LED Bathroom Waterfall Faucet UPDATE

So it's been about 36 months that we have been using the waterfall LED light up glass and chrome faucet bought from ebay. It's held up well enough to this point, but about a month or two back, the LED's suddenly began remaining on at all times. We thought swapping out the batteries would help, but it doesn't.

As a faucet, it still works fine. I plan to take it apart and see if it's a fixable issue. It was neat enough, but I can't say I'm crazy about the waterfall aspect of it. For $48 though, I'm still not complaining.

Before & After: Master Bathroom

Trying to show off the house via my blog to extended family over the holidays was kind of a pita because of how spastically I blog, and how randomized my picture placement is, so I'll be doing a before and after for each room we've tackled.

Click for our master bathroom redo!

From the realty listing

Ze Bathroom.... She es fee-neshed!

I know, can you believe it? LeBron came back to Cleveland AND we finished the bathroom. Witness!

In all, we ripped up the tile floor and concrete board underlayment, then ripped up 2 layers of old linoleum under that. Took out and replaced the pedestal sink. Removed old shower tile, ripped out green board walls. cut out rotten/damaged studs. Removed old, LOUD, poorly performing exhaust fan. Removed cheap light fixture. Took down toilet paper holder and round towel rack.

Laid down 1/4" concrete board on the floor and 1/2" on the walls. Repaired studs. Tiled floor and walls. Installed floating vanity and sink with LED faucet. Built in two cubbies in the shower. Added pretty light above the mirror. Installed 2 recessed shower lights fresh. Installed built-in toilet paper holder and square hand towel rack. Installed Kohler frameless shower doors with clear glass. Installed QUIET, high performance exhaust fan.

We also swapped out a flat mirror with a GUNNERN mirror cabinet from Ikea.

Typing it out, it does not seem like much, but it was WORK! I won't go into too many deets, I am just glad it is finished, because it looks fantastic! It's clean, modern and we actually increased our space with the cubbies, the medicine cabinet, and the room under the sink.

I just today put the last coats of paint on the shelves that go in the skinny cabinet.

What I learned (aka, what I would do differently):

Score around your tile/area you are going to sledgehammer out, or better yet, saw it out... you'll thank me when you have beautiful, clean edges.

CHECK YOUR PRODUCTS. The shower doors were the second thing we purchased... and they sat for a month, unopened. We went to install and the hardware skin was missing completely! Fast forward a week, the skin shows up in the mail, we're halfway through with the install and Kohler sent us the wrong brackets! This really extended the entire project... so again, check your products!

Oh and of course, here's some photos. I have to hunt my 18-55 lens down, so I can get some nice shots of the entire bathroom.

Gunnern Mirror

Grout is 185 New Taupe

Bathroom Jen: Older, Wiser...

There have been many epic battles that mere mortals have courageously faced head on. The Battle of Hastings, the Siege of Orleans. Neither lost to the endless span or clutter of history, will forever be to my recollection, allegedly, among the ranks of this bathroom remodel.

She is woman, hear her grout.

It is now July 14th and we began this journey on June 16th. I miss my real bathroom.

Just yesterday Guy finished the tile. Today it's my job to give the room a good clean up so we may grout in the next two days. I cannot tell you how refreshing it feels to be doing something other than installing tile! One more trip to the tile aisle at the Euclid Home Depot and they are going to crown me Grand Marshal of mortar.

Oh, but the recessed lighting is in place, and it looks even more stellar than I could have hoped! This update is more of an excuse for a photo dump, so without further teasing...

2 layers of linoleum under the old cement board

Shelves!

Tiled! We had the shorten the shelf at left

I TOLD you these looked outstanding!

Mosaic over the plumbing line

 We chose our grout color, too. I think it'll go very nicely with the tile:

So what's that leave?

• Grout walls and floor
• Install vanity and sink
• Install glass shelves
• Install new exhaust fan

Living without a Master Bath: Day 7

Guy and I are lucky. Not win-the-lottery lucky, but second-shower-on-premises lucky.

Our initial plan (True do-it-yourselfers know that you almost always end up throwing most of your first ideas out the window early on) was to remove the tile and put up new tile. The tiles are tiny and after chipping 893 (about 15 actually) off the walls, GUY (not me...) got the sledgehammer and we knocked the everloving crap out of the walls! Color ME surprised! It ended up being a good thing because under the window there was a tiny bit of mold and a lot of old carpenter ant damage. Even the studs needed repair in a couple areas, and we had to remove and replace some insulation.

Here's some progress photos.

Guy vs. Tile

Agg! Rotted/eaten wood!

Yeah, this piece of wood might as well have been paper

Insulation removed. This will wait till tomorrow.

Cutting out the rotten wood

New insulation and Durock cement board

All walls down, wood & insulation replaced and recessed shelves roughed in.

Pedestal sink all gone!

We had to remove some sanded grout that was on all three sides of the tub, who knew it would be so freaking difficult? We bought Sulfamic Acid Cleaner from the Home Depot to soften it. We saturated it and re-saturated it, then chipped it off. Yikes.

Next up is installing cement board walls then wall tiles. I'd like to get the shower up and running then demo the floor.

The online picture lacks detail

We did end up agreeing on using some mosaic tile. It's called "Silver Tip" and it's also from the Home Depot.

I love the metal bits!!

Embarking on the Bathroom

So it's been roughly a year and a half since we moved into the Little Cape. We've done the living room, office, master bedroom, virtually started from scratch on our tiny half bath and really come a long way on the lawn.

What does that leave? Roughly the kitchen and bathroom. We have nice appliances in the kitchen and some livable linoleum. It's the lesser of the two evils, really.

Our bathroom is small. In total we have about 25 square feet of space, not including the bathtub. Here's a current [really awful] panorama of the bathroom.

All we have done is swap out the toilet. Those blue tiles in the shower are 2.25" squares. That's bordering on insanity. The tile on the floor always looks dirty and I hate the grout. There's a marble window sill and it's got yellow spots that won't budge.

Much like the natural woodwork the house came with, people actually like the tiny blue tile. That said, the woodwork and tile were both high on my radar and we know how that worked out for the woodwork.

We're finally going to get started on our bathroom! I know I'm amped for this project because I'm already having nightmares about buying the wrong patterns and colors.

Here's what we've got:

Pedestal sink being replaced with hanging vanity, going from oil rubbed to chrome

Clear, frameless Kohler sliding tub doors

12 x 24 modern tile on floor and shower walls

I get to tear up the tile I hate on the floor and in the shower, and replace it with these gorgeous 12" by 24" horizontal striped tiles. The glass shower doors will open the room up as will the bright colors, and the smaller floating sink.

I'd like to put a shelf in the bathtub stall. I'd also like to get some lighting going in the soffet above the shower. Maybe move the shower faucet handle up as well. Maybe accent tile? I don't know if we're really going to need it. I'm going to go all the way to the ceiling with the new tile.

I'm One of Those Women...

Somewhere along the way having an organized bathroom closet became not only on my invisible list of must-haves, but also a source of genuine pride.

The rebellious teenager in all black is rolling over in her Marilyn Manson shirt!

Anyway, organization is general is a big thing for me. I feel like I have control over things. I love knowing where things are.

Not much else in the Cape is as put-together as my bathroom closet, though.

Yup, even a first aid container.

If you're married to my husband, you know a thing or two about that.

Dollar Tree is a life saver for containers. Every color, lids or no lids. Oh, and I love my labeler, too. It's a Brother PT-1880.

Our STUNNING New Bathroom Shelves!

Whoa baby, get a load of my new gorgeous, GLASS bathroom shelves! They're Moen Kingsley Glass shelves.

We can never leave anything alone, they came in Antique Nickel but in order to make them match our dark fixtures, we spray painted them. Nice, eh?

Thanks loads to Guy's parents for hooking us up with these. I am in love!! The bathroom is small (this is our full bath) and this space was just vacant space above the toilet. It makes it much more, mm what's the word? Cozy?

We have a cozy bathroom now!

Little Cape's Little Bathroom

As part of our Euclid Point of Sale, we have to replace the linoleum in the upstairs half* bath.

*Really it's more like a quarter bath.

Someone slapped some sheet linoleum over the old swanky 1950's stuff with a bit of glue. The corner sink (!) is leaking like mad, and the toilet is a water hog. The 1959 Nutone fan is loud and the grill is disgusting. 

So being us, we decided to rip it up and make a mess! The toilet's out, the sink is down and the floor is, well, coming along...

Come back and see what we've gotten done in a few days... until then, enjoy your first ever peek at the smallest bathroom ever.

 

This border screams class.

Hey, a disconnected Nutone!

There's a party on the bathroom floor.

A sad, leaky sink.

Sink hanger.

It's really this skinny.