Sifting Tile Again

I had plans to work on other projects today, but I got distracted looking through the many boxes of tile again. I've been working on getting quotes for the tile install in our master bathroom and I'm trying to finalize details of the plan. And once I found this cool tile set, I've been trying to figure out a way to use it.

I made quite the mess in the dining room. LOL (We sold our oak dining room set. We bought a new-to-us cherry set that we're getting next week, but that's for another post.)

I found this nice set of tiles, but tragically (again) there is not enough tiles. It would also look good.

One of the tiles has a different brown color, and one has a blue smudge in the corner, so there are really only 5 usable tiles with the design on it. But there are like 35 of the brown stripe tiles so perhaps someone will be interested in this set. I'll probably end up putting them on craigslist. Or if no one wants them, I may put them at the door into the basement. That would be pretty hilarious to have this pretty tile at the dog's door. (I'd even have the stencil that matches.)

Anyway, I think I worked out a plan to use the other flower border in our bathroom where I just end it at the shower. I realized that once we install rain glass in the shower enclosure we really won't be able to see the tile inside the shower and I can live with plain tile in there.

I really liked this plan with the yellow tile strip but (again) we don't have enough of the yellow. (drat)

 We have plenty of the bright white trim pieces, but they won't work either. The field tile is historic white so the bright white doesn't match. If we have to, we'll cut down field tiles into strips and use those. LOL

I'm pretty sure we have at least twice the amount of historic white field tile we need to tile this bathroom so we ought to be able to figure something out.

More Basement Bath

We got a pretty in the mail today; a chrome waste bin. It's quite nice looking with a slight hammered look. I bought this off of Amazon and I'm happy that it is real metal. Often when you buy stuff that looks like metal in a picture, it's actually plastic when you get it. I'm probably going to buy another one for the master bath.

I also did a little spray painting project. The floor has this weird hole and cover in it. Very ugly and I'm not exactly sure what it is. Maybe it is the old plumbing.

I've been trying to find a chrome drain cover for it, but the hole is too big for most standard sizes. I've spent far too long on google surfing for options to replace this ugly thing.

So, instead, I decided to try just spray painting it. It was about $10 for the two cans of paint. I followed the advice of this blog and bought plastic primer to use before the metallic paint.

I'm not really sure if this is better because it really makes it POP visually. I guess we will see if it bugs us. I may try and buy some tan paint that matches the flooring better and give that a try if I end up hating the chrome.

Jeff also worked on a basement bathroom project today, but it's not quite done. Hopefully tomorrow we'll have something else to show.

Bathroom Finished for Now

But for a few decorative items, the basement bathroom is finished as much as we plan to do right now. We still have to have the soapstone counter cut (when we have the master bath counter cut) so the guys installed a temporary counter and drop-in sink Eric had kicking around his barn. The sink I bought for this bathroom is an undermount so the guys thought it was best to save it for the final install since it might be difficult to remove it without damage in a temporary install.

They made the countertop out of this weathered piece of 1/2" plywood we had kicking around our yard. They cut two pieces the same size and glued them together and attached a scrap of marmoleum to one side to "finish" it. Then they finished the raw edges with a piece of stained wood kicking around our garage. (It was actually the piece of chewed mantel trim we took out a couple years ago.)

I'm digging the new toilet paper holder. It was a good deal from Renovation Supply.

The bathroom is tiny and hard to take pictures. Maybe someday I'll find someone who has a lens that can photograph it properly.

Marmoleum Floor

The basement bath has a marmoleum floor! Hooray!

We picked up this marmoleum remnant in Sept 2011 and we are just now getting around to installing it (ouch). That's pretty sad. The gallon of adhesive cost more than the remnant itself.

Jeff had his friend Eric come and help him again today with this project.

Before: Not an attractive cement floor

They made a pattern out of paper then traced it onto the back of the marmoleum.

Turns out leather shears work great for cutting marmoleum.

Waiting for the adhesive to partially dry.

We found a couple of useful installation videos and I'll link them here for folks that are interested:
Working with adhesive
Marmoleum Sheet Installation

And we have a floor! Shoe molding will go in tomorrow after the floor has had time to dry.

We're going to install a temporary sink in plywood while we wait for the soapstone to get cut. Eric had a sink kicking around his barn and he brought that over. It will do until we can install the soapstone counter.

Oh, and here's another pile of tile. This is the we-probably-don't-need pile in the basement.

This is mostly hex tiles and 6x6 tiles (I think). If I can't resell them on craigslist after the master bathroom remodel, I'll probably install them in the utility area of the basement.

Misc. Period Pictures

I've been poking through period publications looking for bathrooms. As usual, when I see an interesting picture I will take a screenshot. I'll share them here, in case you guys are interested.

Cheery green house exterior from "The Color Book" c. 1920s

Color Suggestions for House Exteriors from Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company Paint Catalog, 1923.

I'll put a break into this post so it won't have to load all the images everytime folks visit the blog.

Sifted Tile

Jeff and I spent 2 to 3 hours sifting and unloading tile. We have 3 large piles of boxes. Again, I can hardly believe how much tile I got. Here is the pile of 3x6 subway field tile in my living room. (With the sewing room empty and awaiting floor refinishing and the guest room full of nearly everything from the sewing room, we were out of space to stash this tile upstairs.) The house is, frankly, looking like a construction zone right now. I guess that's a good thing if we're actually getting projects done.

I did find this one lovely set of tiles that I don't even recall from the auction listings. I'm not sure they laid it out for the photos.

We got a whole box of them, so I guess a girl can hope there's enough for the bathroom. Wouldn't that be lovely? I haven't counted tiles in the plan yet, but I suspect there won't be enough. (Nope, not enough.)

I don't think we got enough green tiles to do our original tile plan in the bathroom. We did get a lot of green tiles, but there are about four different shades of green. I may have to rethink the plan. Or I could be extra silly and try to glaze some of my own. I ran across Painting Ceramics: How to Paint and Stencil Already Made Ceramics Pieces and it got me started thinking in a crafty way. Hmm, stencil? Now that is right up my alley. :D

Now it's got me researching glazing and refiring tiles.... LOL

Long Drive Today

Today we did the long drive to Mt. Shasta, California. Strangely, the "Welcome to California" sign seemed to be missing. I guess they don't want visitors anymore. LOL

Maybe they drink too much water, because California was looking more like Africa to me. Everything dead but for stunted bushes.

OMG, it was so much tile. Really, until we saw it all together we didn't realize just how much tile I had bought. Luckily, we had the good sense to drive down there with a trailer even though we didn't want to. (The trailer added at least an hour to the trip each way.) We had a good solid layer in both the bed of the truck and in the trailer, plus a few boxes behind the seats in the cab.