Let's just say that our contractors had too many excuses and not enough work ethic. They dragged and dragged, were absent more days than they showed up to work, had to be forced to redo so many things that were obviously wrong, and had a million reasons why we were crazy and they weren't screwing up. They were supposed to be finished so many different days, and finally we just snapped. They didn't finish last Thursday, which was their drop dead last day to work on our project because the project manager was getting married Friday and the crew were all attending. So the tiler and the painter said they'd be back on Saturday to wrap up the last bits of finish work. Then the main contractor and owner of the company said he'd stop by on Saturday, too, to look at the (other, previous) scratches in the tub that the sub-contractors had made, so we were expecting them all between 8 and 9 am on a weekend day when we could have been doing something else.
They did not show up. They also did not call. Mike called them three times and left messages, one of which said that if they did not show up that day and finish the job, we would get someone else to finish it and subtract the cost from the money we owed them. He then also sent an email detailing what was left and repeating the threat. They did not come. They did not call.
The following day, Sunday, we cleaned everything up as there was still saw dust and paint sanding dust and grout dust and paint splatters EVERYWHERE and the garage was trashed. Mike hung the towel rods and put in the door knob and the exterior of the shower light and attached one of the electrical socket face plates. He also hung up a temporary shower curtain rod because we are supposed to have one of those fancy double curved curtain rods that screws into the tile, but not only did the tiler not install it on Thursday like he promised to do, but the box is actually missing several pieces of the mounting hardware. So that's just a major snafu all around. Now we have to order the pieces from the manufacturer, and Mike will have to drill into the tile to mount it. Fingers crossed!!
And there are still several things left to do. A new electrician of our choice will be coming this week to put up the light fixture over the medicine cabinet, which should have been easy enough to do ourselves except the box it attaches to in the wall is not really centered over the mirror and vanity. He'll also have to fix the main light switch because it is so deep in the wall that we can not put the face plate on. We will have to sand the drips and smears out of the paint on the door and repaint it ourselves (or hire someone to do it, but we'll probably do it), attach the cabinet hardware to the vanity, and tile the backsplash (it is only about two pieces of tile, but still)! There's also a weird hole behind the toilet we have to fix somehow. Oh, and the stairwell is pretty beat up, so it will have to be repainted, at least in spots. Sigh.
Well, that's the painful part. As for the look of it, I think it turned out as I had wanted it to. Once the pain and anguish blow over and the memory of the turmoil fades, I think we'll enjoy how clean and fresh it is. So without further ado, here is our new bathroom...
(Well, OK, with some further ado: I just feel the need to remind you that I am neither a professional designer/stager nor a decent photographer, so please don't compare these photos to anything you've seen on houzz.com! Yes that's our bath soap in the picture and our toothbrushes don't match the decor. I did remove the potty seat and the wet washcloths draped over the tub before snapping the pictures. Go me!)
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| Notice the missing drawer pulls and backsplash |
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| There are also no tiled-in corner shelves in the shower. Thanks, tile guy! |
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| Pretty new door, no switch plate |
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| The radiator cover looks much better, and the pipe that used to stick out of the floor and burn your foot is under the tile now. Pretty! |
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| Floor tile - duh. Do I have to explain everything to you? Geez. I think I need to mop it again; there's still some white paint dust in the grout lines. |
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| The medicine cabinet - maybe my favorite part of the new bathroom. So much storage, so many mirrors! |
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| No light. |
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| That is one of the missing drawer pulls on the counter top as an example of what they will look like. |
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| We need to get the little ring that goes here and probably figure out how to make the hole a little smaller. Grout? Caulk? Who knows. |
I'm still kind of mulling over the wall paint color. I had initially thought I would paint them a very light pearl grey, but then we ended up choosing grey tile for the floors and that seemed like gloomy overkill for a room that doesn't get much sunlight. But now it seems VERY white, so I may go back to the grey. I'm going to live with it white for a while and see if I change my mind. Overall, I think the black and white and grey and yellow look nice together and kind of classic-meets-contemporary. Hopefully it will hold up well over time. The girls give it four thumbs up!
