Bathroom Reno Pictures

Okay... I'm making good on my promise to share photos of the Bathroom Reno Adventure...

I'm keeping my "commentary" to a minimum, right now, because I am seething mad at the moment (See the last photo. I'll save my "final commentary" for later!).

Sooo... Let's look at pictures, shall we?

In true HGTV fashion, I give you the bathroom "BEFORE:"

Ugly brown diamonds and "framed" El Cheapo Home Depot shower-door

The "reason" for the remodel.

Leaky tub and water-damage seeping up under the vinyl floor.

The underlayment, once again, was pure "gush!"

Similar damage at the foot of the tub.

FWIW I think this is the 4th (and - hopefully - FINAL) time that we have to replace the floor!

Matching Brown-Diamond Vanity.

It wasn't "horrible" - but a lot of the tiles were chipped/cracked and it just looked kinda "dated."

Ewwww! Speaking of "dated" - I absolutely HATED this brass "Hollywood Light Bar" fixture over the sink. It gave very good light, but it was just unspeakably ugly!!

Day #1 of Demo. "Buh-bye sink!"

(It looks kinda lonely and sad here - but "BUH-BYE!!!")

Demo-Crew, ripping out the old tile countertop...

Vanity tile is gone!!!

Guess I'm gonna be brushing my teeth in the kitchen!

Tub Tile is going...

Vinyl Floor is going...

Sheetrock is going...

Temporary Facilities.

I think the toilet paper hanging off the foot-peg of my Harley just kinda makes this shot Super-Classy!

Drywall is gone and innards are exposed.

We have determined that the tub is not level - Boooo!!!

Water-damage at vent pipe from old roof leak

And another view...

More leaky-roof damage toward the base of the tub
(we had the roof replaced a couple-three years ago).

Damp, but not rotten, floor at foot of tub. This is from the uneven tub leaking.

More wet floor action at the head of the tub. It looked like it was starting to rot, but it didn't go clear through the sub-floor, so AKB opted to "treat it" rather than "replace it."

This had been replaced, previously, when the last LOSERS worked on the bathroom leak.

("No Commentary! Shut UP!" ;-)

Countertop is GONE!

But the toilet's still there (whew!)

"Let there be light!!!"

New fluorescent light fixture with super-quiet fan. Definitely needed that!

New light fixture over the vanity.

I like how there are little squares embossed in the glass...

(goes nicely with the mosaic tiles)

They did level the tub. This is front-to-back (as you're facing the tub)

And side-to-side.

They put in shims under the tub, then CEMENTED them in.

So the tub shouldn't "settle" any more...

New drywall and plumbing!

Nifty New Niche!

We couldn't "center" it on the tub because there were support beams behind the studs.

Electrician was here...

And he wired in an "extra" wire for me. I want to do under-cabinet lighting (like a strip of LED's or something) to shine down on the backsplash and use as a night-light.

Treating the sub-floor with some stinky Copper-Green stuff.

It's supposed to stop rot and deter insects...

Mud going up on the tub walls...

Muddy Niche...

Mud at the base of the tub (and it covers the base of the tub so there should be NO LEAKS!!!)

See how thick the mud is, behind the tiles?

Tiles going up... Pretty!

And Accent Strip - Prettier still!

Tiles up - but no grout yet.

Tile "patch" between the light fixtures on the Medicine Cabinet...

Better picture of the Tile patch

Tile floor prep. Waterproof membrane with chicken-wire on top of that.

Oh noooooo!!! No Toilet for TWO DAYS!!!!!!!!!!

(EEEEEEEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Muddy floor...

Floor tiles going down...

Tub is grouted!!!

Floor is done! (I really do love this floor-tile!)

Originally, I thought I wanted the floor-tile to be set on the diagonal.

But - seeing how the "pattern" is diagonal - it ended up making more sense to go with the tile set "square."

Blue paint on the walls - very soothing!

Tub fixtures starting to go in...

New "Euro-Style" Shower door (that I schlepped home from Lowes)

Two shower heads. One is a big, square "rainshower" head (Delta Dryden, if you're interested)

The other is a multi-function Euro-Style Hand-Shower (Grohe Euphoria).

Our brandy-new Toto Toilet

I've heard rave reviews from ppl about these toilets and, so far, it seems they're All Right!

Super-Low-Flow and doesn't plug-up when you use more than 4 squares of TP. In fact, I haven't had to use our plunger ONCE since it's been installed!

Week #3 and the counter is still nekkid - and we still don't have running water :::sigh:::

But we do have cool-lookin' lights!

Yayyy!!! FINALLY!!!! We have a quartz countertop!

(Caesarstone Buttermilk - which is purchase-able "by the foot")

(as opposed to "by the slab")

Close-up of counter-top with my mosaics laying on top. I don't think it's gonna clash.

We are ALMOST there!!!

Sooooo close to completion!!!

Pretty new faucet!

Backsplash Mud going up...

Super-thick (which is good!)

Mosaic Backsplash - SUPER pretty!

(still needs grout, though...)

Mosaic backsplash in the afternoon sun

(It is grouted, here)

Droid pics really don't do it justice - it is super shimmery and pretty!

This photo was taken well-over 24 hours after the last time the faucet was used...

Contractor is eager to receive his final payment, but...

The pretty sink faucet DRIPS! No, no a lot - but that's not the point!

The latest update (and I'm not posting my FULL opinion - YET!) is that *I* have to go deal with Delta Faucets MYSELF and when/if they choose to send me new cartridges/o-rings/new-faucet/whatEVER, then he'll send someone out "No Charge" to fix it.

Ohhhhh am I holding back a huge rant here, folks! (There's Yelp, and Yahoo Local, and Angie's List for that, I suspect...). Seems to me that if one spends over $10,000 for a bathroom remodel, then expecting a non-leaky faucet isn't entirely outside the realm of "reasonable-ness."

:::sigh:::

I *am* holding back some of the Final Payment until this is addressed. And that's ALL I'm gonna say about THAT!

Recipe: Home-Grown Tomato Soup (and Winter Garden Prep)

Okay, I totally *don't* want to talk about the Bathroom Renovation Project (now heading into it's FOURTH WEEK - ARRRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!).

So let's talk about Tomatoes instead, shall we?

More specifically, the last of the tomato harvest which was threatening to go all mushy on my counter top.

I've actually fallen back into "Nesting Mode" - ever since we had our first notable rain, last week (Waaaahhhh!!!). In fact, I stumbled onto a couple of interesting-sounding recipes in October's Sunset Magazine (Wow - A *current* magazine in the doctor's office???). One is a pumpkin soup with mint-pumpkin-seed pesto that sounds positively fascinating. The other is some sort of Cranberry/Squash/Short-Ribs Stew. I hope to try those in the coming weeks.

In fact, I had intended to make the pumpkin soup this weekend - bought a couple of pie-pumpkins and everything - but then I encountered the tomatoes, looking all forlorn in their bucket on the counter. And - unfortunately - I actually had to compost the previous batch o' maters (they got Super-Grody-lookin' - Oooops!). That was downright criminal!

I lacked the incentive and/or ingredients to make Finny's (Actually FarmGirl's) Tomato Sausage Pie. So I decided to make tomato soup instead.

What follows is kinda/sorta what I did (with approximate measurements 'cuz I didn't keep super-close track of what I was doing!).

QT's Fresh Home-Grown Tomato Soup

• 4 cups chopped fresh tomatoes (skins, seeds and all!)
• 1 medium onion, coarsely chopped (I used 1/2 red and 1/2 yellow because that's what I had on-hand)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced (fresh, Duhhh! Don't even think about using garlic powder - eww!)
• Appx 1 cup chopped celery (I think I used 3-4 stalks)
• Appx 1 cup chopped carrots (I used about 2 handfuls of pre-washed baby carrots)
• 3 TBS butter
• 2 TBS flour
• 1 "regular-sized" can of Chicken or Vegetable Broth (I think it was appx 14 oz.)
• Small handful of fresh basil
• Small handful of fresh chives
• Couple-three sprigs of fresh thyme
• (Or you could just go with dried, jarred stuff - Cheater!)
• 1 TBS Splenda (or Sugar - whatever), to taste
• Sea Salt
• Fresh ground pepper

First, chop up your tomatoes and set 'em to the side:

It's a mixed-up-mess of maters!

Some are slightly underripe and others are threatening to become compost!

Next, Chop up your onions, mince your garlic, and chop your carrots and celery. Try to keep your carrots and celery the same size so they'll all cook evenly.

I started by sauteeing the onions and garlic, in appx 1TBS of butter, first. Once they were limp and translucent, I added the celery and carrots.

Cooked everything on Medium-to-Low heat in a medium saucepan...

Til everything was limp and squishy - but not brown

Then I added the chopped-up 'maters:

And add a can of Vegetable (or Chicken) Broth...

Brought it to a low, rolling boil...

And added my fresh basil, chives and thyme.

Lowered the heat and let it simmer for appx 20-30 minutes 'til everything was pretty mushy-gushy...

Then I hit it with an immersion blender...

I'm really lousy at judging the size of pot I'm gonna need!

It was All Good 'til I plopped the hand-blender in.

Then I found that soup was schlorping out all over the cooktop (Oooops!)

Next comes the Grody-Ody part! Find a separate container that's about the same size as your soup pot. Then grab a wire-mesh sieve. Pour, then smush the soup thru the sieve:

Yummmmm!!!

You do want to force some of the thicker-bits through, but you want to keep the "significant" bits (seeds, tomato-skins, recognizable celery-chunks, etc.) on the inside-the-sieve-side.

I didn't snap a pic, but there was a bunch of thicker-soupy-stuff on the underside of the sieve, and I did scrape that into the soup... The stuff that was too thick to fit thru the mesh became compost.

And Voila!

Fresh, Home-Grown Tomato Soup!

It was rather runny, so I ended up making a roux by mixing 2 TBS butter with 2 TBS flour in a small frying pan. Once it was well-blended, I dumped the roux into the soup pot and cooked it on medium heat a little longer. Gave it a taste... Added a TBS of Splenda and a few shakes of Sea Salt and Pepper (to taste)

This soup was absolutely delicious! We had it for dinner, along with smoked pork-chops with Sweet Corn-Apple Relish, and a side of Garlic Mashed Potatoes.

Definitely yummy!

Final Days of the Summer Garden:

This summer's garden was nothing short of AWESOME! I did harvest a handful of cukes; several ginormous zucchinis (that somehow eluded me while they were still small and tender!); Bushels upon bushels of peaches and plums (and apples - I keep forgetting about my apple tree hidden behind the greenhouse); And it was definitely a Record Year for tomatoes (Yayyyy!!!).

Things I didn't have success with: Watermelons. I did plant a watermelon vine - but I kinda didn't take into consideration the amount of shade that the maters were gonna cast over the melon vine (:::sigh:::). Pumpkins: I oughtta just give up on pumpkins altogether! Actually, I had planted one over by the far back fence (and put a small dog-deterrent fence around it), but *something* (I'm guessing NOT a canine) chomped clean-through the vine - just as the blossoms were starting to "set." Corn: That's another plant I've given up on! Much easier to just run down to the Farm-Stand down the street (for the sweetest corn in the valley!).

And, of course, the Straw-Bale Bed Experiment was a Big Fat Fail. It just didn't hold enough water with our blazing-hot summer-heat (and lack of rainfall - which is just fine with me, thankyouverymuch!!!). I am reviving The Experiment - added a fresh layer of compost on the top and re-checked the drip line - for my Cool-Season Kohl Crops and see how that goes (since we do tend to have wet winters). If it fails again, well, I'll just mulch and/or compost with it...

Ahhh... But I will forever remember this summer's tomatoes with great fondness! And I am especially happy that I managed to retain some Frozen Squozen 'Maters so we can enjoy them well into winter!

Maters are nearing the end, unfortunately. I keep wandering out to the garden in the afternoon to see what's going on. There are still some green babies, lingering on the vines. There was actually one big Mama-Jama 'Mater that was approaching ripeness, but *something* got to it before I could (Grrrr!!!). I've been giving the mater plants haircuts - every time I wander back there (cutting back any new blossoms which don't stand a chance in hell of every coming to fruition! And hacking back vines that have nothing on them).

I don't have the heart to rip 'em out completely because we are still having some warm afternoons and the 'maters *might* ripen on the vine (if the critters don't get to 'em first!). Once it starts to get *really* chilly, I will rip the last of the vines out (and maybe attempt to salvage one of the Stupice vines for greenhouse-growing). For now, I am content to leave 'em alone...

I actually have cleared about 1/3 of one of the raised beds, and did some direct-seeding of some cool season veggies: Beets, Carrots, Peas, and Turnips. Naturally (ONCE AGAIN!!!), I neglected to make note of what-got-sowed-where!!!

I've also planted leaf crops like lettuces, mesclun mix and spinach in the upside-down planters outside the back-door, and I've started some kohl crop seeds (cabbages, cauliflower and broccoli) in the house. Hope to get those moved out to the garden in the weeks to come.

Winter-Garden will be a bit of a Crap-Shoot, I'm afraid. It would be cool to have year-round veggies - but I've never had much success with cool-season crops in years past, so my sense of Optimism is over-shadowed with a hearty dose of Realism!

We shall see....

Bathroom Renovation Rant...

:::sigh:::

I know... I've been uncharacteristically silent for the past week or so... (okay, maybe not so "uncharacteristic!" But what-EVAH!!!).

Actually, I was really hoping that this whole Renovation Project would NOT result in a rant but... Unfortunately... It did!

I can't say that I would give American Kitchen and Bath "Rave Reviews."

In fact, I'd even go so far as to say that I am kind of "regretting" my decision to go with them, to be perfectly honest.

:::Big Sigh:::

I really try not to go down the path of "Coulda-Woulda-Shoulda" - as a rule. But, in this case, I am really thinking I "shoulda" gone with Isaac - the guy who did our kitchen. I genuinely liked Isaac. He wasn't big into up-selling and he delivered what-he-promised, when-he-said-he-would. Those are REALLY big selling points when one is talking about dismantling the ONLY BATHROOM IN THE HOUSE!!!!

Admittedly - with this being the ONLY bathroom - there is a LOT more stress involved. And I might've even had some "pain and agony" if Isaac's crew was doing the job. But some of the bullsh*t I've been dealing with has been just-plain uncalled-for. JMHO....................

For starters: There were two PRIMARY reasons I went with AKB for the Bathroom Reno.

• One was my Boss' Glowing Recommendation (Great work, Great Prices). To be fair, my boss has the Exact Same model house as my mom's house - which means they have three bathrooms so the "inconvenience" was certainly minimized in their case...
  
  
• The Second (also - quite significant) reason I went with AKB was that they were a "One-Stop-Shop." Isaac had moved more towards "Kitchens" and didn't have a full-blown Bathroom Showroom. My fear, had I gone with Isaac, was that - while their "Labor-Only" bid was lower - I would've had to do a whole lot of running-around and schlepping of materials. Whereas, with Joe/AKB, it seemed that I could leave the running-around/schlepping to THEM!
  
  (Not So, Kemosabe!!!)

Anyway, "Woulda-Coulda-Shoulda's" aside, I *will* say that Joe's crew DOES do a Good Job. I have no qualms about the "Quality" of the work they are doing. In fact, his crew is Very Good. Very Personable and (not that this is necessarily a huge "selling point"), the DOGS even like them. Actually, it *is* kind of an off-hand selling point because I *do* think that the dogs are an Excellent Judge of character (but I'm weird that way!!!).

But Joe (the owner) does kind of "keep their hands tied" - meaning, if it's not stated *explicitly* on the contract, they're NOT supposed to do it - right?

Case in point: The Tile Guy was here for two days. Around the same time, his electrician had ripped out the old light fixture (one Big Ugly Brass "Hollywood-Style" light bar) and replaced it with TWO new fixtures. The old fixture had ONE junction box. The new fixtures required two...

This left ONE gaping hole in the middle of the surface-mount Medicine Cabinet (which was not going to be replaced - due to budgetary constraints). I knew this, up-front. And I STATED this, up-front. We *knew* there was going to be a HOLE in the middle that needed to be patched, right?

Well, after the new fixtures went in, we circled back to discuss "what to do" about the hole in the middle. I had suggested, maybe, a sheet of oak veneer (to match the existing medicine cabinet). He claimed that would require a "cabinet maker" to fabricate - and a huge up-charge to handle it.

He suggested an MDF "patch" - which would be painted blue to match the walls.

"Uhh, no!" (that would look just-plain STUPID, actually!).

Then he suggested that maybe *I* could buy a "Decorative Tile" and glue it over the hole.

Well, I countered with "Why not have your Tile Guy put a 4" wide strip of my 'Accent Tile' across the top of the Medicine Cabinet to cover the hole?"

He hemmed and hawed about "Up-Charges" for the add'l labor.

Okay, Fine! ("F**ker!")

Wellllll.... I can "act" pretty obtuse, at times (if it serves my needs!), so while the Tile Guy was here, I queried him on how best to stick some of my Accent Tile up on the Medicine Cabinet to cover the hole, right? He couldn't offer to do anything about it (since it wasn't stated explicitly on Joe's contract). He did, however, offer some suggestions about just using "Liquid Nails" or Silicone to glue it up (but that would have allowed the "brown" stain-color to show through). I started asking him about using thinset to glue-it-up "Would that stick to wood?" (and "Can I have the leftover thinset?") and other assorted INANE questions 'til we reached the point where he OFFERED to put a patch of tile up FOR ME (just to get me to stop asking stupid questions!!!).

"Oh, could you?! That would be GREAT!!!" :::Big Smile:::

Took him all of 5 minutes to accomplish, I'm sure (given that he was already installing tile throughout the rest of the bathroom!).

Well, when Joe showed up, he seemed a little torqued about it and indicated that that *should have been* a $200.00 up-charge!!! (Are you f**king kidding me??? I certainly HOPE he was joking!!!).

Anyway... I have other gripes as well. And those gripes have resulted in *significant* delays to the completion of the job, unfortunately...

For example, when we were in the "Pre-Sales" stages (before I signed the contract), I was perfectly content to stick with a tile countertop. Yeah, I know that's not the Latest 'n Greatest, but it seemed like the most expedient/cost-efficient approach to take, right? And, when we started out, I had actually found a 6" tile (with matching edge-pieces) that actually matched the tub-tile I had originally selected (which later got changed - but whatever...)

"Ohhhh noooo!" sez the Sales Guy (and, later, Joe). "Nobody does tile anymore... I can get you Solid Surface or Quartz for the same price!"

Okay fine. Now, I know for a fact that sticking down a single-slab o' Quartz is most-definitely less labor than setting a Tile Countertop (what with all the tile-cutting involved). But, unfortunately, with the "change-in-direction" (based on the original sales-quote). the tile colors changed slightly, which meant that the counter-top selection had to change as well...

Well, long-story-short, I ended up selecting a Quartz Counter-top that couldn't be obtained. The original excuse was "Well, we can't get it because of the size and shape of your countertop." (Excuse me??? The size and shape of my countertop hasn't changed!!!).

Then he offered "Cultured Marble" as an alternative. "Oh, you mean that plastic crap they used to put in 1970's homes? No thank you!" (I'm not spending *this* much money to end up with a cheesy, plastic countertop)

Then it was - we can't find a remnant and the only way we could do it is with a "significant up-charge."

"Well, how MUCH is the up-charge?"

I asked that SEVERAL times and never got a satisfactory answer (Never got ANY answer - let alone a satisfactory answer)!

"Are we talking a couple-hundred? A couple THOUSAND?!" Give me a CLUE here, buddy!

(Seriously - I don't mind paying extra if the End Result will be worth it, right?!!)

I could NEVER get a straight answer!!! So I was forced to find a local countertop fabricator (fortunately, just around the corner from me!). I ended up emailing Joe and telling him I'd found someone else to fabricate my countertop for me.

All of a sudden, it seemed that Joe *was* able to procure an acceptable countertop (well then WHY THE HELL DID *I* HAVE TO SPEND MY WEEKEND AT A COUNTERTOP-SHOP BEFORE YOU "DISCOVERED" THIS?!??!!!) (Jeeezus that's freaking ANNOYING!!!)

And, honestly, this has been the way a LOT of the stuff has been. I.e. He "offers" Delta "LaHara" Fixtures. Okay, fine. But I don't really like the "style" of Delta LaHara. What about Delta "Dryden?" Can you get that for me? What is the cost difference? Uhhh, Errr...

Turns out *I* have to go to the Plumbing-Supply Store to order them (and deal with the cost difference - which is fine - butttt...). Same thing with Tiles actually (and the "Tile Allowances" he gave me in the contract were - ummm - laughable!)...

Anyway... Reason #2 for going with AKB: "One-Stop-Shop" turned out to be - NOT advantageous AT ALL!!! I had to run all over Hell-And-Creation to make all the decisions. PLUS a LOT of the sh*t I had to purchase (AND schlep home!!!) MYSELF!!! Shower-door: He offered ONE model. Not bad, but not what I was looking for. "What about 'Euro-Style?'" "Oh, that's more than double the price!"

Soooooo... Off to Lowes I go. Yes, I ended up purchasing (AND SCHLEPPING HOME) a Euro-Style Shower Door for HIS GUYS to install (at an hourly rate!) (BTW - the *First* attempt at installing resulted in a significant LEAK! I'd BETTER not get charged for the re-install!!!!).

Anyhooooooooooooooooooo..... If you have not surmised by now that I am "less-than-impressed" with the Quality of Service at AKB, well, let me state - most emphatically - that I am Less than Impressed with the Quality of Service provided by AKB! The WORK Quality appears to be good, but the "Service" and "Nickel-And-Diming-To-Death" that I am dealing with, now, make it far more painful than it needs to be!!

This was supposed to have been a week-and-a-half job. Well, it's been 2 weeks now and the counter-top and sink *still* aren't complete or installed (maybe... next week... I hope???).

The shower is in. And it's FANTASTIC.

The new toilet is in. I have joined the "cult" of Toto Toilet Fanatics (Love-Love-Love my Toto!!!).

Sink and Counter-Top are still "TBD." I have NO DOUBT that I'll love them when they're finally installed. But I can't say that I am 100% "Warm 'n Fuzzy" over the Customer Service (esp follow-up if - Gawd-Forbid - we discover a problem!). But, for now, I will remain "guardedly optimistic!"

I'll post Progress Pics in a separate post. We have a concert to go to, tonight, so I probably won't be able to update anything more.....