Reviewing my own house – Ensuite bathroom (part 2).
First off, sorry if you subscribe to my blog through email and were surprised to find several inappropriate links.
Yes, yes, that little heist did take place on April Fool’s day but it wasn’t my doing (contrary to what many of you may think of me).
So to my hacker friend, if that was just an A.F. joke…good one!
Now fix it you jerk.
Ahhh, now that I’ve got that off my chest let’s move on to more interesting matters…part 2 of our en suite bathroom.
Monday I reviewed the cabinet, counters and faucet.
Today we’re talking the shower, closet and flooring.
During the construction phase we knocked down a wall and extended it 2-ish feet.
Seemed like a lot of effort for just 2 feet but it felt like we gained triple that and it really did make a world of difference.
As for our shower, we installed 8×12 honed carrara marble tiles from Home Depot.
If you haven’t noticed by now I was going through a bit of marble obsessed phase at that time with our kitchen counters, bathroom counters and now shower. Not saying I’ve left that phase…if I had my druthers I would have thrown all good taste and sense out the window and put in a marble driveway, a marble kitchen floor, marbled toilets, marbled bed frames, marbled closet doors…there’s no end to my insanity when it comes to marble.
Sadly, I’ve learned 2+ years later that marble is a “to be seen but not used” material when it comes to my personality threshold.
Soon after we started using the shower I noticed many of the tiles would change colors. Almost as if the were wet.
But how could that be?
Every single tile had been professionally sealed (I saw with my own eyes).
I had the tile installer come back and he didn’t have an explanation.
I asked if it could be a leak or crack in the grout and perhaps water was getting through?
We were both on our hands and knees with a flashlight inspecting every inch of that shower and both of us found no comprised tiles or grout.
Over the course of a year I had two more highly recommended professional tilers inspect it who both scratched their heads.
We threw water over there to see if the water beaded up meaning it still had the sealant coat on and it did.
Although all the tiles seem to change at one point or another the corner tiles stay looking darker.
They really couldn’t find anything wrong that might be causing it.
My next step is just to remove and replace those corner tiles…stay tuned for that little adventure.
The bottom line is that marble is just a sensitive stone that is prone to staining (even by water).
***Help me out here…who has marble in their showers? How does it perform and react for you guys?***
VERDICT:
I wouldn’t do marble in a shower again. I’ve seriously got to get over my marble obsession. Please, someone direct me back to these posts next time I start considering marble again.
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The shower head and wand are Moen’s.
They a-ight.
They weren’t my first, second or even third choice.
The plumber installed Moen component parts behind the wall without asking what brand we had chosen. Apparently many plumbers in this area seem to prefer Moen because they are the easiest to install.
Then I brought a non-Moen fixture home and he was all like, “um“…
Then I was thinking, “WHAT THE FRICK!?” But what I said was something much more sweet and Mini-Mouse-ish.
So we had to go with a Moen. Honestly, it’s not been bad at all.
The hand wand is one of those features that you never knew you had to have.
Figuring out the controls was a bit like trying to fly a plane at first. Seems straight forward but not so. The first week we thought it was broken and took cold showers.
The only buggy thing is that you have to be so careful adjusting the temp. One-quarter of a centimeter = a 400 degree temperature change.
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The other feature we hemmed and hawed about for long while was what kind of shower surround to install. Our choices were full framed, semi-framed or European (aka frameless). Full framed means there is chromed metal that goes all the way around the edges of the glass so no water escapes the shower.
Here’s an example of the fully framed shower that used to be in this room before we demo’d it…
Keep in mind we had just installed all this lovely tile and I didn’t want to take the focus off of it by obscuring the view chromed metal everywhere.
The second choice was semi-framed which to me just meant “still a lot of chromed metal around the doors just a little less”.
The last choice was European style doors which we went with. This mean there was no chromed metal around the edges of the glass, only clips which hold the glass in place. There is a minimal gap between the glass and the actual shower edges. The benefit is you have a clean look without metal frames.
While there really isn’t that much water leakage through the entire run of shower it isn’t completely fool proof. One edge more water leaks than the other, and still isn’t a whole lot, but enough to cause the paint on this baseboard to wrinkle. We’re planning on removing this baseboard and replacing it with a marble baseboard (see, there I go again with the marble. I’ll never learn).
The trick to making a full European style work is that you have to have a enough clearance so the water isn’t spraying and running down the inside of the door which will run right out the bottom and on to the floor. You also want to make sure the curb isn’t completely level but has a slight run-off in to the shower.
***What kind of shower frames do you guys have? Like? Dislike?***
VERDICT:
Thumbs up on a European style door. I would just take extra precaution to make sure the circumstances were conducive to making a frameless shower work.
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The bathroom floor is a faux wood tile.
2+ years ago, faux wood tile was still pretty new. The faux wood tile industry has made huge strides in making the ceramic tile look like real wood. If I compare this faux wood to the faux wood we recently put in our basement I get a twinge disappointed. It doesn’t look as authentic as the basement but oh well. On the flip side it is the EASIEST flooring to maintain EVER. It cleans up beautifully! My only regret is that I wish I would have matched the grout to be almost the same shade as the tile itself.
VERDICT:
100% yes to faux wood. Next time I would make sure to match the grout color to the tile itself. I would also recommend going as thin as possible on the grout lines.
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The closet came from none other than IKEA.
When it comes to IKEA I have my reservations.
In design we’re always going a custom look and Ikea feels…so…not custom.
But, these Pax wardrobes are so customizable.
You build them, shape them, organize them according to your vision and needs.
They have been AWESOME! They are sturdy, take a beating, can be switched around if I need more room below for boots during the winter…I’ve LOVED THEM! AND, for a custom closet you just can’t beat the price.
VERDICT:
Yeah baby!…to Pax wardrobes from Ikea.
Nuff said.
***Who else has a Pax wardrobe from Ikea? Yea? Nay?***
Read part one of our en suite bathroom review here. You can see more before and afters of the entire en-suite bathroom here.
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