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Now that the tile walls and tile floors were up, we were able to do lots of little things. So I did these things at night, after work. As such, they took a long time to complete. We started with painting. Heidi had picked a nice light blue paint called Wave Crest. It's a little lighter than sky blue. But since we had done a lot of drywall work, we had to prime first. Those of you who have seen me paint before know that I'm not all that great at "cutting in" corners. But I finally found the secret. I got a really nice 2 inch brush from Home Depot. As long as I'm careful and take my time, I'm able to cut in pretty nicely now. I cut in all 4 joints where the wall meets the ceiling and didn't have many places where I got paint where I didn't want it. And since I'm painting with latex, whenever I did make a mistake, correcting it was as simple as wiping it up with a wet rag. We painted the ceiling gloss while and the walls the wave crest blue.

We had bought a cabinet to put over the toilet. Since it would be easier to install it before the toilet was back in place, Heidi and I hung it on a Friday night. Hanging it was simple. We used a stud finder to locate one stud the cabinet would hang from, and put in drywall anchors on the other side of the back of the cabinet. Sometimes it amazes me how non-sturdy something can look, and how sturdy it really is. We drilled 3 drywall screws into the stud and 3 anchor screws into the anchor and everything is really sturdy. While I didn't hang all of my weight from it, I tugged at it pretty good and it stayed firm. The last thing you want is a big ole cabinet full of supplies falling down on your head while you're sitting there on the toilet...

The next day, my friend Kelcey came over to help me install the vanity cabinet. IT took some finageling, but we finally got it in w/o too much trouble. Then the toilet. Whoops. When we cut the floor underlayment, we left a square hole around the drain. But, it was a little bit too big in the back. I patched it up with a little of the floor grout. It's not perfect, but your eye isn't drawn to it like it would be if I'd left it open. And it was just the wooden subfloor that you could see, so no big deal.

Now that the vanity, sink, and toilet are all back in, it's time for the truly finishing touches. We'd purchased a curved shower curtain rod like you see in hotels these days. It lets you stand in the middle of the tub without having the cold clammy curtain brush up against you. Part of the installation is to take the bracket apart and screw the back of the bracket in place on the wall into "decorator" achors. They're like drywall anchors, only you hand screw them into place rather than drill pilot holes and hammer them in. We took it apart and set everythign on the sink. When we went to screw the brackets into place, instead of using the proper screws, we accidentally grabbed the screws that held the bracket together. Then when I tried to take them back out, they wouldn't come out. So we used some other machine screws I had laying around to hold the bracket together. But, alas, it's important to use the right screw for the job. The screws going into the decorator's anchors didn't hold. And the curtain rod fell down a few days later. And in doing so, it ripped a bunch of the drywall down with it.

Patching drywall isn't as easy as installing new drywall, but I've had some practice. ;-) So I patched the hole, sanded it smooth, re-painted and we got a new curtain rod from Bed Bath and Beyond. Luckily, they're not terribly expensive,m only $39.99. The time was consumed putting the drywall joint compound up, letting it dry, putting another layer up, letting it dry, putting a third layer up and letting it dry. Then I had to sand it, prime it, and put 2 coats of top coat on, all of which had to dry. And like I mentioned earlier, all of this took place after work at night. So it was a day between each application of joint compound and paint. But I have to admit, even though I know where the patch is, I still can't see evidence of it. Yay me!!!

The old mirror that hung over the sink wasn't bad or anything, but years of previous owners painting the bathroom without taking the mirror down left the edges smeared with paint. So we replaced it with a mirror that was the same size, only with a 1/2 inch bevel around the edges. Installing it was no problem.

When Charlie was here, he had me get a new elelctrical outlet, switches, and plate cover. Installing them is easy. Turn the power off at the breaker box, take the old ones out, and connect the new ones. Then I turned the power back on and tested them. Great!! They all worked. I went to put the plate cover back on, and the screw holes (in the outlet and switches) didn't line up perfectly. So I took the plate off and tried to move the switches and outlet around a bit. Did you notice how I didn't say anything about turning the power back off. Yeah. I stuck my hand into a live outlet. Needless to say, I felt a "little" twinge. And of course, by "little" I mean incredible. And by "twince" I mean painful shock coursing through my arm. Yikes!! So I go back downstairs and ask Heidi if I look ok. She's dumfounded. "Uhhhh why?" "Never mind. Do I look ok?" "yeah, you look fine, why?" "I just stuck my hand in the live outlet and got quite a shock. I just wanted to you look at me to be sure I wasn't messed up and didn't realize it." "YOU WHAT?!?!?!?!" Wives don't like hearing about all of the stupid things you do while working on the house. But I lived. So, it's all good.

Lessee. Paint, curtain rod, grout, what else is there? Oh yeah, the transition between the tile and carpet in the hallway. When I cut the floor tiles, I cut the one in the middle of the doorway a little wider than the others, so it sticks out into the threshhold a little. Doh!!! But no worries. Home Depot sells hardwood flooring, and some fo the engineered pieces they sell are transition pieces. I got one that was pretty wide to hide the mistake and install it. Granted, it took a 2nd dtrip to Home Depot to get one that was the proper height on both sides, but it just snaps into a track I screwed into the subfloor. If/When we replace the carpet with hardwood, that transition piece is easisly replacable.

Then I painted the doorway trim and we put the door back in place. All done. I'll post pics, as they say in Jamaica, "soon come"...

All in all, I'm glad we did it. And really glad I did it myself. I saved a bundle of money instead of hiring a contractor, and I learned some copper plumbing basics. Charlie, Justus, and Kelcey were all indisipensible in helping me with this. I'm actually looking forward to doing the downstairs bathroom since it's just a half bath. No tub to replace/tile. Just replace the vanity with a pedestal sink, install over toilet cabinet, paint the walls and tile the floor...

But that's another post...