Master Bathroom Progress–Molding

Well I had hoped to be completely done with the master bathroom last weekend.  Unfortunately HOPED was the operative word.
I swear this bathroom is jinxed.  Every step of this project has had major problems and the moldings have been no exception. 

Here is the master bath when we bought the house.  Don’t you just love carpet in the bathroom.

And here is a shot of the bathroom before the molding project began.

Now this is not my first bathroom remodel nor is it my first mirror update.  This is the mirror from our hall bath.  I installed this molding all by myself and it took less than an hour.  So I kept telling my husband it would be easy and we would be done before lunch.

But I am getting ahead of myself.   Here is profile of the molding.  It is almost an inch thick at the base and has lots of curves.  And this is where the problems started.  Just painting the base coat on these babies was difficult and then after 4 coats I didn’t like color.  So I spray painted them with my favorite ORB.  That was much better.
 
But it still lacked something so I taped off a section in the center of the molding and added a copper glaze and since it would be in the bathroom I topped it off with Wipe-On Poly to protect the finish.

That part went very well, I loved the end product.

However nothing went well from that point on.  Even though we had stored the molding on totally flat surfaces they had bowed just a bit.  Normally this would be no problem.  Just a few extra finish nails and problem solved.   But this molding was being applied directly to the mirrors and they were so thick that the mirror adhesive was not strong enough to hold the molding to the mirror until it was completely dry.  My sweet husband actually held one of the eight pieces for 20 minutes and it still did not hold.

But we were not going to let the molding win so we got creative and improvised ways to hold the molding tight to the mirrors while the adhesive dried.  This is a big and open room so it took us a few tries but we finally came up with ways to brace the moldings. 

I have enlarged these pictures so you could see how creative we were.  This first piece was braced with our pole tree trimmer.

On this side of the mirror the wall was a bit closer so we were able to use just an ordinary 2x4.

For other larger mirror we used a tension rod for curtains but there was no wall closed enough so my husband put a 1x2 from one wall to the other, where I braced the 1x2 with a cardboard box that once held a curtain rod.  In the background of the picture you can see the handle of the pole trimmer brace in the corner of the tub area.  On two of the corners we were able to clamp the molding to the mirror.  This picture shows how we used  a shower curtain tension rod to apply pressure on that corner while the adhesive dried. 


So what will the molding look like after all this innovative work.
In this photo you see one of the clamps still attached.  But the mirror looks great.

Oh no, the bathroom is not quite done and staged for its grand reveal.  But here are some pictures that do as least a decent job of showing off their beauty.

This is a very difficult to get really good pictures when you are dealing with  two huge mirrors and three windows but it looks lovely.


My husband really likes that the facet and mirror now match.  The molding added a bit a masculinity to an otherwise soft and calm feminine space.

There are other tricks to help you that I want to pass on in a more serious post.  So keep and eye out for those posts.

Thank you for reading
Traci

Today I am linking up at these great parties, checks them out.









DebbieDoos Newbie Link Party

My favorite painting tool!

I really hate wasting things and that happens a lot when you are working with paint. 
Like most of you I use a tray for putting paint on the roller.  When that tray is washed I feel like I am wasting water.  So I have tried using removable try liners, but they end up in the land fill.  Then I lined them myself with plastic wrap, this option was less expensive but the plastic wrap now coated in paint will result in a trip to the land fill.

But last year I found a product I feel really good about using. 



It is the SHUR-LINE easy clean paint tray.  It actually has a Teflon coating just like your favorite cooking pan.  After you are done painting just pore any left over paint from the tray back into the paint can.  Then let the remaining paint dry and then simply peel the dry paint right off the tray.

Super easy!  You are not wasting water with all the washing it takes to get a tray clean.  You're not throwing paint tray liners into the landfill. 

And the best surprise is the price!  Only $3.98.



I can’t remember where I bought mine but I spied these at Lowe's tonight.
I love this product, I only wish they would add a Teflon stir stick, so I could use them again and again.

Thanks for reading,
Traci

Paint Sprayer Review

 

Finally here  is the reviw of  my Earlx spray painter that I got for Christmas….

First Step: getting to know my new Earlex paint sprayer.

I found the Earlex is easy to use.  There are really only 3 controls plus the trigger to learn. 

1) the off/on switch which is located on the air compressor.

2) the paint control knob which controls the amount of paint that comes out of the needle.  It is easily operated with your thumb and is well marked.

3) and the control for the pattern that the sprayer puts out.  Horizontal, Vertical, or round.  I found that the round spray pattern put out much more paint than the Horizontal or Vertical patterns.  This adjustment is located at the tip of the spray gun and slides between the well marked settings.

tep 2:  Testing the viscosity of the paint I was going to use in the sprayer. 

Since this was my maiden voyage with my sprayer this step took me quite a while.  I had no idea how thin the paint needed to be to work well and since I did not want to over thin the paint I was very careful.

The earlex came with a measuring cup to determine the viscosity.

So you fill the provided little cup and time how long it takes. If the paint drip test takes too long the paint needs to be thinned.

If the paint is too thick your surface will have an orange peel effect. 

Now this took some time, I was afraid that I would get the paint too thin.  The instructions were easy to follow.

Next is straining the paint.  I used an old panty hose and stretched across the sprayers paint container and then slowly poured.

Once you have your thinned paint in the spray container you screw on the handle

part of the actual sprayer.    

 

Step 3: The Actual painting

As you can see the hose from the compressor the hose from the compressor to the the hand held unit with the past is very long.  I am going to hang mine up in a closet so it can be stowed  to have a hose that is not fighting you.                                                    Here are the action shots I am sure you had been waiting for.

 

Here I am ready to paint my first project.  First a little bit of practice  before moving to the the actual doors.

The Earlex comes with a fairly good set of written directions and a great DVD that explains all the things you will need to know about your new sprayer.

Finally painting, but the paint is too thick, no problem I thinned it out a little more and it was perfect.

They look great.  But the painted surface was slightly uneven,  then I remembered that I did not like this paint its finish was uneven.  So I will have to wait on my rating of this sprayer, until I paint the good paint.

Step 4: Cleaning up the mess.

How did it come thru the clean ?   Very well.  You simply fill the paint contain with water and spray until the water comes out clear.

Well I hope this review will help you decide if the Earlex is the right sprayer for you.

The purchase price was $137 plus change including shipping.

I hope this helps any of you who are contemplate such a produce.

Thanks for reading,

Traci

DIY Tip - No Old Caulk

When we moved into our home almost 6 years ago the baseboards were very dusty.  Or so I thought.  I could not vacuum, wipe, or wash off the dust on the top of most of the baseboards in the house.  The dust was imbedded in the caulk. 
I couldn’t figure this out.  How would so much dust get on the baseboards in the short time it took to dry.  And the caulking was still a bit gooey.
Well I did a little research on line and found out that caulking loses its ability to cure if it is too old.  Once open the caulk is only good for about 2 weeks.  Even caulk that has been on the shelf too long can be bad. 
So I now only buy the amount of caulking I will use for the project.  And I buy my caulking from a store that turns its inventory quickly.
Happy caulking and thanks for reading,
Traci

Plaster and Tile and Plumbing, Oh My! Bathroom Part 2

So when we last visited my master bathroom, all the tiling, marble installation, plastering, and painting had been done.   If you want to see the before views check out my last post.

You can see the tile and marble and the lack of baseboards in this picture.

And this one!

Oh, and in this picture too! Are you beginning to feel my frustrations?  My handsome husband loves to start projects but gets bored as the project progresses.  I am sure many of you gals can relate.  So I put my cute little SKECHER-clad foot down and insisted that we finish up the master bath.

This tight space in the toilet area may have been one of the reasons my hubby did not want to start with the moldings. 

As you can see the plumbing to the toilet has to come right through the baseboard.  This just proves that plumbers are men.  No woman would create this situation.  But one solved it.  I gave hubby an old lip pencil to rub on the end of the pipe and then had him put the baseboard in place where the lip pencil made a mark on backside of the baseboard.  You should have seen the look on his face when I suggested this. 

But it worked perfectly.  He drilled right where the lip pencil marked and it fit beautifully.

We then moved right on to the main area of the bathroom.  Hubby wanted to stop for the weekend but my little foot hit the tiled floor once again and we pressed on. 
Next to the shower door the baseboard needs to stop so my favorite guy cut it at an angle and glued another piece on to give it a finished end.


Here is a close up of the baseboards before caulking.

Doesn’t the caulking make all the difference.

This is one of the huge mirrors that I mentioned in my last post.  We were going to frame them with white molding but when hubby suggested they match the hardware I loved the idea.

So the framing is painted a dark brown and will be glazed with two different glazes before it goes no to the mirrors.

Of course no project can go off without a hitch and this one was not any different.  When we went to measure for one of the baseboards I noticed that a tiny bit of paint had bubbled up on the wall right next to shower.  When I scraped it off I found that the metal corner piece had rusted.  It must have been from some water on the floor since I could not locate a leak. 

I used my favorite pink spackle to patch the area.  I still need to prime and paint the area before the baseboard can be nailed in place.  Since this area obviously got wet once before I primed and painted the back of the molding and I will use waterproof caulk to seal it up.
Hopefully we will be able to finish all the molding this weekend.  I am looking forward to post a complete reveal as soon as it is done.
Thanks for reading,
Traci