Finally: Paint.
Painting the wood trim is always the hardest part. I tried (and failed) to use the airless sprayer to paint the walls and the trim. The result was sagging, dripping paint on the trim, because it puts far too much on. Had to wait a week, sand out all the sags, and repaint by hand.
Paint colors are so difficult; even more so because when they mix them, it seems like the mixed colors just don’t match the samples. Luckily I have mole to pick colors. She picked the ‘november skies’ (medium blue on the card in the photo above). But when it was mixed, I put a bit on the wall and it was way too light – looked like the powder blue that old VW bugs were sometimes painted. My feeling: Hate is not too strong a word for that color. So I went back to the paint store and asked them to add pigment. I used the recipe for the darkest color on the sample card. They fought me, because they said that the darkest color used a different base. Eventually, they agreed, and we got the color that’s on the background. Not a standard color, but we like it more than either!
Some painting action photos!
All painted, before the washing machine went back in.
Here’s the bathroom before the toilet. Actually, the sprayer worked well in here. The difference? I used cheap paint. Seems like cheap paint sprays better.
Painting the wood wainscot and window trim was a lot of work.
I bought the glass shower door very cheaply at overstock.com about a year or more ago. At the time I bought it, I hadn’t put the tile on yet, so I estimated the space. The door also allowed some adjustment for width, so I thought I was safe. Not! Once the tile was on, the space was one eighth inch less than I’d estimated. All the adjustment happens on the wall opposite the hinges, at a 12 inch wide fixed panel. I spent an entire day trying to grind down the aluminum adjustment piece so that it would fit. No luck.
Eventually the solution I came up with was to order some stainless steel brackets from China, and screwed them to the wall and to the aluminum edge piece on the glass. Instead of the supplied slotted aluminum piece that was supposed to close the gap at the wall, I just used silicone caulk. But it looks fine now, and I didn’t have to buy a new glass piece. Lesson learned: Order the glass after the tile is finished.
The sink is tiny tiny. This room is so small, that there’s not much room for the sink, and to allow the shower door to open. When I laid out the tile, I put that diamond shaped decorative tile above where I thought the sink should go. But once the sink was attached there, it was obvious that it was much too close to the shower door (see the door handle relative to the sink edge, above). Very awkward.
So I took it off the wall, and re-did it. That required some tricky plumbing for the waste line (which I had to redo three times.) The glass shelves are part of the shower door – quite a neat solution to bracing the fixed panel. The only sad part for me is that there is a hole in one of the tiles to the left of the sink. Maybe I can glue a decorative tile on top of it, or find some way to make not show. Suggestions welcomed!
And now there’s a toilet. Now I just need a towel rail, a mirror, and to finish the lights.
The sliding pocket door for the bathroom has a beautiful old-style lock. Unfortunately it’s impossible to find the correct keys for them now, so I bought a nice solid cast bronze key and filed it down to fit. Only problem is that traditionally, the key would have had a loop that could fold flat so the key wouldn’t get in the way when the door slides closed. We’ll just have to remember to take the key out before trying to slide the door into the pocket…
So, trying to take a selfie while riding a bike is a bit dangerous, and doesn’t work very well. Here’s Janeen and me while riding the Primavera century in April. I think Janeen was suffering a bit from the headwinds at this point so I was trying to ride in front to block the wind. We had a great time, and also rode it with a couple of good friends (Kirk and his twin brother Derrick).
