It truly has been a long 5 months working on our master bath renovation. Luckily we had another bathroom close to us that we have taken over during this renovation, not to worry the bathroom “belongs” to our middle daughter who is away at college in Virginia 99% of the time so no one is really being put out. However, it’s still been a long renovation, but since we’re doing it ourselves and mostly on available weekends progress has been s-l-o-w.
So here’s a little glimpse into where we stand so far…
We have gotten all of the tile up and grouting will be happening soon.
(The shower curb will be covered with the same marble we use on the vanity tops which is why you still see the waterproof membrane.)
We had a few weekends of flooring installation… this flooring is a 7” wide plank engineered wood flooring with 2.5mm oak layer on top (which means it can be refinished at least twice if need be). We opted to nail it down, but it can be glued, floated or nailed if you want. It has a wire brushed, hand scraped finish to it so I am hoping it will show less wear. The flooring extends from the upstairs hall, through the master bedroom, bathroom and closet and we freaking LOVE it!
My list of things to finish is far to long to type, lets just say it’s extensive… but Lieutenant Dan I have floors!!
More glorious uninterrupted floors on my side of the closet, I cannot wait to see how good the molding looks after we get it installed!
We’re still cutting trim etc. in the bathroom, but we have organized everything on one side of the closet… still this is way better than trudging up and down the stairs a gazillion times. The down side to this is that the dust pretty much is EVERYWHERE!
The vanities are ready to be put in place, we have to cut the water off to install them so we wanted to wait and install both vanities and the toilet at the same time to be slightly more efficient. Once they’re in place we can get the countertop guys to come over and get the template for the marble for the tops and the shower curb!
Below is one of my favorite areas in the bathroom, my little vanity “nook”, it’s the dormer window area that we have added electricity and a floating table top to. Also, on the right hand side of this “hall” will be a built-in area for the laundry basket with a shelf above it for whatever.
It’s was originally a very awkward space… trust me… (*update: I posted a picture on my Instagram account Sunday of the board and batten in progress here, check it out on the sidebar if you’re curious)
Look at all of the light I get, plus we have 3 large shade trees in the front yard that dapple the light and add to the privacy.
This is what it looked like before, an 8ft. long “hall” to a window seat… now please tell me who the hell would sit on that seat? It was so weird! The hobbit door on the left was what they described as a luggage room, it was weird too… it may have even been haunted…
So that’s pretty much where we’re at with the renovations so far. The very next things on the list the hubby and I will be tackling together are grouting, trim installed in water closet, toilet and vanities installed. I myself will be filling nail holes and caulking until I never want to caulk again… fun times at home!
If you have any questions or comments you’d like to share please do, I get to them WAY faster than I get to writing my posts. And if you happen live in the Louisville, KY area and want to help me caulk let me know, I’ll make us some Mojito’s and we can play some groovy 80’s cardio music 
… UGH…
Uniquely Yours... or Mine! 
Is your shower floor marble?
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Hey Teri, yes the shower floor is honed 3″ hex carerra marble.
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Susan, I had 1″ hex Carrera installed and have had a lot of trouble with it. It darkens and doesn’t dry out after a shower. I hope you have better luck with yours. I’m battling with my contractor for a solution. In the meantime, I posted a question about it on Houzz and discovered that I am not alone.
Isn’t is just so beautiful, though?
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I knew the marble flooring choice was going to be more problematic, but I was willing to install it since the rest of the shower was ceramic. On recommendation from the marble place, I have sealed it with a high quality sealer (2 coats) and that should do the trick. Also, the honed tile will always look more “rustic” than the polished. I am hoping I made the right call! I hope you get your tile issues resolved, let me know if you find a solution.
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Mine is also honed. It really was so beautiful before it got wet. I didn’t use it for months hoping it would dry out, but now my contractor wants me to use it to see what happens. I will let you know. I thought maybe if I said something to you before your grout went in, you might be able to avoid whatever is causing my problem. Will you post pictures of your shower after it is finished and you have used it? I am trying to convince my contractor that not all Carrera on the floor reacts this way. Best of luck to you.
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Ugh, I was hoping you weren’t going to tell me yours was honed too! Do you know if he sealed it and if so what product he used? I purchased mine from the tile shop and it is meant for honed flooring because it doesn’t change the sheen of the tile. And of course I’ll share the after pictures of the shower. I wish we were already done!
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Great work with your house! I love that you made the flooring darker because it emphasized the walls and floor of the rooms. I hope everything turns out well. I’m so excited to see the outcome of your project!
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Thanks so much Sally! I feel like I can see the finish line is close and I’m getting very excited!
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You’ll see the finish line soon and once you’re there, all time and hard work will be worth it! 🙂
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Susan, what came as news to both me and my contractor (after lots of research on the problem) is that the stone sealer and the grout sealer does not seal water out. Water pretty much soaks through grout and depends on the drainage system. When the marble is white, you can see the thinset as it gets wet and darkens, or the actual marble is getting wet from the bottom. You may have no problem with yours. My marble might be more porous, and although my stone sealer is working fine on the top surface (water beads up), it is absorbing water from underneath. I was told that only if they had sealed all sides of each piece of the marble and then used epoxy grout (too stinky to live with!) would there be any chance of guaranteeing success.
I found some gray marble that my contractor would be willing to install, but only if I use epoxy. I am still trying to determine if I have a drainage problem, or if it really is just this tile. Where did you buy yours? I got mine from thebuilderdepot.com, Great price, and they look great.
I keep telling my contractor that other people have carrera marble on their shower floors with no problems, and there should be an epidemic of people complaining if this is common. Unfortunately, once I started posting on different forums for help, I found out that it was not uncommon.,
At this point, I am not sure that anyone has a good grasp of what is going on. When is your grout going in?
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Teri,
It’ll probably a couple of weeks before we grout, due to vacation and guests visiting. We did use white thinset, was yours white as well? I guess I just assumed the sealer would seal out water but after looking into it I see that is not the case, weird that it is that way! We purchased our tile from the Tile Shop, but I think I remember looking online at a build direct place…
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Yes, we also used white thinset. I saved almost $7 per sq. ft. ordering online (over The Tile Shop’s price), but I may have created my own nightmare by doing that. Once it is installed, the distributor says it isn’t his problem. There was nothing visibly wrong with the tiles.
Hopefully I will learn something in the next few weeks. There is a school of thought out there that sealing it exacerbates the problem because it can’t dry out. Nevertheless, I am fairly sure that most people have no issues like this, and you will probably not either. I just need to convince my contractor of that.
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Hey Teri,
I just wanted to follow up with you on the issue you had with your marble shower flooring tile. We just had our glass installed last week and have taken several showers since, I have not seen discoloration or problems with drying out or darker spots. After you contacted me about your problem I’ve been totally paranoid that I would have a similar problem, but so far I have not. Did you ever find a solution for your issue?
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So lovely, it really is coming together – love all of your tile choices, and the floor looks amazing! I checked out your Instagram pics of the board & batten, I am planning on this treatment for my family room. Could you tell me what material you used and the sizes of the boards? I can’t tell if it is mdf or wood. Thanks so much.
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Hey Liz,
Thanks so much! the B&B is MDF, the baseboards are 5″, the vertical piece 2.5″ and the horizontal piece is 3.5″ all roughly measured. They are standard sizes sold at Lowe’s, they come primed and are very easy to work with. Good luck with your project!
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Can you tell me what color grout you used, we want to use a pure white (with boost to prevent discoloration) as opposed to standard white. Not sure we are making the right decision. Thank you, I got a lot of inspiration from your bathroom for my own.
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Hey Nicole! I just looked at the tub and it says “STD white” and it looks white in person. I’ve had no discoloration issues with it at all, I did seal the grout and tile and used an admix instead of water when we mixed the grout. All from the Tile Shop… Hope this helps and good luck with your project!
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