Master Bath Remodel: The Products 1+ Year Later

Some things you like in pictures, hate them in person. Fortunately everything we bought for this renovation was spot-on, exactly what we expected.

But some things you think you want, you decide later was a bad idea.

Put travertine tile first on that list.

Travertine is in my bathroom because it is beautiful. I couldn't find a porcelain or ceramic I liked as much. Well I should have kept looking. Or slightly downgraded my expectations. Which is OK, in the big picture of life, travertine isn't so important. If you face the allure of natural stone, really think about what you're doing, and if it's right for you. I was dazzled by beauty. Figured, will worry about consequences later. But, really, c'mon, bad things happen rarely happen to me, what consequences could there be? I rarely have to deal with consequences.

Now I have to deal with consequences.

I didn't walk into travertine tile blindly. People on the bathroom forum at That Home Site and the John Bridge tile forum are good at educating you. With natural stone (marble, travertine, others) you must be careful about cleaners, cosmetics, contact lens solution, kid pee, cat vomit, and ... apparently, tile installers. After a year of successfully keeping my bathroom floor clean without ever once scratching tile with an itty-bitty grain of kitty litter, never once dripping nail polish remover on it, never once spilling bubbling contact lens cleaner, and after a year of having general wear and tear not on my bathroom but on my brain and forehead wrinkles for having to constantly think about these things ... the tile contractor finally did my floor in. Actually, a cat did before the tile guy, but a cat is a cat and doesn't know what his vomit can do to a travertine floor so he can be forgiven. (all animal owners and parents and messy adults, like I said, know what you're walking into with stone tile)

The contractor originally installed a broken tile and grouted the crack. Yeah. This was right inside the door and I couldn't live with it, so they were called back to fix it. Plus other sloppy work had to be re-done like faucets not installed correctly, etc. After replacing five tiles due to difficulty in removing the one bad tile, the floor looked perfect. We fortunately had enough good quality matching tiles to handle this fix. But enter the foreboding music as I carefully tucked away the 3 remaining good tiles in the basement, "just in case."

But the Warmly Yours radiant heat system worked only sporadically after that fix. During this past winter, it finally quit for good. Warmly Yours was great with their help and response. And wow, small world, their HQ is only a few miles from us in Long Grove, IL. So they sent someone to see our bathroom in person and figure out the problem. Turns out, it was in the wires. In the general vicinity of where the contractor replaced the broken tile.

So, enter again the contractor. This time, they remove numerous tiles trying to find the broken wire. Broken wire is identified and replaced, we'll again have a 90-degree floor on sub-zero days. The cats will love it, we'll love it, but whoa ... I only have 3 good tiles. Thus one major consequence of natural stone. You can go to the store 18 months after the original purchase, and they may not have the appropriate stone. It may look different enough to look stupid. They say that's the beauty, the variation of natural stone. I say, that's no excuse for looking stupid. Like a bad hairdye job that leaves you streaky and cheap-looking (been there done that too), is that explained away by beauty of natural variation? I don't think so. Now you could say why didn't I buy up enough extra stone to last through multiple floor fixes through the rest of my lifetime, and I would say to anyone considering natural stone ... do that, good idea!

So now, as you enter the bathroom, there is no longer the zen effect of a sweeping expanse of polished stones each unique but in same color tone as their neighbors ... no ... you are exposed to a hodge-podge crazy quilt effect of travertine that hurts my eye. And what hurts more, the contractor etched the stone while trying to clean it. It looks like shit. The newly-replaced stones and edges of stones around them are etched in the back-and-forth vertical and right-to-left horizontal plaid pattern of a very sloppy clean-up artist using an acidic cleaning product. A tile guy cleaning natural stone with acid. Can you believe that. What luck do I have to endure that consequence? I should stop typing here because I'm still in the angry phase. This was discovered yesterday when I arrived home with 15 minutes to spare before needing to drive my husband to catch an international flight. Not a good time to flail arms and yell. So neither of us were able to "just get it out."

For now the solution is the bathroom door is closed and I cannot go in there because both times that I did, I almost picked up a hammer and smashed the tiles! If a hammer were within reach, we'd be in trouble. And actually a toolbox is right outside the bathroom door. Close enough to be very dangerous. People who know me, know I'd probably really do it, too!!

When will I get beyond this?

But that's not all. To prevent the travertine in the shower from getting soapscum build-up requiring powerful and dangerous cleaning agents, we must squeegee. So after every shower, with all the square footage of the travertine and the glass walls and door, we squeegee and squeegee and squeegee some more ... it's really a pain in the ass! I'm not a morning person, I'm always running late for work, I just couldn't take the squeegeeing any more. So I use the guest bathroom shower now. Yeah, a plain ol' tub with Target shower curtains, just like the 1970's bathrooms many of us grew up with, and ugly cheap shiny gold Moen fixtures. It does the job that's needed. My beautiful stone shower stands untouched. Like a piece of art in a museum.

For anyone considering natural stone, you have been forewarned of the dangers of mental anguish. The pain may not be worth the beauty.

All the other renovation products? Nothing negative to say, really ... the Rohl faucets are still in great condition, wipe clean easy, feel substantial and smooth when using the handles. The Ambella cabinets are not the best quality wood but they do stand up to cat claws flailing about when a cat misses its jump to the counter, and I can't think of many more rigorous tests for wood furniture than that. All Restoration Hardware accessories are good quality and worth the money. The heavy train rack and double towel rack have even stayed on the wall, fully loaded with towels, for a year when I noticed the contractor failed to install the little pins under them, so they aren't the most stable. Reminds me, to call Restoration Hardware and get replacement pins. The toilet is a Kohler and it works fine. When planning the renovation we obsessed about Toto vs Kohler and A vs B for a bunch of other things. Some people enjoy that process. I think it took a few years off my life expectancy. It made me eat more. It made a whole bunch of clothes not fit so well. In the end, what we chose was fine ...

Except for the travertine and that damn contractor ... but what did I say above ... in the big picture of life, travertine isn't so important ...

I hope I believe that someday.

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 ...

Getting Visionary Again

Lack of posts lately due not to waning interest in maintaining a blog, but a crazy deadline-driven and travel-filled work schedule. I read home decor and gardening magazines on flights. On a recent trip, one photo set my brain whirling and I haven't forgotten it. Hooked on stone, again! The photo showed an English basement window open to a stone wall outside, stone walls inside and slate floor. Oh boy oh boy oh boy. So I get visions of a stone wine cellar in our basement. Very grotto-ish. With low lighting. An old wood door with iron scrollwork, shipped from a dusty warehouse within earshot of the spice traders in Cochin. Lots of stories and secrets are in the aisles of that warehouse and I'm itching for an excuse to go back. However, without getting into laborious detail of our current situation, getting a bona fide stone wine cellar big enough for a dining table surrounded by wine-lined walls would entail digging to expand the basement. And that just ain't happenin'.

BUT ... what could happen ... a slice of the feeling and slightly different ... there is a cement staircase behind our house leading down to a door into the basement. And behind the wood door that is always closed is a metal and glass storm door. It's always closed, even when we're in the basement in nice weather, because the view is nasty. Sunshine never hits the ugly gray cement wall and it's now becoming slick with, hmmm, something more algae-like than pretty carpeted moss, which I would actually like. But what if that cement were covered with stone veneer? And the bushes at the top of the stairs chopped down and replaced with low-growing flowers to allow sunlight onto the steps, and a view of the blue sky ... at least for the person on the exercise bike by the door. Why not. The cats would love it. When working down there on hobbies, you could hear the birds singing, feel fresh air.

There's all winter to plan ...

Stone Cold Crazy 2

So there's this great stone showroom not far away, Schwake Stone. They have what I need. For the past two summers, I've been piece by piece, bit by bit, building a 6-8" tall, rustic stone edge along the front garden. Yeah, just an edging of stone, but I'm very precise about what I want there. And it's taking forever to complete it as I pick up one or two, or sometimes if I'm very lucky, I find three or four pieces at the same time that are the right shape, width, height. Can you imagine how long it would take me to build a 2-foot tall wall? And that's still a very short wall!

Now, I must build stone edging under my cascading curved swaths of Japanese Forest Grass, which when it grows up will look like this from Heronswood:


It's not as full and lush yet, but it's getting there. And it needs a low bank of stone under it to support it and set it aside from the grass. See, Heronswood thought so too.

And, after two years, I can't believe that all I have to do is drive down to the Schwake showroom and find the stone I want, like one of these:

So coming soon, a photo not from the Internet but from my own garden of Hakonechloa macra 'Aureola' spilling over a low edging of dry-stacked thin stone.

Suffocated By Oak II

Our kitchen has a completely useless desk in one corner. When we first moved in, I had many new file folders to manage for new household services, utilities, insurers, etc. I wanted to keep them close at hand as I was talking with these companies frequently. But the desk drawer is not wide enough for file folders. Useless!! We are also never going to sit at it because it's child-sized, really, and a chair would be encroaching on the kitty-cat racetrack in our house. And oh yeah, humans walk through that track frequently too.

It's an inefficient area in a room where efficient use of space is paramount. The space under the desk by default stores big handbags, computer bags, bags of rice, etc. And the desktop is an open air junk drawer to catch the mail, spare change, pens, coupons, sunglasses, cat treats, tubes of glue, extra cereal boxes that don't fit in the cabinet, cell phones, Blackberries, etc. What a mess!! Above this junk is about 18" of blank air space, then a wall cabinet above that. Meanwhile, most of our plates and bowls are stored in the family room and dining room nearby, and sometimes-used appliances like bread machine and quesadilla maker sit on the basement floor right now.

A better use of this whole space is sorely needed. I've often envisioned ripping out the desk and the wall cabinet and replacing them with a red Chinese cabinet like this one at one of my favorite websites to drool over vintage and antique Chinese furniture, Antiques by Zaar:

We already have a fair number of vintage and reproduction Chinese pieces, and I think this would contrast in an interesting way with our traditional kitchen. Our kitchen has moss green granite counters with black specks in it, and deep red patterned runners protecting the wood floor from all the sharp and hard things I drop on it. The clean lines of a cabinet like this wouldn't clash and would give us stylish storage. Someday, someday ...

Stone Cold Crazy

On our recent trip to Tuscany, I fell for stone. Rustic stone walls everywhere. Loved it. I'd already had plans for stone for our home -- a bluestone walkway to the front door with a wide hefty stone step to the porch, a bluestone patio, and a raised garden surrounded by low fieldstone wall in the backyard. I'd like to add stone veneer ...

... below the lower half of our sunroom structure, below the windows.

Or, salmon/beige/gray old Chicago brick to match the brick accents on the front of our house. Hmmmmmm. Obsessing. More later ...

Suffocated By Oak

I travel too often for work, and like to spend flight time flipping through home decor and renovation magazines. The latest issue of This Old House ignited a back burner obsession: painting our kitchen cabinets. No, that link is not my kitchen cabinets, instead it offers delicious photo ideas from This Old House to inspire painting cabinets. Our cabinets are good -- they are oak and so solid that I can't screw in hooks on the inside doors to hang potholders. But, our kitchen floor is oak too. And the island is built of oak. And there are two planks of oak facing our entry hallway that encase the fridge and double oven. There's so much oak! It's suffocation by oak! And grain! Too much of a good thing. Or, as some people who haven't been struck by the homey charms of a typical midwestern house, any oak at all is not a good thing. I mean, really, I do have a hard time imagining lots of oak in California, or Seattle. It just doesn't seem to fit. But in Chicago, Minneapolis, Ann Arbor, Detroit -- all places I've lived -- oak cabinetry is nearly inescapable. I can accept it, but to a point.

Which leads to the ideas in the back of my mind to transform the cabinets into a warm buttery ivory, perhaps, with darker antiqued streaks in the cracks and on the edges. But I don't know. It's a big commitment. Not something to jump into impulsively, as I'm likely to do. This Old House does tell you how to paint the cabinets.

Some ideas ... light cabinets with darker glaze accents like this finish at KraftMaid:

Something like this effect at Plain & Fancy cabinets, except with more glaze in the recessed areas of the cabinets:

A final note to leave you with as I got drawn into the This Old House site: vintage metal doorknobs. What things people get crazy about! But they are beautiful. A row of these on the wall to hang robes and such would be something.