New Goddamn Countertop
Aaaaawwwwww, yyyyeeeaaaahhhh.....
Yet another weekend spent in the bathroom. But this time, this time we were tiling!
Saturday went pretty smoothly, overall. I cut tiles while NotBatwoman laid them. A pretty good system. You know, assuming you have a working saw. The one we borrowed crapped out half-way through the first batch of tiles. (Gonna have to find someone who can take a look at it. Sonsabitches.)
Then Sunday I was able to finish the project (basically).
(Stupid early morning sun.) After a full day of working Saturday, the countertop was mostly tiled. We had some issues with the tile saw we borrowed, so I had to run out to a local proprietor and rent one. (conandammit, did that saw come to you with a manual? We can't find a reset switch and/or we're hoping it's a fuse issue. No manual online that we could find.) Which worked out better, in the long run, as the saw we got was faster and even more friendly.
I really thought we would be able to finish this on Saturday and really, if it wasn't for the saw nonsense and the fact that we had evening plans with TartQueen and JamesonRocks, we probably could have. As it stands, we were both in dire need of a break, so we called it a day.
Sunday I woke up bright and early, took an over-exposed photo of Saturday's nonsense, and got to work. NotBatwoman (being pregnant) was still exhausted, so I sent her out for the morning and finished the job. Made the last, like, seven cuts, laid everything out, returned the rented saw, and got busy.
A few short hours later, and the countertop was done. And I can't even express how pleased we are with it.
This is the edge.
And, um, this is the other side.
Yup, you can look at it from the other side of the room, too!
Later in the evening, once the thinset had, well, set a little more, we dropped the sink back in to check it out (and get it out of the way). And it is awesome!
Sunday I finished so early, we got to sit around congratulating ourselves, we got to go out shopping and found a good glider-chair for baby feeding, and I got to go for a walk for a couple hours and sit around afterwards playing video games. It was almost like having a weekend again, which was sweeeeeeet.
Backsplash Ledge: Yes, the top tiles on the backsplash are full tiles and extend over the backsplash, making a cute little ledge/lip-thingie. Yes, that was intentional (and not laziness), and yes we like it like that.
Narrow Tile in the Middle: There's a funny slice of tile right about the middle of the sink that goes all the way back and runs right up onto and into the backsplash. When we carefully measured out exactly how big the countertop was going to be so we wouldn't have to cut tiles, we had it planned out a little differently. Originally, the side tiles were going to come up to the surface of the counter. We assembled everything and took another look and said, "That's stupid. The top of the counter should be tiles."
So we had to cut a piece for the middle to extend everything about two tile-widths. That wasn't as intentional, but I like it. It's a little piece of visual interest that... is... visually interesting.
The Sink: I so can't wait to have a functional sink in the bathroom again. Brushing your teeth in the bathtub? It sucks.
All the way finished?: So we have to seal the tiles real good, because they're natural stone, and that will take about 24 hours to properly cure. Hopefully we'll be able to do that today, but maybe tomorrow. Once that's set, we can grout. (And that has to set three weeks before we can put the final seal coat, but we'll be able to hook up the sink once the grout has set for about a day.)
The Remainder of The Bathroom Project: At this point, all the hard work is pretty much done. The rest is tedious, for the most part.
We have to prime and paint/funny-stuff the walls and ceiling. We have to (purchase and) put in a baseboard around the floor and put up wainscoting. The wainscoting will have to be... treated, and that's still subject for debate. I want to see what it looks like stained (I likes my wood woody), but NotBatwoman thinks it should be painted. I tend to think she'll be right, but I'm going to test out the staining before we paint, just to see.
Some of the above may (will hopefully) be taking place on the day of The Big Baby Cleaning next weekend, depending on availability of resources.
Yet another weekend spent in the bathroom. But this time, this time we were tiling!
Saturday went pretty smoothly, overall. I cut tiles while NotBatwoman laid them. A pretty good system. You know, assuming you have a working saw. The one we borrowed crapped out half-way through the first batch of tiles. (Gonna have to find someone who can take a look at it. Sonsabitches.)
Then Sunday I was able to finish the project (basically).
(Stupid early morning sun.) After a full day of working Saturday, the countertop was mostly tiled. We had some issues with the tile saw we borrowed, so I had to run out to a local proprietor and rent one. (conandammit, did that saw come to you with a manual? We can't find a reset switch and/or we're hoping it's a fuse issue. No manual online that we could find.) Which worked out better, in the long run, as the saw we got was faster and even more friendly.
I really thought we would be able to finish this on Saturday and really, if it wasn't for the saw nonsense and the fact that we had evening plans with TartQueen and JamesonRocks, we probably could have. As it stands, we were both in dire need of a break, so we called it a day.
Sunday I woke up bright and early, took an over-exposed photo of Saturday's nonsense, and got to work. NotBatwoman (being pregnant) was still exhausted, so I sent her out for the morning and finished the job. Made the last, like, seven cuts, laid everything out, returned the rented saw, and got busy.
A few short hours later, and the countertop was done. And I can't even express how pleased we are with it.
This is the edge.
And, um, this is the other side.
Yup, you can look at it from the other side of the room, too!
Later in the evening, once the thinset had, well, set a little more, we dropped the sink back in to check it out (and get it out of the way). And it is awesome!
Sunday I finished so early, we got to sit around congratulating ourselves, we got to go out shopping and found a good glider-chair for baby feeding, and I got to go for a walk for a couple hours and sit around afterwards playing video games. It was almost like having a weekend again, which was sweeeeeeet.
Backsplash Ledge: Yes, the top tiles on the backsplash are full tiles and extend over the backsplash, making a cute little ledge/lip-thingie. Yes, that was intentional (and not laziness), and yes we like it like that.
Narrow Tile in the Middle: There's a funny slice of tile right about the middle of the sink that goes all the way back and runs right up onto and into the backsplash. When we carefully measured out exactly how big the countertop was going to be so we wouldn't have to cut tiles, we had it planned out a little differently. Originally, the side tiles were going to come up to the surface of the counter. We assembled everything and took another look and said, "That's stupid. The top of the counter should be tiles."
So we had to cut a piece for the middle to extend everything about two tile-widths. That wasn't as intentional, but I like it. It's a little piece of visual interest that... is... visually interesting.
The Sink: I so can't wait to have a functional sink in the bathroom again. Brushing your teeth in the bathtub? It sucks.
All the way finished?: So we have to seal the tiles real good, because they're natural stone, and that will take about 24 hours to properly cure. Hopefully we'll be able to do that today, but maybe tomorrow. Once that's set, we can grout. (And that has to set three weeks before we can put the final seal coat, but we'll be able to hook up the sink once the grout has set for about a day.)
The Remainder of The Bathroom Project: At this point, all the hard work is pretty much done. The rest is tedious, for the most part.
We have to prime and paint/funny-stuff the walls and ceiling. We have to (purchase and) put in a baseboard around the floor and put up wainscoting. The wainscoting will have to be... treated, and that's still subject for debate. I want to see what it looks like stained (I likes my wood woody), but NotBatwoman thinks it should be painted. I tend to think she'll be right, but I'm going to test out the staining before we paint, just to see.
Some of the above may (will hopefully) be taking place on the day of The Big Baby Cleaning next weekend, depending on availability of resources.