Master Bath Remodel: The Products

Sources of products in this master bath remodel (see pictures in other posts about this topic):

The Tile Shop
The Tile Shop in Schaumburg, IL: Jinshan Bone Travertine polished on floor outside shower, lower shower walls and shower ledge; Multi Mosaics Tumblers on shower floor; Multi Mosaics Smooth Rectangle as shower fixture feature; Sandlewood Tumbled on upper shower walls
(Note: the pictures of Jinshan Bone online today look very different from the color of our tiles purchased in September 2007, and the photos on The Tile Shop website at that time were also different, a deeper color.)

Rohl
Rohl: Country Bath Collection Satin Nickel Column Spout Widespread sink faucets, 12" Shower Rose, 3-Function Classic Handshower, Single-Function Country Handshower/Hose/Bar/Outlet, Thermostatic Non-Volume Controlled Valve and Trim, Volume Control Wall Valve

Restoration Hardware
Restoration Hardware Campaign Line: Train Rack, Double Towel Bar, Robe Hook, Towel Ring, Tissue Holder, Extension Mirror all in Brushed Nickel and Bath Rug in Flax

Ambella Home
Ambella Home Verona Line (through Studio 41 in Chicago area): Verona Double Sink Chest with Countertop and Sinks, Verona Petite Mirrors, Verona Towel Cabinet

Rejuvenation
Rejuvenation: Veneta Colonial Revival Single and Double Sconces in Brushed Nickel ordered and installed with shades facing down instead of up as shown on product website, Cafe Window Rods in Brushed Nickel

Warmly Yours
Warmly Yours: Radiant Floor Heating System for Heated Tile and Stone Floors

Benjamin Moore
Benjamin Moore: Paint color 1017 Dusty Road

HomeGoods
TJ Maxx HomeGoods Chicago area stores: towels, toilet brush holder and toothbrush holder

Home Depot
Home Depot: Really cheapy plastic switchplates that our contractor purchased -- the cheapest you can get at Home Depot. I have purchased Forged Brass Switchplates from Rejuvenation for our other bathrooms, very nice, and will someday replace the plastic ones in the master bath. Maybe when the Dow reaches 14,000 again, if I'm not in a nursing home by then. ;)

Keep watching for new posts ... day by day I will add more info about the remodel. During my online research learning about remodeling and bathrooms, I so much appreciated all the information that people shared online about their design decisions, contractor issues, lessons learned, before and after photos, sources of products, helpful tips, etc., that I hope to share the same and someday someone else will benefit as much as I did. People who went down this road before me put a lot of time into sharing, and I always intended to do the same. A fantastic source of info is the Bathrooms Forum at GardenWeb's That Home Site. Eventually I will post final update there too. That Home Site has a lot of great home repair, renovation and design forums -- check them out.

Master Bath Remodel: Before & After Snapshots

Our master bath remodel was finished in January 2008. A whole year later, I'm finally over the contractor trauma and ready to post.

Before. If you aren't using your tub and it consumes as much space as this one did -- on the diagonal this took as much space as many office cubes where people spend most of their waking hours! -- don't be afraid to get rid of it for good and replace it with a shower you use every day. We started our remodel planning during the resale craze but just didn't worry about resale. This was Seesa's last view of her very fun "playpen" where balls spin 'round and 'round like a record baby. Perfect for rolling around in catnip too. But because she was the only one who used this tub, this area was replaced with a shower (sorry Seesa).

Photoshop Mock Up. This was the mock up of the shower tile and fixtures. There are more mock ups of the walls and floor so I constructed a paper 3-D version for the crew.

After. This was before the glass installation. Variance in the lower tiles is not as annoying as it looks here.

After the glass installation.

Most important, what does Seesa think? I think she likes it. Catnip works just fine in here too:

Before. Somewhere there are photos of the yellow Corian and cherry countertop and cabinets and the agate stone faucet handles. How, um, lovely with the banana yellow tile and the mint green wallpaper. Well not anymore. I'll look for those pics but maybe should spare you.

Photoshop Mock Up. I highly recommend Photoshop to play with combinations of elements before a remodel, if you're designing it yourself. I found mirrors and sconces that I loved but when placed in the mock up they looked horrible. I tried many, many combinations of various sconces, faucets, mirrors, etc. I even experimented with what this looks like with tile on the wall. This was the final plan.

After.

More posts to follow with more pics and all the details ...

What Type Is Your Blog?

I was curious to know, is my blog an INTJ/ENTJ, like its owner. What about yours? Try it out at Typealyzer. Here's Visual Obsessions:

ESTP - The Doers

The active and playful type. They are especially attuned to people and things around them and often full of energy, talking, joking and engaging in physical out-door activities. The Doers are happiest with action-filled work which craves their full attention and focus. They might be very impulsive and more keen on starting something new than following it through. They might have a problem with sitting still or remaining inactive for any period of time.

Accurate? Active & energetic? Well yes. Like action-filled work? Yes. And absolutely yes, often I focus on something too much at the absence of everything else. Impulsive? Yeah. More keen on starting something new than following it through? Oh yeah -- have you seen all the various labels on here already? Have you seen the imagined projects not even started before another impulsive idea jumps in? Yeah ...

But, um, one small problem with the algorithm. Apparently this is what an ESTP blog looks like:

If you only knew. Although I have been planning to sew these yoga pants and have the black fabric pre-washed and ready to go, Kwik Sew 3115:

I even contoured the pattern legs to fit closer at the knee and flare out at the hem. I've sewn these before and while I like the envelope drawing, the pants are straight and very wide, not quite like shown here. But, ya think I'll get impulsive and distracted and abandon that idea for another one before it's ever started? Maybe I should get something done and prove that wrong.

How Ideas and Obsessions Get Started

So a blog that I regularly read, Gorgeous Things, posted about a blog named Counterfeit Chic, a name which intrigued me due to my penchant for knock-offs, thus I visited the blog with some, um, questions in mind. A little bit of surfing and clicking later, I come across a flickr post of the photo below:



... which as Counterfeit Chic elaborated, shows computer code instead of the (perhaps) fake logo it's supposed to show. These jeans were found in Chatuchak Market in Bangkok, Thailand, and having been there, I could completely believe these are fake. I mean, isn't the fantastic array of fakes a major draw to travel to Thailand? Just ask my "sitting man" that looks very much like an antique Sukothai Buddha unearthed during an archeological dig, along with the (not really) antique Burmese rain drum we bought at Chatuchak Market. If I can't afford to pay $10,000 at Golden Triangle in Chicago, why wouldn't I pay $400 at Chatuchak for the "new old" Burmese rain drum as a unique side table? I realize this is not a perfect comparison -- there are no LV logo or Burberry brand names on these pieces. But, consider this, how many "antiques" sold at real antique prices really are the true thing? How many travelers have had their wallets taken for a ride by men who just last week were rubbing dirt on their "antique" purchase? Beware, folks, and know what you're getting for your money. And perhaps we shouldn't be taking the real antiques halfway across the world anyway. I buy the replications with the full knowledge that that's what they are. It's not an investment, it's just something I want to live with and remind me of stories from Chatuchak Market and other places far away.

Now on to those "oops" jeans from Chatuchak ... what a great idea!!! Sewists (or sewers whatever you prefer) who are also blog nerds, why not put a piece of your blog's HTML code on a label? I have plenty of incorrect SAS code from grad school days to play with too. Computer chic!! Let the ideas run ...

Glimpses

While we're on the topic of wood carvings, here is a plaque of the incarnations of Krishna in our second floor hallway. From one of my favorite shops in Stillwater, Minnesota -- Enigma Global Artifacts.

Glimpses ... of Sweet India Dreams

Here is a glimpse of other bedroom elements that the India bed shown below would join:

-- Kama sutra carved wooden doors from Seret & Sons in Santa Fe, once part of temple doors in India

-- Carved wooden candlesticks that were crafted as samples for our former business by a kind businessman in Delhi

-- Wallpaper of unknown origin. It isn't my head-over-heels favorite wallpaper but it would complement the bed. And having already removed wallpaper from five rooms, I know how either expensive (if someone else does it) or time-consuming (if you do it) it can be. So this wallpaper is staying for now.