon you will 'reactivate' the first coat and royally mess things up...

So I waited until the next night and did coat number two... I was feeling a little better about the coverage, not like it was a huge mistake but you could definitely still see patches of grey through it.

It also tended to draw attention to all the flaws. The tile job is honestly horrible... I learned that I suck at tiling and also that I will hire a professional for that task if I ever need it again :). The tiles are all the same as what used to be my tile floor just cut into quarters, and not perfectly so there was some variation in grout line thicknesses, some of the tiles popped out more for whatever reason, I was never real happy with the texture BUT when it is all one uniform color like the white the texture and imperfections seem to add to it... it kind of mimics the texture of the pallet wood on the exterior, which I like!

Floor looks a lot better! I learned to not waste those foam rollers full of paint that I couldnt use anymore on the walls, put on some gloves and rubbed them all over the floor, that was about the best way to get in all the groves anyway, I was feeling much better about the coverage at the end of coat 2

BUT then it was very noticable where my crappy tile job was lacking. I had some grout failing (from a crappy job done, not from any movement issues) so I chipped it all out and filled it in with a construction adhesive I had on hand... I didn't really have time or desire to regrout and the paint actually recommended an adheasive to fill the gaps (you can't use the paint over a soft surface like caulk).

MOST of the poor grouting happened around the cubbies because I couldn't stand on the floor when I was grouting and the shower is deep enough that it was a long reach for my little t-rex arms so a crappy job was done and 'dealt with' for this long. It looks WAY better to have all the imperfections filled!

Coat #3, done another 18 hours after the second coat.

Made for a three day long adventure

With another 72 hours of dry time before I could actually use the shower

BUT I think it covered REALLY well and the shower is so much brighter and happier to use!

Taking the tape off the once white trim now looks grey... and I re-caulked it using a non paint able silicon caulk so I couldnt even give it a new coat!! (mistake!! I hate when I buy the non-paintable stuff!!)

I love it so much!

🙂

James suggested I try to leave the floor the dark color but I think that would have been very difficult and I am not in love with how it may have looked...

AND! I even changed the lightbulb that burnt out a few months back so its SUPER bright 🙂

SO Awesome, I love that it actually turned out well, I had my doubts but it's all a learning experience, right! 🙂

OK, so that was my awesome shower remodel, now a few overall shots of the place, these are not great photos because, well they were taken with my tablet by me and I am NOT a great photographer…  One of the best things I ever did before was to hire a professional photographer to take some pictures though so I will be doing that again.  It is nice to have a great image to remember what the house should look like when it’s cleaned right ;-).  Lol!  BUT here are a couple just to show what it looks like, I will get my act together and do a new video tour here shortly as well, that usually gives a better idea of how things feel walking through the space.

I also finally got some real blinds instead of the cruddy little home made ones, these ones do MUCh better at keeping heat out, which we need, it's been 100+ degrees MANY days recently! these are on all the doors and windows now

I purposely kept lots of open wall space, it makes things feel bigger, originally I was going to have a full sized dresser in their room but through construction it was clear that Hazel loved having the open space to play so we did the stack storage baskets and kept most of the floor area clear for tea parties and what-not. 🙂

And the view from their room

She LOVES playing hide and seek but they also help with those daytime naps... the house is pretty bright and airy, even moreso now, that doesn't mix well with naptime.

The bottom bunk with the curtains I made, I stuck with the green and teal doing green below, teal above, Hazel likes them both and has learned already to climb the ladder to the top bunk (scary, I thought it would be a long while still!) She just can't go down...

These are the new lights, we picked these up in April at the Ikea by the tiny house conference. I have two in the kiddos room and one up in our loft, they are nice because the poor lamp I had got mangled by Hazels curiosity and the hangy ones stay out of reach/view.

Standing in the kitchen looking into teh kiddos room, I was hoping that the storage rack wouldn't block the view of me being able to peek in and check on them through the door, it doesn't, I'm very happy about that! that is one of those things that is hard to tell, even from a 3D model.

denver denver denver... you'd never know he's not allowed on the couch! 🙂

From the living room, the house is about 5' longer now, interior space.

From the living room, the house is about 5' longer now, interior space.

Shot from the kitchen

The new bathroom sink, this used to be the dark birch wood, swapped out for bamboo

even in a great big house Hazel finds the little box to ffit into 🙂

Nap buddies

And the rest of the time she harasses poor denver...

and this is what Hazel looks like most of the time we were working... we get the bulk of our work done during her naps though she is getting really good at fetching us things like tools and screws! She's a smarty pants will grap a tape measre for you like no bodies business!

And, the new rugs to protect the new floors that Denver ALREADY scratched! We had a squirrel eating out of HIS food dish on the back patio and he just couldn't take it, I opened the door and he shot out like a rocket after him... dug his back nail RIGHT into the floor before we were even done laying it down, I contemplated back tracking enough to replace that piece... but then decided... its probably going to happen again, it is character, if it gets really bad I will refinish the floor... for now these rugs do a beautiful job of protecting and give a little cushion. He even stays off the couch better in favor of spreading out on the new soft flooring 🙂

To start, since wordpress doesnt seem to let me reorder pictures into the right order... This is just to show that Denver still has a few inches on the girl, but she is gaining fast!! (31" tall :))

Hazel showing off her climbing skills, and bagel eating skills 🙂

We still have a few minor things we're working on... making some big rolling toy boxes, one for each kid that slide under their bottom bunk. James was kind enough to chop the pieces on his little table saw that I am afraid to use...

I mis measured, of course so they are literally 1/4" too tall to work as is, so for now they sit in the living room and are little play boxes, I'll get them fixed asap! somehow 🙂

So that is that, while I call the house and the renovation ‘done’ there are still some little pieces I am working on as I go and letting change as needed.  I think I am going to make Hazel a little table and chair set as she really likes having a little stool in  her room, she uses it like a table, I think she would dig her own little table.  She’s such and independent girl!  If I don’t entertain her well enough through the day she takes off to play alone in her room, she LOVES the little handles on her door that we placed at her height.  She runs back there carefully grabs her handle and closes the door to play alone :).  She reads her books and plays with her little people who she’s got names for, I’ll ask her to go get ‘Eric’ or ‘Abby’ and she will go grab a specific one, it’s pretty cute… I’m SO glad we decided to add on but also SOOOO glad to be on the other side of this renovation!!  It didn’t turn out exactly as planned, things never do, but I absolutely love it!

I’ll update soon with a video tour and hopefully some better images!