Believe me when I say…a shower and/or bath project does not fall into my comfort zone. (Unless, that is, it involves bubbles and wine.) Laying tile after the fact? That I can do. As for all the hoopla involved in prepping the mortar bed? Not so much. I’m fairly confident though, that even I could manage the Schluter-KERDI watertight shower kit. This system is so easy to install… I mean, other than a hand or coping saw and a trowel, no tools are even required. (FOR SHAME!!!) [click to continue…]
Bath
Every month we try to provide you with at least one interesting bathroom idea because, well, we all spend a fair amount of time in there, don’t we? It might as well be an interesting place.
While the toilet tends to get most of our attentions, we thought the shower could use a little love – specifically, the thing that covers it – the shower curtain. We found a shop on Etsy that puts a creative idea to work in a number of interesting ways.
After a hard day of fixing stuff around the house or renovating a room, you deserve a hot, long shower. There’s nothing quite as good as that, is there?
If your water has been treated with chlorine, though, the reward may be a little soured.
While we’re not fully aware of the effects of bathing and washing ourselves daily in chemically-treated water (not to mention drinking it), some are saying that homeowners should take some extra steps to protect their health and purchase filters that remove or reduce the chlorine we come in contact with. [click to continue…]
Our bathtub used to be a horrible shade of almond, or maybe it was pinkish-beige. Whatever it was, it was not pretty. Since ripping out the whole old tub was not in the budget, we opted for refinishing instead. I hunted through local vendors on Angie’s List, and eventually settled on one with solid reviews. First the pros: you wind up with a much better looking tub, at a fraction of the cost of ripping out and replacing your tub. The cons: your bathroom and house will smell like spray paint for days, the quality of application varies, the refinished tub chips easily (resulting in ugly glimpses into the tubs past life and color), and ultimately the old tub will still be your old tub. If it wasn’t for some unevenness in the application, and the fact that we already have several chips from dropping objects onto the tub, I think we would be thrilled with it. However the appearance and durability just don’t match what you would get with a new tub. My personal take is, if you have an ugly color but are not gutting your whole bathroom, then refinishing is great. However if you are doing a full bathroom remodel, and your tub needs help, I would replace the tub outright. If I have talked you out of refinishing, Vintage Tub & Bath has some great tubs starting at just around $1000. VintageTub.com – Free shipping on ALL products including U.S. and Canada! If you decide to refinish, you can probably expect to pay roughly $300 plus or minus $100 for a typical job.
