Progress on Master Bath

Even though we had the hall bath to use while the master bath was under construction, it does wear on you to live in a construction zone. The walls were in and that always feels like you should be farther along than you are. Work gets done, but it still feels like it is getting nowhere. It is actually kind of painful to relive this portion of the project. It all turned out well, but the process did feel slow.

I was able to get the walls and ceiling primed before the work on the radiant heat was started. One thing about being your own general contractor is that you can make that choice.

In addition to priming the ceiling, I wanted to get the finish paint on as well. I didn't want to figure out how to work in such small rooms and keep paint from splattering on tile and cabinets.

Yes, it is dark outside. I can only do this work at night or on weekends and invariably someone was coming to work on the room on a weekday and do the next step that would keep me from being able to get the paint done. So, it turned out to really just be nights that I had to work it in.

Finish coat on the ceiling.

We were really excited to put radiant heat in the floor. We had heard great things about it and it just sounded like such a fabulous feature. Also, this step was the next big hurdle before we could get tile done, which would be the first signs of our design work in this bathroom.

Plastic tubing was stapled over tar paper and wire mesh.

This is the bathroom side.

Hallway connecting bath and closet

Closet side.

Because this installation is on the second floor, a manifold was placed in the wall between the bathroom and the closet on the closet side. A metal cover will be put over this.

After the tubes were in place a bed of mud was put over them. Once that was dry, we had the crown moulding installed. We continued the same crown as in the rest of the house. We also elected to have a fiberglass shower base. It is more reliable to hold water than a traditional shower pan. Since this bathroom was on the second floor, and as we know right above the kitchen that we would renovate next, we didn't want to take any chances. We also had the shampoo boxes covered in fiberglass as well.

Fiberglass in shower, mud bed on floor, and the first of the tile.

After the shower walls were tiled, they started on the floor. We selected a pinwheel pattern with nine squares of shell mosaic as the pivot points.

Here is the finished tile on shower and floors.

Tile pattern carried through to the closet.

Shampoo boxes have a little sparkle from the mosaic. Strips of brick shaped mosaic with pencil above and below were strategically placed.

Final shower with frameless glass door and fixtures.

We began using the shower right away. The toilet is just sitting in place and you can see only part of the room is painted. I did that just to get paint behind the toilet because there was no way I could paint behind it once it was in place.

We still didn't have cabinets or sinks, but it was a great start. That radiant heat is the best thing ever! Just love it. And the weather was turning cold, so just in time.

While we were doing this project, we finished the master bedroom. We needed the doors to the bathroom installed before we could do much more, but we did paint the room, rearrange all the furniture, and add lighting. I'll share some of that work next time.

And, where I left this last time was that new door to the cat room. It wasn't completely finished yet, but it was installed and operational.

Bedroom side.

Cat room side. Door ended up in the perfect place on both sides. Must have been meant to be.