BFF & Remodeling Her Bathroom

My BFF-Cynthia, needed a new bathroom and she had a week of vacation with which to reinvent her commode.
After volunteering to help her far in advance, I then learned that one side of my family would be leaving town just as another would be coming in at this same time. Simultaneously, I contracted bronchitis from an unnamed source.

I didn’t get to help as much as I would have liked to. But, at least I was able to help a bit. We painted, installed hexagon tile-with the help of Biceps and removed excess grout together.

Cynthia hired a plumber install the toilet and a new vanity-I wasn’t about to try and tackle plumbing after my debacle with one of my rent houses. I flooded the second story with my awesome plumbing skillz.

This is what her bathroom looked like before it was torn apart and renewed. Fine, but a bit boring.

My sweet brother, Pat, donated his time and removed the old toilet and vanity.

I removed and numbered all of the baseboards and light switch plates. We taped off the tiling and any other surface that needed to be protected with painter’s tape.

We knew we would get messy. Mostly on purpose.

Cynthia chose a beautiful limey green color for the walls, with accents of grays and whites. I tackled the cutting in and she had fun rolling the walls. And my pants.

Next, there were some floor leveling issues that needed to be addressed where a few loose tiles had been removed. So, I addressed them and asked, “Why aren’t you level, you stupid floor?”.

There was no response.

I grabbed my drill, a bag of dry mastic and got to work. Leveling a floor is a lot like icing a cake-except with dusty mastic, a drill, stinky clothes and severely dry hands afterwards.

We then paused for a moment and had some refreshments. This is what I live for when remodeling…

After our refreshments, we got back to work and scuffed up the linoleum floor with a sanding block, which helps the mastic stick to the flooring, holding the tile in place.

About halfway through the process of laying the tile, a frantic call was made to Biceps-who came right over.

That’s a good man.

We had little spare tile to work with, the mastic was drying too quickly, the tile saw blade was dulling, the angles needing to be cut were giving me a mathematical headache and…I was getting grouchy.

Pictured here is all that was leftover of the tile. Talk about cutting it close-literally. Hah.

After the tile was laid; my backs, knees and fingers breathed a sigh of relief.

We were a little delirious by the end of the night, as can be seen here. Nothing like photographing stinky remodelers at the end of the work day and then posting it online for the world to see.

I like to keep it real. Real-real.

The next day, Cynthia’s sweet mother came to her rescue, cleaning out excess mastic from between the tiles-with a toothpick. This is one devoted momma.

The two of them decided to tackle grouting together.

It did not go as planned.

Bicep’s and I were called and headed over to lend a hand. We found two tuckered out hard working women who desperately needed a break. The grout they had applied was a little too thick and was drying-quickly.

We used everything we had on hand to scrape off the excess grout-sponges, a grill brush, toothbrushes. It was a tense couple of hours until all of the grout was off. Although, Cynthia’s mother was just as happy as if she were picnicking in the park.

I could learn a lot from this woman.

After the grout incident, Cynthia was able to install her brand new toilet and vanity.

And here she is. So pretty.

I will post some pictures with the accessories Cynthia chose soon. Stay tuned.

Happy New Year! (Favorite Posts and Stuff.)

Dear Readers-
It’s a brand new year. 2011 is gone. 2012 is here. To celebrate moving forward, I thought I would peer back into my archives and share with maybe the newbies what was most popular here at Potholes and Pantyhose.
Here are a few favorites from 2011-those with the most comments, or the most hits.
 

Remodeling my Master Bathroom was a pleasure and a success.
Biceps was out of town and I got to work recreating our boring bathroom. I loved the end result-as did Biceps. I think he mostly loved not having to do it himself….

Secondly topping the list was my DIY Spinning Composter:
This horrible picture of me has been repinned on Pinterest over 2K times. I wish I would have had the foresight to change out of my work clothes. I suppose it’s good for you to see me grubby and gross from time to time…

My Broken Mirror Art still gets a lot of action.
Biceps and I created this mirror from sections we no longer needed after our remodel. It still sits above our fireplace and still gets the oohs and aahs from newcomers.

My tutorial on Canning Jalapeno Pepper Jelly received more responses than I had anticipated.
The recipe is very simple-and if you don’t burn yourself on the hot steam from the canner-it’s also pretty painless.

I have no idea why, but this silly little post seemed to spark some conversation. My frizzy hair needed help, and I asked you for your input.
You have never failed, me dear readers and gave me tons of insight into the world of hair care.

My Pretty Paper Christmas trees not only got a lot of ooh’s and aah’s around the internet world, they received praise from family members and friends alike.
Turquoise and red have become a favorite of mine. Free and cheap are also favorites.

For fear of boring you, I’m ending with this post. My DIY Recycled and Cheap Rain Barrel.
This is a simple solution to gathering your roof water. The tutorial is rather simple, the process takes a few hours and you can go to bed at night knowing your water bill won’t be astronomical during the dry season.
 
I hope you’ve enjoyed a walk with me down memory lane. I know that I have enjoyed my time with you!
Have a great New Year-be safe, drink lots of water and don’t eat too much cake.
Happy New Year!

Linking up to: http://diyshowoff.com/2012/01/diy-2011-recap-party.html

The Master Bathroom Remodel-Part Uno

While Bicep’s was away on tour, I got a wild hair to remodel our Master Bedroom and Bathroom. We’ve never lived in one of our houses long enough to want to “remodel our remodel”. After only 3 years of living in our “Current Remodel“, it seemed a little ridiculous to remodel, but the green we chose for both the Master Bed and the Master Bath had to go.

In the beginning, we loved the green. Then I began to loathe it.

Nothing matched it. Nothing. Notice how bare this room is of any accessories? This is after 3 years of living in this house. No rugs, no paintings on the wall, no warmth.

(Sorry for the quality of the photo-this picture was taken with my phone and I forget to up the anty and pull out the fancy camera).
I taped off all the areas I knew I would slop paint on, vacuumed all cobwebs, rolled up my shirt sleeves and got to work. I chose a deep gray paint that would compliment the purple I had just painted in the adjoining Master Bedroom.

We had spent an arm and a leg “staining” our concrete. The staining process didn’t work and we aren’t sure why. The stain did take in another bathroom in our house. Just not this one. And the “stain” would stick to our feet, our shoes and our kitty cat paws anytime we would walk through the bathroom.
The stain was a pain.
It, much like the green paint color, needed to go.

Using a wall scraper, elbow grease and a few choice words, the concrete “stain” was removed.

The stain on the sink vanity and my makeup area was removed with a very technical procedure of placing packing tape on the surface of the vanity and removing the tape-along with most of the stain. I had to scrape the stubborn areas with the wall scraper, too.

Next came El Diablo-Muriatic Acid-to clean the newly scraped concrete. Diluting the acid with water, I scrubbed the floor armed with chemical safe rubber gloves and eye protection. I don’t mess about. I taped off and saran wrapped anything the acid might touch-including, don’t laugh, my shoes. Probably overkill, but again…I don’t mess about.

With the concrete clean and dry, the next phase of the remodel was to paint the vanities. And it was about to get kuh-razy.

I chose a canary yellow concrete paint-made for garage floors, porches and patios-to brighten the lives of my two vanities.

I used a foamy brush and applied four coats of the concrete paint, allowing it to dry according to what the can told me to do.

I was a little shocked at first with how bright the yellow was. However, I had a plan. I will be adding accessories to compliment the gray and yellow motif going on here. It’s all part of my master plan. I will soon post Master Bathroom Remodel-Part Deux-don’t you worry.