THE BATHROOM REVEAL!

Our bathroom is done!  Actually, it was done a few months ago but we have been busy with life and couldn't get the pictures together and the post completed. Happy to say that we're back and blogging again.  

I am almost more pleased with the new washroom than I was with our new kitchen. Don’t get me wrong, I love our kitchen, but with the washroom I wasn’t expecting much of a transformation. I knew that it was a very small space and it would remain a small bathroom, no matter what we did. However, I am impressed at how much the pedestal sink and the clear glass tub door open up the space. It feels so much larger and airier. I still tend to walk by it several times a day, just to take a quick peak inside. Enough of the talking; here are the before and after pictures. I also added a list of the green products we used.

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

Some of the features highlighted:

The recessed shower niche was a lot of work for our tiler but we love it. The insert was purchased online from Home Depot.

The all around chair rail and bullnose borders add some interest to the finish.

Sink and faucet purchased from Home Depot. This smaller sized pedestal sink works great for our space.

Elongated water saver toilet and inset metal toilet roll holder.

Two mirrored, inset medicine cabinets from Home Depot. Great space savers that balance out and enlarge the bathroom visually.

Custom made wooden vent cover held on with magnets.

Yup, Martha Stewart Seal Harbor lights from Home Depot.

6 x 6 tile and pencil tile to create a faux baseboard. We went with a traditional black door stopper for a country look.

Birch White semigloss paint on the door and on the new casing. The black Weiser Troy door knobs and barn hooks installed by Mia.

The green products we used:

·         Toilet - American Standard, Saver Elongated, low-flow toilet. Uses only 4.8L/flush. You might remember our last toilet that used 8 L/flush.

·         Bathtub – American Standard, Steel Enamelled tub – Purchased at Lowes. Love the tub! Read about our decision HERE.

·         Glass Tub Door – We purchased this great tub door on sale at Home Depot. We love how it finishes off the look and is more environmentally friendly than plastic shower curtains.

·         0 VOC Paint – Purchased at Homestead House. This is our favourite paint and we used it in the rest of our house. 

·         Porcelain tiles – Purchased at Home Depot and The Tile Store. Read about it here HERE.

·         Cement board – Used it for all the bathroom walls. Read about our decision here HERE.

·         Dry Wall Joint Compound - MURCO M 100 – A non-toxic alternative to regular dry-wall compound. Used it to finish off the cement board. Purchased at the EcoResource.

....and off to the next project, rebuilding the deck.

Mia

Tips for a low stress renovation experience

Our bathroom renovation feels so much less stressful than our kitchen reno was. We are so much more organized this time. During our kitchen renovation while work was already at full speed we were still frantically looking for a sink, picking out paint colours and tracking down window casings. It made the process very stressful. This time around, we wanted to be more organized. We bought everything we needed for the reno in advance right down to the door stopper and towel hooks. 

We also learned to communicate better with our tradesmen. To give you an example, we purchased a tile ready recessed shower niche from Home Depot that was installed into the wall opening by our builder. Here it is after the installation.

As I wanted to make the niche a feature in our bathroom we picked up 6X6 white tiles to create a design on the niche. I stayed up late the night before the tiling job began and made a simple drawing. Of course, Misha had a different idea so I actually had to make two drawings, one based on my idea and one based on his.

We settled on his idea and showed it to Daniel, our tiler. Daniel made some tweaks to the design, added some of his insights and we were all happy.

Misha also made a little sketch of our bathroom (to scale) to aid the tradesmen in coordinating their jobs and getting everything where we wanted it. Here he is working hard at it.

We neglected to make this type of a plan for our kitchen reno and as a result we ended up having to move one of the electrical boxes after the wall was already closed up. This time, Misha’s bathroom plan was used by all our workers and our builder even hung it up in the bathroom as a reference. It looked like we hired an architect; Misha did a great job!

We have learned a lot just by going through these renovations and definitely the more reno you do the better you get at it. Only a few more days and our bathroom will be done. I can't wait. We already love it!

Below are a few tips that might help you with your renovation planning.

Mia

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Tips for a low stress renovation experience:

1. Plan, plan, plan ahead– We spent about three months planning our new bathroom, which I heard is actually a short time.
2. Buy everything in advance – Even the smallest thing is worth picking up before the renovation starts.  Once the work begins there will be many unexpected decisions that you will have to make.  Being organized will reduce your stress level significantly and you will be able to focus on the process more.
3. Communicate your wants clearly; no detail is too small – During our kitchen reno we assumed that the tradesmen had the same vision as us and we were disappointed when things didn’t get done the way we wanted. So, never assume and always speak your mind; even if it feels like you are micromanaging.
4. Review the completed work at the end of each day –We spent about 10 minutes at the end of each day going over the work that got done that day. We kept a piece of paper on our kitchen table where we wrote down daily what needed to be addressed the next day. We caught a couple things that we pointed out right away to our builder and he corrected them easily. If we had waited it would have been a much bigger issue as the reno progressed.

Bathroom reno - There are always surprises when a wall comes down

Well, the demo has begun, and as usual the walls concealed some interesting surprises. First of all, the wall was made of a thick heavy cement which made the removal of the tub almost impossible. It had to be cut in two. Our builder was not happy; his charge at the transfer station dumping off the heavy cement was higher than expected.

Part of our bathroom wall

Secondly, we did not have  2 x 4 framing on the walls but instead 3/4" x 1 1/4" slats. This meant there was no room for the cotton insulation we had purchased.  We chose not to add 2 x 4 framing because of limited space and we would have had to give up the bathtub.

Bathroom walls opened up

 We briefly considered using 1/2" foam board, as suggested by our builder.  However, when we looked into it we found that it contains many toxic chemicals and if it burns it releases toxic fumes.  Reject!  We also looked at cork board but we only had a day to source it before the walls were closed up so we did not have time to look for it.

Once we realized we could only put 1/2" insulation in our walls and the insulating benefit would be minimal, whatever product we used, we decided to use no insulation.  Since we did not use any insulation we also chose not to use a vapour barrier. The cement board is mold resistant and dries if it gets wet.  There is a school of thought that believes that plastic vapour barriers can cause unwanted condensation.  The bonus is that we don't use any plastic.

This may seem controversial but having a green home is not just about saving energy.  A completely sealed and insulated home keeps the heat in, but also keeps off gassing toxins in your home and fresh air out.  We made the best decision we could in our circumstance to balance energy saving and air quality.  

Misha

Bathroom reno - It's happening!

The demolition of our bathroom has began. Yay! This is always the most exciting part for me; the beginning of the reno. The walls have been removed, the toilet, tub, sink are gone.  Our bathroom is transformed into an empty cavity. There is no return at this point.

We will keep you posted about how things are going. So far we found one unexpected surprise; see next post coming soon.

P. S. I am getting used to (reluctantly), using the basement toilet. I haven't even walked in there since we moved in as it is in a very bad shape. When I say bad I mean REALLY bad. Each time I walk in there I have to tell myself that "it's not that bad, you can do it Mia, just don't look around".

Mia

Cement board or drywall? - Searching for green alternatives

I thought that designing a green bathroom would be easy. All I had to worry about was to pick out the tiles, low flush toilet, bathtub.... Well, it turns out that it is not that simple. Just replacing the drywall in the bathroom creates a big green dilemma for us.  There are a lot of products with a lot of different ingredients and to try and find one that is non-toxic, made by a reputable company and does not have a misleading name is very difficult.  

Our contractor suggested using cement board around the shower area and green drywall in the rest of the bathroom. Our problem is that green drywall is not really "green".  It has toxic chemicals in it to prevent mold and fungus growth and is only called green because of its colour; not its sustainable qualities. We are not comfortable using it for our bathroom. 

During my search for a drywall alternative for bathrooms I came across DensArmor gypsum wall board made with fiberglass mats on both sides. It is  naturally water/mold resistant and recommended for wet/humid areas. I thought that I had found a solution until I learned that it is made by Georgia-Pacific Gypsum, which has been fighting law suites for manufacturing toxic drywall. At this point I don't trust them so DensArmor is out.

We are still searching for drywall alternatives, but leaning towards using cement board instead of green drywall. Cement board is water resistant and used in areas where there is direct contact with water. It is also used as a tile backer. 

Cement board 

We will need to apply a drywall compound on the cement board to finish it off and to make it smooth and ready for paint. It will be more work, more sanding and more money than using drywall, but worth the effort for us. Our contractor doesn’t know about our plan yet but hopefully he will be on board.

Mia

How green is our toilet?

We are still undecided about which toilet to get. At times I even question whether we need to replace our toilet at all. I checked the date it was made and it is only 2 years old. You can find the date imprinted on the inside of the tank near the top. It works well and we haven't had any clogs. The only good reason for us to replace it would be if it uses too much water. It's snowing outside, so why not spend my time getting to know my toilet better and finding out how much water it uses.

All I need to gather is a marker and a large size bottle. I find one of Misha' empty sparkling water bottles; it's perfect for my experiment.

I remove the top of the toilet tank and prepare to mark the water level. I see a line there already so no need to mark it. So far so good.

I turn the water off...

...and flush the toilet.

This is the fun part. I start filling up the tank with water. The 1 littre bottle I am using is perfect as it makes counting much easier. Not even the kittens standing up on the toilet rim can confuse me.

I am amazed to find out that our toilet uses 8 litres of water per flush. All the models sold in the stores use 6 litres or less. Done! We are replacing our toilet for sure. I like the idea of using less water per flush. 

Mia

Bathtub dilemma – Ping pong table or a soaking tub?

I like deep tubs. I like tubs in which you can just soak yourself comfortably and forget about the world around you. I grew up with a deep tub and I miss having one. The tub we have right now is a 15” one that is 27" wide and I don’t even attempt to take a bath in it.

We only have space for a standard size, 30X60 recessed bathtub. We looked at standard size tubs that are deeper but there are not very many on the market. If they are deeper, they are also wider and we can’t afford to lose any more space.

We are set on getting an enamelled steel tub. A cast iron tub would be nice but we are not prepared to spend the extra money on it at this time. Acrylic tubs are everywhere and come in all shapes and sizes but we are trying to reduce plastic in our house and not add to it, so acrylic tubs are out.

Given our limited space, our tub hunt was quick and easy. We are going with a standard 30X60X15 ¾” enamelled steel bathtub. We like it; it’s simple and durable. We were told that the porcelain finish on it lasts longer than the shine of the acrylic tubs. The bonus is the price; it’s $145 at Lowe's.

Tub of our choice-Cadet American Standard enamelled steel tub from Lowe's

 I am still not giving up on the soaking tub though. I am working on Misha on putting in a second bath in the basement with my dream tub. He resists this as he wants to have space for a ping pong table. Soaking tub vs. ping pong table - the battle is on!  Which one would you vote for?

Mia

Subway tiles in bathrooms - Here we go again!

Subway tiles are timeless. We used them for our kitchen backsplash and I knew I wanted to use them again in our bathroom. I like to have consistency and a similar look/feel throughout the house. My favourite thing about subway tiles is that there are many accent pieces to choose from: chair rails, shelf rails, flat liners, bull noses, sanitary coves….It takes a while to get familiar with all the names and options but this board at the Tile Store was helpful for us to get started. 

 After a couple of days of consideration and a few visits to the Tile Store we came up with our subway tile order. We purchased Daltile’s Rittenhouse Square 3X6 subway tiles from Home Depot and matching 2X6 bullnose. We will be tiling halfway up the bathroom wall, so we also ordered 2X6 chair rails from the Tile Store to finish off the edges. I love chair rails; they are so charming. 

I also like the look of a baseboard in bathrooms so we picked up the larger 6X6 subway tiles and will top them off with 1/2X6 flat liners to create an illusion of a baseboard. Before our purchase I did a mock up by taping a couple of the subway tiles to the wall. It is still missing the flat liner between the tiles but we got a good idea of how it will look and we like it.

Mia

Bathroom floor tile - Dark grey or light?

I love the look of grey floor tiles in bathrooms. I was set on getting a dark grey tile and we brought home a sample porcelain tile from Home Depot. I liked the tile, but after living with it for a couple of days, I realized that it just didn’t work in our small bathroom. The dark colour shrank our bathroom and made the floor look much smaller. See what I mean? 

(Cinnamon loves to hang out with me while I am doing my reno planning).

I realized that I had to keep searching and look for a lighter shade of grey. We went to the The Tile Store and I absolutely fell in love with it. The selection of tiles is incredible. There is a large room packed with porcelain tiles that look absolutely identical to stone tiles. I love porcelain tiles because they require no sealing/maintenance, come in beautiful colours, are affordable and are a more sustainable choice. 

It didn’t take us long to find our tile. Actually, Misha pointed it out as soon as we walked in the store. When I first saw it, I loved it but I thought a darker shade might be closer to my vision. We searched through the whole tile selection but kept going back to it.  We ended up ordering it and I know we made the right decision. It’s a beautiful semi-polished light grey porcelain tile. It is on the pricier side at $7.16/sq feet, but luckily we only need a few to cover our small bathroom floor.  We can afford to splurge this time.

Our final choice - the top tile on the right

Mia

The toilet hunt

I never realized how complicated buying a toilet could be and how quickly modesty is flushed down it.  I often do my best thinking on the toilet and these display models allowed me to do that and do some field testing.

Toilet researching

When looking at toilets we had to consider a lot of factors that we had never really thought about; MAPs, shapes, height, water usage...phew. This sign at one of the stores was helpful in getting us started.

Toilet ratings

We started with looking at the height of various toilets. You can go as high as 17 inches.  We found out that the higher toilets are for taller people (duh!), and for the elderly as it is easier to sit down and get up from.  The 16 inch felt good to me but we don't want to leave any of our guests with their legs swinging in the wind when they sit down so we will probably go with the 15 inch.

The next factor we considered was the amount of water used per flush.  The standard these days is 6.0 l per flush but you can get a toilet that uses as little as 4.8 l per flush.  We considered dual flush toilets but were told there is just more to go wrong on it so we will likely settle with the standard single flush.  We also adhere to the "if it's yellow let it mellow ..." protocol which saves us more water than flushing a dual flush every time.

So many choices; how to decide?

Another monumental decision is whether to get a round bowl or an elongated bowl.  Since we have a small bathroom we are considering the round bowl which will extend 2 inches less from the wall than an elongated bowl.  We found out from a helpful sales person that the elongated bowl is designed to be more comfortable for males to allow more room for their monuments when sitting on the toilet and reduce the chances of bowl contact. Hmmm, we may have to reconsider this.

Now it's time to get down and dirty and talk MAP (aka Maximum Performance Testing).  We had a delicate and mildly awkward conversation with a salesperson about this issue where the words "solid waste" and "number 2" were substituted for the more colloquial poop, crap and shit. Discussing the mass of a bowel movement was a bit unfamiliar and odd but we needed to sort this out if we were going to choose the right toilet for us. So here is the skinny (or the fat) on poop.  Most piles are less than 350g and this is the minimum mass that must go down in one flush to be MAP approved.  The best toilets are rated 1000 MAP which means they will flush 1000g (2 lbs.) of solid waste in one flush.  This is much more than most humans produce even considering toilet paper.  To be on the safe side we will likely go with a 1000 MAP toilet to avoid the water waste of double flushing.

So far, Kohler's Cimarron and American Standard Cadet 3 are at top of our list but we have more research to do.

Kohler Cimarron vs. American Standard Cadet 3

Do you have a favourite toilet you can recommend?

Misha

Bathroom renovation - The beginning

Our kitchen is done and the next project on our list is renovating our bathroom. Our bathroom dates back to the 60s, with a particle board vanity made by the previous owner and 2 layers of linoleum flooring. When we moved in two years ago, we stripped off the wallpaper, repainted the walls and removed some cabinetry. It wasn't a top priority at the time but now we feel it's time for a new look. The bathtub faucets are also not working well and we are concerned about the water wastage due to the leaking taps.

The space is tiny and we discovered that the 60" x 27" tub we have is not in production anymore and we can only get a 60" x 30" tub. The new tub will take up more room in our small bathroom so we will really have to be creative in fitting everything in and still making it look good. We are up for the challenge, though. Wish us luck!

Mia