DIY Birch Tree Painting

Have you seen the DIY Birch Tree Paintings on Pinterest?  I thought it looked easy enough for a non artist to do and I needed something to fill a big blank wall in the new master bath, so off to the craft store I went.

 It took less than 40 dollars and about one hour (less drying time) to complete.  I found a good tutorial here.  Of course I had to change it up a bit.  Instead of using the straight edge of the tape to mask off the trunks I tore the tape in half lengthwise.  I then used the ragged edge for the sides of the trunks.  That gave me a more natural looking tree.  I also used a light shade of gray for some of the trees so they appear to be behind the larger white ones.  In addition to the credit card, I used a fan brush to dry brush on more detail to the bark.

 Now while I take a bath I have something very calming to look at.......

It fills the space nicely and the grays match all the accents in the bathroom.

  So I would call this a Pin-Win!  Easy to do and cost effective too.

Not many paintings can be bought for less than 50 dollars!

Diana

Master Bathroom Remodel Finished!

 Today we put the final touches on the remodel!

Just to remind you how awful the bathroom started out check out the before picture above.  20 years old and showing it's age.....  Below is a sketch of the new floor plan.  We moved the shower out of the toilet room and nudged the vanity over to make room for the larger tub.

 Here is the new bathroom!  Huge deep soaker tub and vanity replace the outdated built in tub and low vanity.

 Love the color scheme, aqua and grey.  It looks so clean and fresh.  The vanity is 36 inches tall, not including the back splash.  It is looks like a piece of furniture.  It came with a marble top and framed mirror.  All the metals in the room are a mixture of brushed nickel, chrome and a little bronze.

 Here is the new shower.  The base is made of a solid material, but the walls are tiled.  The shower door hangs from barn door-like hardware and is so cool.  

 We ran a strip of glass, stone and stainless steel accent tile down the back of the white subway tiled wall.

 Here is a better picture of the hardware but it was taken before the shower faucet was put in.

 Shower niche for all our necessities.

 The final installation done today was the heated towel rack......I know, sooooooo wonderful!  Hot towels after your shower......too awesome.

 Last look at the shower area.  Love the wood look tile on the floor.

And, some extra storage in the new toilet room.

This project took us almost 7 weeks from start to finish.  We had to tear out old tile, replace damaged drywall, redo almost all the plumbing and electrical and installed all the new walls, floors and fixtures!  We used no professionals at all......did it all ourselves!  Of course it took a little longer but we got the bathroom of our dreams at a fraction of what we would have paid a contractor.  The money we saved went towards high quality materials and fixtures instead.  AND it looks so good......

Diana

New Chandelier Over Tub

Still waiting for the tile for the shower but until it gets here we did get the chandelier from Lowes.

 That night Ron got it installed.  

 It is really sparkly.

 It looks so pretty against the snow.

This side of the bath is now finished!  Yippee.

Diana

Closer, Closer, We Are Almost Done!

Alright, got a lot of pictures of the master bath project for you today.

 Got the massive tub in place and hooked up.  NIGHTMARE!  Thank goodness my husband is a man of infinite patience, strenght and skill.

 I think it looks great against the tile floor.

 This tub is 6 feet long and 3 feet wide.  We brought it out about 9 inches from all the walls so it's footprint in the room is huge.

 This tub is not meant for a small bathroom.

 Next day we brought in the vanity.  It is made of solid wood so it was a bear to move.  We took out the drawers to lighten it up a bit.  Really love this vanity.

 Here it is pushed back against the wall.

 And a few hours later the drawers are in and the marble top is on.  (Also heavy!)  The faucet is brushed nickel and super cool looking.

 Another angle.

 And just before going to bed that night my husband put up the curtains.  

 Today we put a little extra storage into the toilet room.  No more running out of toilet paper.......

One last look at the bathroom.  We can close the curtains for privacy.

We are working on molding today.  Lots of painting and sawing and nailing.  Maybe the tile for the shower will get here soon.  Then we can start on it.  Oh and the light above the tub is still on order........and the shower door we want appears to be on back order........so we do have a bit more to do before we can relax,,,,,,,in that giant tub!

Diana

Master Bath--A Few More Projects Completed

The new tile floor is in!!!!  It is that cool new tile that looks like wood planks.  We choose a grayish barn wood look.

 Here is a pic of the tile without grout.....

 Closeup.......

   Area where vanity will be going.....

 New vanity light.......

 Grout on tile........

 Always looks so much better once the grout is in........

 And once the grout had dried the toilet was installed!!!!!!

 Vanity mirror is now on the wall......

Love this mirror.  It is huge and matches the vanity which we hope to install in the next day or two......once we get the tub in and a little more molding painted and put up.

It is really getting close now......I can feel it. A week or two and we might be finished.

Diana

Painting Done!

The master bathroom is now a lovely shade of  sea glass blue.  LOVE IT!!!

 We also got the floor prepped with self leveling cement.  Now we are ready for cement board and......wait for it.......tile!

Tomorrow we will see how far we get.......

Diana

Almost Ready To Tile

We are finally seeing a end to all this remodeling.  The walls have a coat of primer on them and the shower is ready to tile.

 The toilet room is also ready for the floor to go down.

 Here is the main room where the tub and vanity will go.  The vanity arrived today.  460 pounds that had to be unloaded from the back of the pickup.

 I thought it would be fun to show you the tub we ordered and have waiting to be installed.  Six feet long and super deep!

 And below is the vanity we just got.  I love it.  It is so well made and has a beautiful finish.  Don't know how we are going to hang that mirror yet.........guess I need to do a little Internet research.

Tomorrow we are picking out the floor tile!  Once the floor is down we can move in some of the fixtures.  Yippee!

Diana

Demo Done In Master Bath

Finishing up week 3 of the master bathroom remodel.  The Onyx shower pan is in.  It is a massive 4 foot by 4 foot and weighs a ton.  So much fun dragging that thing in.  Today we got in some of the green board in the shower surround.

 and more drywall work done.

 All the wiring is done and some of the pipes have been moved.  Below you can see the Redi Tile shower niches.  I am so excited to have storage in the shower that doesn't include a nasty wire shelf hanging from the shower head!

 Below is the new shower light and fan.  Super quiet.

 We scraped off the fake stained glass film off the window which gave us our view back.

 Keeping it real, I thought I'd show you all the stuff we have to move to do each new job!  The drywall has been plastered for the most part and sanded.  Well at least half of it has been done anyway.  This area will be where the new vanity is going.  By the way, the floor isn't really white, that is all the drywall dust!

 Last picture is of the new doorway into the bathroom.  I am still working on that plaster.  Side note......never try to pull out a nail you bent without first making sure you have a good grip on it.  Claw hammer slipped and gouged a lovely cut above my eye.  Picture this.  Me running out of the room with my hand over my eye, blood dripping, saying "Oh crap" over and over.  My husband who was doing plumbing in the basement came running to me and that was what he saw.  Must have looked a little scary, until the blood was cleaned off it wasn't really much after all.  But I did have bit of a headache for the next day or two.  Getting hit in the head with a hammer will do that.

Maybe I will show you some of the goodies we have waiting to go in on the next post......

Diana or "Scarface"