Sunday, November 14, 2010

Bathroom Shower - Master Bedroom

Hey Folks, David here...

One of the very first major DIY projects that I planned in this house was the master bathroom shower. As you can see from the "before" picture, the lower foot of tile had started buckling - which I initially thought was from water damage from the old air handling unit above the shower (which has since been replaced). Regardless, the shower needed an overhaul.

Master Shower - BEFORE
I started ripping out tile - a nasty job. As I went along, I discovered a nice surprise - termite damage - the damage to the wall was not from water, but from termites. 

After having the termites treated (by a professional), I went ahead and pulled the shower pan - which I hadn't originally planned to do, but I realized it was in really crappy condition.

Next: procuring a new shower pan and some backer board. I installed both myself (thank you much!).

Rochelle and I batted a lot of ideas back and forth about colors. I really wanted red tiles. Since white (boring) and black (cool) are the easiest for homeowners to design around , she suggested black tile - with white grout, and after seeing some pictures, I was sold. 
She Says: He originally wanted red everywhere! Red tiles, red walls, red shower curtain, red toilet paper.. you know how men get! I had to show him a million pictures before we o settled on a red/black mix (which would have looked pretty rad) but then I suggested he tone it down a bit just in case he ever wanted to rent/sale. I knew black would give the modern and updated look he wanted (with the rocker edge we both like) without taking the bathroom over the punk rock cliff, as it were. Also, we realized we can always add plenty of red accents with towels, curtains etc to give him the look he desires. 

Master bath Shower - AFTER
Beginnings of the tiling process: I went ahead and grouted. Sharp people tend to notice that I left out the soap dish. This was not a planned part of this exercise. After initially tiling some of the main wall, I got a little....uh...over excited and tiled the whole wall and forgot to include the soap dish. Although I didn't actually research it, I'm pretty sure that finding a black soap dish is tricky. [She says: No it's not!] So I went "aftermarket" on the soap dish, and  installed a new showerhead.

Lastly, I installed a hotel style shower curtain rod, that has an outward arc which increases arm room. More pictures of that when the rest of the bathroom is completed. 

All in all, it was a fun exercise, and I'm pretty happy with how the tiling came out - especially for my first time trying it. I also now know what a headache tiling is - white grout on black tile looks great but it's harder to install because the white is a lot more obvious on the black (obviously).


The rest of the bathroom is still in the works... look forward to a final reveal later.  For now, please enjoy this "During"  slideshow.