Sunday, January 23, 2011

The Joys of a Nice Shower

The Turk and I have been busy with the latest house project, made busier with holidays and a pressing work schedule for me.  Alas, the Turk stayed focused the past 3 months on tearing down and reconstructing a new master bath.  

 I think it is important to note that we are not the types that require extra special bathrooms.  But the existing bath had been 'renovated' by a previous owner who thought he was talented with construction. He was not.

The pocket door to the bathroom was broken which caused the Turk great panic. He was taking a shower on a very cold evening.  The shower didnt have a door, so I wriggled the pocket door closed to stop the draft.   I realized the pocket door was stuck when I heard, from the other side of the house, the yelp of a scared Turk who envisioned the rest of his life stuck in the broken bathroom.  I managed to slide in a crowbar so he could dismantle the door and escape. But he grumbled in Turkish for another hour!

We had more than just door problems.  Many of the tiles on the shower wall were not grouted. To cover up the irregularities of the drywall, there were mirror squares stuck on the walls.  The pedestal sink didnt allow for storage or a counter top.  To add to the decor, there were metal strips placed around the walls which pitted with the bathroom moisture. We also couldn't control the water temperature in the shower  - although we did have 3 shower sprays.
Shower/jacuzzi Before
                                  
Before



















ReconstructionTurk                             
I have been working on the new floor plan for about a year, so we were ready to start when we returned from Turkey - starting by mid October.  We moved into our guest room and the dusty project really began.  All plumbing was redone, wiring was moved, and insulation added so noises from the bathroom no longer echoed throughout the house.
DemoTurk
hanging the vanity
precision tile work
We had a talented tradesman to assist the Turk on the challenging tasks like plumbing, tiling and electrical work.  Erick made the project fun, even when we were getting tired of the mess.



countertop AND drawers!
yes, a big shower. somehow this all fit into the same space we had.

the all important shower bench..or reading nook as my dad calls it

I picked tiles that are not shiny, except the glass tiles.  The granite is honed and looks like leather.
I still need to get drawer pulls and the shower glass enclosure gets installed soon.  Will update the pages when these are in.

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