Spring 2018 ORC: Week 4

Let us introduce ourselves…

For those of you are new to my blog, welcome! My husband Josh and I have been renovating our home since we bought it back in April 2016. We do 90% of the work ourselves, from design to construction to decorating! So far we’ve finished our kitchen, master suite, guest bedroom, mudroom, and living room. This bathroom project is the last major project of our upstairs. This summer we’ll move on to our exterior (new siding, patio, landscaping, fixing up the sidewalk, replacing exterior doors, and adding an egress window), and then next winter we plan to tackle the basement (completely gutting and remodeling!). Needless to say, we have a lot of work ahead of us, so I hope you’ll stay tuned!

If you’re new to the One Room Challenge: this is an interior design event for bloggers/designers/renovators put on by Linda of Calling It Home and House Beautiful, during which participants complete a full renovation of a space in their homes in a short time period. The Spring 2018 reveal will take place on May 10. There are hundreds of talented participants and 20 featured designers which means plenty of inspiration to tackle a project in your own home! 

How is it already week 4?!? I have a feeling that a lot of ORC participants are asking this same question. Somehow, week 3 has already come and gone. We have come a long way on our bathroom remodel, but still have a ways to go… and only 2 weeks to do it! Yikes!

Week 3 Progress

Once again, we didn’t accomplish quite as much as we would have hoped in week 3. This will make for a busy weekend and week 4… and a crunch for time at the very end!

Here’s what we were hoping to accomplish this week:

Week 3 Goal Recap: 

• NOT DONE: frame in the new linen closet
• COMPLETE: lay cement board on the floor for tile and shower walls
• COMPLETE: move plumbing for the new vanity
• NOT DONE: hang drywall on all of the walls (finished on ceiling)
• NOT DONE: patch drywall (taping and mudding)
• NOT DONE: waterproof the cement board surrounding the shower
• COMPLETE: schedule the date for the tub refinishing company

I wasn’t really able to help with any of the plumbing work, framing, or hanging of drywall/cement board, which meant Josh had to do it by himself. I have had a busy stretch on at the hospital and haven’t had much free time at all to help with anything. Josh was actually able to figure out how to install the ceiling drywall by himself, which was pretty impressive.

He built a support contraption using 2×4 studs and was able to “clean and jerk” the drywall over his head, wedge it in between the support piece, and screw in the other side. He was even able to take some photos!

He also had to reframe the original chimney. We got a lot of questions about whether we were going to keep the exposed or brick or not. The chimney was just too unlevel- it wouldn’t have looked right if we had drywalled up to it.

We did run into an issue with the tub this week. We’re keeping the existing tub, and it runs parallel with the wall. There was a gap in between the stud and the tub that had previously been tiled over. Since we’re not tiling the wall, only the tub surround, we weren’t sure what to do with the gap.

I took to Instagram and asked for advice… and we got lots of it!  So many people chimed in to offer help, and thanks to them, we found a solution. We decided to add a stud to the corner (in between the wall and the tub) so that there would be a small “bump-out” between the tub and the wall. On the left (wall) side, there will be board and batten, so the bump-out will be the perfect transition for the corner. On the right (tub) side, we will run a narrow strip of tile down to the floor. Between the backerboard, tile, grout, and caulk, the gap will be covered and it should look clean and hopefully like it was meant to be there all along!

Week 4 Plans

This week is full of big steps. We have to finish walls and get a good head start on the tile- which will all take time. Luckily, I have this weekend off so we’ll be able to put a lot of time into it this weekend.

Week 4 Goals: 

• frame in the new linen closet
• hang drywall on all of the walls
• patch drywall (taping and mudding)
• waterproof the cement board surrounding the shower
• Tile the shower surround
• Tile the floor
• Grout all tile (unlikely, but maybe)

If Josh is able to finish hanging the drywall and framing before the weekend, I think we can get the drywall patched and the tub surround waterproofed by Saturday afternoon. On Sunday, we could potentially lay tile all day and get it all finished up and ready for grout. The tub refinishing company is coming on Thursday, May 3rd and we need to have the shower surround done before then! Kiiiiiind of panicking right about now….. send us all the good vibes and productivity wishes!!!

I’m using our moodboard as inspiration to be as productive as possible- not too much longer and all of this will be put together in real life!