Gotta Go - Number 2

Okay, so bathroom number two is finally finished in our house. I have been tinkering with it for over 6 months and just completed it this past weekend. I never knew such a small space could be such a large project. During our renovation, we opted to just have the 2nd bath roughed in so we could do the work ourselves and save some money. This meant that it was 2x4's and copper pipes and plywood flooring - a blank canvas.

First step was to choose the faucets and get those put in - we went all out with Kohler purist all around. I had to knock out part of the wall to get the "in-wall" type faucet for the sink. That was fun. The second step was to put up dry wall. I used green board in the majority of the bathroom and wonder-board in the shower part that was later to be covered up by tile. The shower base had to be poured and leveled properly for good drainage. The tiles came next. We initially chose to do 24"x24" ivory colored travertine tiles. I bought 45 and carried them home only to find out they did not match our slate flooring. Ugg! I ended up taking that back and just continuing the slate flooring on the wall which I think turned out pretty good. I have never tiled before but it was pretty easy. Slap on mud and stick the tile where you want it to go. The key, which I learned, is to get good mortar consistency. Make it like peanut butter.


I cut the tiles with a wet saw and hand saw. I also made a little nook for soap and shampoo in the tile as well. When I laid all of the tile, I grouted and finally sealed them.

I decided to make my own vanity. This to me was the funnest part of the whole project. I decided to stick with a contemporary design. I went to the hardwood store and found some very cool pieces of wood to work with. For the legs I used cherry posts. I ripped some cherry planks to create the braces used to connect the posts. I wanted to find a large piece of wood to use as the counter and I got just what I was looking for. I found a 3.5" thick piece of Bubinga (exotic red hardwood that is used to make cigar boxes). I took the milled piece of wood and planed it with a router to get a smooth surface on the top. I put the whole vanity together with dowels and glue, fine sanded it, and finally applied a couple of coats of wax. Check out the final results.

Vanity - Final Product

The last part of the project is the shower glass that will hopefully be installed sometime this week. The next project will be turning my messy crawl space into a sweet workshop. This is going to be a blast. I wonder how many tons of concrete I will use...