We're at the Half Way Point!

I know I haven't posted much about the bathroom remodel. Progress is slow due to several reasons. One, my hubby and his brother are doing this a few hours after work each night, so they can't really get a whole lot done. Two, travertine tiles are very heavy, so you can't stack too many before the mortar hardens or they'll start to come off. Three, my hubby has only laid tile once before, about 7 years ago. They were porcelain tiles which he laid on the back porch on freshly laid cement that was plumb and square, unlike our bathroom walls. It's taken him much longer to get familiar with these tiles and work comfortably with them. Still, progress has been made slow and steady:

Once the floor was done, the easiest wall was started. I say easiest because there wasn't a whole lot of tile cutting needed for this wall like the other two.

Hubby was getting about a row a day, not wanting to put more up and risk them moving around.

Hubby at work. We looked into renting a wet saw but found out they run $38.00 per day. Since the walls are not square (after nine years the house has settled quite a bit - typical in the South Florida sandy soil), and since work is limited to a few hours a day, it was going to get very expensive. My hubby got this wet saw at Home Depot for $160. It ends up being cheaper, and once we're done we can keep it for other projects or sell it. Either way it's more cost effective for us than renting.

This wet saw is great. It has a strong motor, and a laser to guide as you're cutting. It made the work much smoother.

What precision!

This is how the bathroom looked when we got started this morning...

...and here's how it looked by the end of the day. Alot was accomplished. We're just about half way up the walls and the floors are complete.

See the decorative tiles I got for around the bathtub? I thought my hubby was going to throw them at me! Seriously, they are so much harder to work with than the large tiles. Even though they're on a mesh sheet that keeps them together, it's pretty flimsy. Getting the tiles to set evenly was quite a project. Thankfully there's only one wall left to tile with the border.

The baseboard is a two part design. The first is the same travertine tile as on the floor. Above that will be a marble border in a rust color that is in some of the tiles in the border. It'll give plenty of visual interest while at the same time tying into the decorative border around the tub. It's also a lot easier to install than the tub border, since it's a 12X12 tile that is cut into 4 strips, 3" wide. That will probably get done on Monday. Tomorrow, some much needed rest.

I'm praying the top half of the bathroom goes as smoothly as the bottom half. We need to get this finished, or else the dust will drive me out of my mind! Besides, I can't wait to see the finished product. I know it's going to look fabulous. Stay tuned!