Hey there. So I’m giving up on being “ready” to launch this new site and decided that there’s no time like the present, so welcome to From Wyoming With Love! I’ve previously been blogging at lifeasweloveitblog.com, but am hoping my new domain is a little more specific to who I am and what I’m about.
Anyhoo. Back to the One Room Challenge. If you’re catching up, this is my second time participating in a six week design challenge to transform an entire room over the course of 6 weeks. Check out what we’ve been up to so far here: Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3
Three things for week four:
- We pretty much failed to make much progress (AT ALL) on the bathroom this past week. It was beautiful out on Saturday, so we spent some time outside at Curt Gowdy State Park and enjoyed the weather while it lasted. This week it’s back to Wyoming Winter 2.0 with 30-40 degree temps, snow, and wind. Regardless, all we have gotten done is our first round of taping and mudding almost all of the drywall and blue board seams.
- With only about 5 hours of experience (in my life) in drywall taping and mudding, I can already tell you. This is not my favorite part of DIYing a bathroom.
- I went to order our wall tile this weekend, and found out that Home Depot is OUT OF STOCK online. Well, farts.
So instead of going on about all of the failing we did this week, let’s talk about something fun like our plans for fixtures and finishes, yeah?
TILE:
For our floor tile, we went with a 1″ Bianco White Carrara hex mosaic marble. We ordered a sample through Amazon, which was sold and shipped by Oracle Tile and Stone. With the sample, they offered 10% off if you order directly through them. I called to place our order, and was actually impressed with the customer service. The gentleman who I spoke with was named Mustafa, and he quickly located our sample order. There are a few variations of the Carrara marble on Amazon (Honed vs. Polished, 1″ vs. 2″, Italian vs. Oriental, etc.) so I was happy to know that he had the information on the exact sample we had received.
With the 10% discount, Mustafa told me he could offer a price of $8.75/SF. When I mentioned that there were other sellers offering a slightly cheaper price on Amazon (something like $8.25 or $8.50 – it varies), he explained that those products are likely the Oriental or Turkish marble, which may be advertised as Italian but is not the same. He also sent me an email to show the difference between the types of marble, and indicated that they sell the other variations at a cheaper price.
I agreed that the Italian looks the nicest and is worth the extra cost. In all honesty, there’s no way to know if one of the cheaper products online is the exact same type and quality, but hey. Gut feel and customer service is worth a lot. I called Mustafa back directly, and placed our order. Shipping was free, and 9 boxes of very heavy marble tile were on our door step about 3 business days later. I would recommend Oracle Tile and Stone if you are looking for nice marble tile and good customer service!
Wall tile is the bummer of the week since it seems to be out of stock, but here is what we plan on using: Daltile Rittenhouse Square Matte in Desert Gray. This is a standard subway tile size, at 3″ x 6″. We ordered one box a couple of months ago to check out the finish, and I love it. Now I just have to wait for it to come back in stock, or find another supplier. The plan is to do the shower walls, ceiling, and a 4′ wainscot around the rest of the bathroom walls.
VANITY and SINK:
We made a trip to IKEA for several of our bathroom finish items, the vanity being the top priority. We had previously been eye-balling the Godmorgon in either a foil finish or the black-brown. At the store, we found that they had just recently introduced a new Walnut finish.
I love the trim around the drawer fronts that was not featured on the other finishes, and the color is great. I think the style will tie into the rest of our fairly traditional house a bit better than a totally Euro-modern vanity would.
I was also pleasantly surprised to find that IKEA has a Light Gray Stone Braviken sink. I went into the store expecting that the only option would be white.
We chose the Ensen faucet from IKEA as well. So we’re going maybe 75% Euro-Modern.
SHELVING:
We love the Molger wall shelf that we bought for our main bathroom upstairs, so we figured if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. And by that, I mean we bought a second one for the guest bath.
LIGHTS:
You’re not going to believe this (or maybe you will), but one of the things I am most excited about is our overhead light find from…
Wait for it…
IKEA.
Jesse pointed the light out in one of the showrooms, and I fell in love. I seriously haven’t stopped talking about it since we brought it home. While I didn’t care for most of the lighting that I saw at IKEA, I feel like this fixture has a unique vintage-y feel, and no one will know it’s from the big Swedish box store. And I must have been at least partially right with my feeling, because I can’t find the light online. It’s part of their Vanadin line, and the only item that comes up currently is this pendant light (which is also awesome). So I am super glad we snatched it up, and you’ll just have to wait for the reveal to see it!
For our vanity lights, we found a cute little fixture at Menard’s. I had never heard of Menard’s until we got one in Wyoming, but if you have one you know how awesome it is! This light obviously won’t match the overhead fixture exactly, but I think they’ll work together nicely.
TOILET:
Obviously I can’t leave out the toilet. We have this funny story where our only toilet got broken on New Years Eve. Not broken like “it’s not flushing so you might have to open the lid and jingle the thing”. Broken like the tank straight up cracked in half, cut our friend’s hand who couldn’t figure out how to turn the water off, and we had gallons of water (and some blood) spewing all over the bathroom, into the hall, and down into our return vents. Long story short, we got it shut off, and our hung-over and embarrassed friend was on our doorstep at about 10:00 a.m. New Years Day with a new toilet that he bought us. While we certainly appreciated the responsibility that he took to purchase us a functioning commode, the new toilet just wasn’t the same. It’s nice and all, don’t get me wrong. But he chose one of the elongated bowls, which for some reason feels kind of oversized and gross to me.
Moral of the story is, don’t leave your drunk friends alone in your bathroom on New Years Eve. Or else this.
And also, buy a round bowl if you get a new toilet. Like we did for the guest bathroom.
I’m coming to the sad realization that it will be nearly impossible to finish this project in the next two weeks, but we are going to do what we can! Here is our to-do list again (even though we didn’t cross a single thing off this week). Sorry.
Finish framing/furring stripsInsulationVapor BarrierDrywall/Cement Board- Shower pan/curb – In progress, still
Build shower shelf- Mud and Tape Drywall/Cement Board – Done with first coat on drywall. Haven’t started cement board.
- Order wall tile – Out of Stock! CRAP!
- Texture walls
- Prime walls
- Paint walls
- Hang doors – 1 of 2 done!
- Install Floor tile, grout
- Install Shower tile (ceiling and walls), grout
- Choose/purchase shower curb finish material
- Order glass panel shower wall
- Install Bathroom wainscot tile, grout
- Finish trim/baseboards
- Have glass panel shower wall installed
- Set, trim plumbing fixtures
- Install fixtures/electrical trim
- Purchase towels, accessories
- Hang mirror, hardware, final touches!
Now if you want some real inspiration, check out the designer transformations going on over at Calling it Home, and the rest of the guest participant updates tomorrow!
