Although it doesn’t quite compare to Lydia’s tub surround (wow!), I thought I’d share a photo of my kids’ bathroom that I remodeled earlier this year. Lots of time in front of the wet saw, and plenty of little 1″ tiles.
–Mike
Discussion Forum
Discussion Forum
Up Next
Video Shorts
Featured Story
You don't have to sacrifice historical elements of a house in the name of energy efficiency.
Highlights
"I have learned so much thanks to the searchable articles on the FHB website. I can confidently say that I expect to be a life-long subscriber." - M.K.
Replies
Mike:
Very nice, indeed. You did all that tile work? Any before photos?
Allen
Thanks - here's a picture of the bathroom the way it looked when we bought the house.
--Mike
Mike
Thats a great kids bathroom!
Looks good.
Doug
nice job Mike. Very nice. Which are you better at? legal advice or kids bathrooms?
Goodluck
Very nice - I'd like that bathroom for myself, you have lucky kids.
Did you lay the those teeny tiny tiles individually or did you buy a prelaid pattern (on the canvas)?
The small tiles were purchased in 12x12 mosaic sheets, which was fine for the countertop and the band around the tub surround (1/2 sheet high) but I cut them into individual tiles for the mirror frame, and then set individual colored tiles in the middle of a "pinwheel" mosaic for the floor which was custom ordered with no "center" tile in each pinwheel. I used a pastry bag to put a little dab of thinset in for each center tile - slow, but it worked great.
Very nice!! Tell me what your experience was tiling around the mirror.
I'm including you photo resized. DU's are to impatient to wait for a file that large.
Oh, next time you do this, consider doing some simple corner shelves. You can buy them 1/4 round or cut a sqare of marble diagonaly, polish up the edge a bit and set them in the corner. I have 3 in my bath.
View Image
[email protected]
It's Never Too Late To Become What You Might Have Been
Edited 1/3/2006 2:35 pm ET by EricPaulson
To do the mirror, I just bought a cheap ($29 I think) oval mirror from HD that hangs without any visible hardware, installed the mirror, and then set individual tiles around the mirror. I thought I might be able to run 12" long strips cut from the 12x12 mosaic sheet, but that really didn't work - no stability to the strips once they were cut apart. Individual tiles and a pastry bag to dab on the mastic seemed to work best for me.
I missed the shelf in the pic!
Very nice work and it show loads of creativity on your part.
What's next?[email protected]
It's Never Too Late To Become What You Might Have Been
Here's what came next - the master bathroom. The bathrooms were followed by a couple of rooms worth of hardwood floors, and then the mudroom which I've posted in a separate thread. Oh yeah, a sunroom remodel as well (no pics yet). Next is the kitchen (God help us).
Here are the "before" pictures of the master bathroom.
Mike, great job with the master bath. I'm designing a new bathroom now, and will definitely be referring back to your photos.Allen
Mike - you do some nice work. I like colors, white is too sterile.
Out of curiousity, on the marble (?) floors, did you just use thin set or mud? How far did you space the joints?
Don K.
EJG Homes Renovations - New Construction - Rentals
The floors are travertine. For the install, I laid 1/2" hardi-backer over the subfloor, then poured about 5/8-3/4" of self-leveling cement over a Sun Touch electric radiant system. The travertine was then set in thinset, with 1/8" spacing. I thought 1/4" looked a bit too rustic.
then poured about 5/8-3/4" of self-leveling cement over a Sun Touch electric radiant system.
Both BA's look really nice. How much area was covered with the electric radiant floor in the MBA? Any guess on what that portion of the project cost? Does that stuff have timers, or is it just an on/off switch?
jt8
"All men should strive to learn before they die What they are running from, and to, and why." -- James Thurber
I used two mats, wired in parallel to a single digital set-back thermostat. There's a 10' x 30" mat that runs the length of the vanities, and then another (5' x 30" if I remember correctly) that runs perpendicular from the vanity closest to the door into the toilet/shower area. I believe the mats and thermostat ran about $550-600, plus the extra work and expense for the self leveling cement. You don't necessarily need to do the self leveling cement, since you can actually just put the thinset directly on top of the mats, but its a lot easier to get a dead level tile job if you embed the mats in self leveling cement first.
Does the thermostat have a timer? How do you like the system?
Over the last winter or two, I've put one of those oil filled electric heaters in the MBA. Set it to come on about an 1-1.5 hrs prior to the alarm clock sounding. By making the BA toasty warm (75ish), I can turn back the main thermostat for the house (60-65ish depending on company). Flip on both switches (full 1500watt) and it will bring the BR/MBA temp up.
The floor system seems to be the next evolution of that. Toasty room, nice warm floor, and no floor space lost to the heater.jt8
"The test is to recognize the mistake, admit it and correct it. To have tried to do something and failed is vastly better than to have tried to do nothing and succeeded."-- Dr. Dale Turner
JT8 - the floor heat is on a digital set back thermostat with lots of programming capabilities, so we have it come on before we get up in the morning, shut down during the day, and come on again at about 8 PM. On the weekends we run it all day. Nice toasty floors.
>>You don't necessarily need to do the self leveling cement, since you can actually just put the thinset directly on top of the mats, but its a lot easier to get a dead level tile job if you embed the mats in self leveling cement first.Having just done it both ways, you are quite correct. I put radiant in the center (walkable surface of the kitchen) embedded in SLC and bordered by 1/4" CBU.
Great work, Mike. I like the kid's bath wall paint color, too. I agree with a previous poster saying you could make a living tiling. Sure wish I could do work like that.TIPI,TIPI,TIPI!
Wow. What an improvement. You do nice work. You should turn this into your full time job.
Where did you order the vanities from?
GoodLuck
Thanks. The cabinetry is from Kraftmaid through HD.
I really like your color selection too. The tile looks great in both bathrooms. Not your first time, eh?Where are those kitchen demo pics?Any exterior stuff in the works?
Yeah, I've set a bit of tile, but I'm starting to get a bit more daring. Kitchen demo won't get started until sometime this spring. Nothing going on outside until it's time to re-do the deck, probably a couple of years from now.
NICE JOB
I like it. The cut tile in the tub is very creative, and the wall mirror is easy to clean. Nice colors, too.
Nice work Mike, very nice.