A peek at the bathroom floor, and the subway tile is up!

Carlos has now installed and grouted the bathroom floor tile (using pale gray grout- very nice!), and installed the bathroom wall tile. He will be coming back to grout the bathroom walls next week.
Installation of this small section of hex tile near the door threshold was delayed a couple of days while I quickly ordered additional tile from Tilehaus. Yes, I under-ordered.
After the floor was installed and grouted, and before the wall tiles were installed, the bathroom looked like this, to protect the new grout:

I had to take a peek at the floor when it was partly uncovered while Carlos finished tiling near the door:


Luckily, with a quick phone call I was able to order the extra tile, and it was shipped out the same day. It's still a mystery why there wasn't enough tile, since the bathroom is 8.5' x 6' (= 51 sq. ft.), and I ordered 62 square feet of tile (which included more than the standard 10% overage allowance). Does the 10% rule only apply to square tile? .....I'll have to think about that one......

Despite the minor delay, the installation otherwise went smoothly, and the new bathroom floor looks great, although it's mostly still covered by paper until the walls are grouted. Below are some photos of the bathroom with the wall tile installed, but not yet grouted.

We're very happy with the bathroom's new look, especially the glass pencil trim accent tiles!

Kitchen cabinets are here!

This is a very busy time of year at the hospital and, due to our high census and a last-minute emergency, I ended up working until 7 p.m. last night, but I stopped by The Cottage to have a look at the new kitchen cabinets. The room was completely dark, since the electrical installation is still a work in progress, meaning no light fixtures or switches yet! These photos were all taken using only the camera's flash. Suddenly, we have a kitchen again!
Here is a view of the cabinets where the sink and dishwasher will be installed:

We opted to have the interior of the cabinets finished the same as the exterior: red oak:

The cabinets have Shaker-style doors, with beadboard insets. The hardware is satin nickel. Our new light fixtures will match.

Some of the upper cabinets have seeded glass insets, which had not yet been installed in this photo:

Inside the lower cabinet closest to the kitchen door is...

...our new pull-out pantry:

No more cereal boxes on top of the fridge!
After the glass was installed, a view through the seeded glass:


Meanwhile, the bathroom floor tile was grouted yesterday. No photos yet, because the entire floor is covered by a protective layer of brown kraft paper while the grout sets. We chose gray grout, as opposed to white, for the bathroom floor, to keep a more traditional look, since I have learned from the very helpful customer service rep at Tilehaus, hexagonal tiles were historically set using gray mortar.
Our tile order has come in at last, after a few weeks' delay, so tomorrow the the bathroom wall tile will be installed. The kitchen floor will be tiled next week.

Progress in the kitchen, and a minor setback in the bathroom.

Andrew and I spent much of this weekend with paintbrush or roller in hand. We spent hours carefully sanding the kitchen ceiling, then vacuumed away all of the dust before putting 2 coats of clear satin polyurethane on the cypress beadboard. The end result: it looks fabulous! The natural color and grain of the wood really pops. It just needs a bit of simple trim moulding where the ceiling meets the wall, and it's done.

Andrew applying the second coat:


The ceiling after 2 coats of clear polyurethane:

Meanwhile, I started priming the newly-textured walls. The kitchen cabinets are due to be delivered and installed next Wednesday. Our goal was to prime and paint the kitchen, at least the parts that won't be covered by cabinets, this weekend. We managed to prime, but haven't painted yet. There's still time, so we will be over at The Cottage one or two more evenings after work to finish that.

Tiling of the bathroom floor was to have begun tomorrow (Monday), but our contractor, J, stopped by on Saturday and informed us that the bathroom floor is not level. Apparently, he shot a level line with his laser level, and discovered that one side of the room is one inch lower than the other. (Why he didn't check the level of the floor before now, and before giving the tilesetter the go-ahead is beyond me. Wouldn't cha think that would be important to know??)

J's suggestion for how the tile guy could maybe "camouflage" the problem (i.e., using baseboard moulding-!) was not warmly received. Needless to say, it has been decided that the bathroom floor will be made level before any tile work begins.

Since the plan, before discovery of the off-kilter floor, was to begin laying the bathroom tile tomorrow, Andrew and I had planned to pre-seal the hex tile, as recommended by the manufacturer, this weekend. So, we went ahead and sealed the tile today, even though the floor installation is temporarily on hold.





We sealed 60-something sheets of hex tile. Not difficult, but a slow process. We got them all done, and the tiles are now spread out on the bathroom and kitchen floors while they dry completely.

Which is helpful for seeing how the tiles will look after installation:

Next big project: kitchen and bath remodel

Since our house is a circa-1940s wood frame Florida Cracker style home, we have decided to redo both the kitchen and bathroom in vintage 1920s to 1940s style. Classic 3x6" porcelain subway tile wainscoting, clawfoot tub, and hexagonal floor tile are part of the bathroom remodel plan.

A porcelain console sink like the one pictured above (except with a 3-hole faucet) will also be installed, and is packed in boxes in our 3rd bedroom ("the junk room"), awaiting the start of the bathroom remodel.