blinds: boring but important

A friend of ours asked us if we would help out their sailing club by hosting a couple of girl sailors this summer for a week. Albert said if I was going to host 16-year-old girls, then our bathroom window situation was unacceptable.

Seriously? What is the problem?

artsy after bathroom remodel pictures

Our architect asked us if he could come over and photograph the finished mid-century modern remodeled bathrooms.

Great angle.

top five mistakes in mid-century modern bathroom remodel

You have read about my five favorite bathroom remodel features, now for the five top mistakes. If I had to do our remodel of two bathrooms and build of a third bathroom in our mid-century modern home all over again, what would I change? And, what may I correct eventually.

5. did not match white paint to tile in first two bathrooms.

Rookie mistake. I was so careful about everything except selecting the white paint. I should have matched the white paint to the white tile. But it didn't occur to me that white doesn't necessarily mean white. Had I gone onto the Benjamin Moore site and typed white, all would have been revealed to me.

Benjamin Moore endless shades of white.

top five favorite features mid-century bathroom remodel

I have restrained my natural impulses (nit picking the issues) and will provide my top five favorite features of our mid-century bathroom remodel. Next post will be top five least favorite items from the bathroom remodel.

#5 the tile.

Miles and miles of beautiful clean linear tile. I love the plank tiles and I love the white tiles. I love all the tile and very little drywall. The tile was a bit of an expense for sure. But we picked three different kinds of fairly standard Dahl tile, and didn't do all the tricky things that our plans initially called for with the tile. The results are simple and very modern. The white square tile and the mosaic floor tiles are both nods to mid-century.

Master feature tile wall

3 mid-century bathrooms remodeled

Veni, vidi, vici. I came, I saw, I conquered. Attributed to Julius Ceasar, 47 BC. It is done. Final sign off from City of Newport Beach inspector happened last Friday. The punch list is complete. I wrote the last check to the contractor. The porta-potty has been removed. For Mother's Day this past Sunday, I had a bath in my new tub. And Albert and I slept in the master bedroom for the first time in four and a half months. Whoot whoot.

Tub in the Guest Bathroom

weep screed and inspection

During construction, you just never know what will come up and what you will learn. Weep screed. This is a metal piece that is installed at the base of an exterior stucco wall, as opposed to having the stucco go right down to the dirt. And, we learned last week, the City of Newport Beach requires 4" of dirt be removed below the weep screed, next to the house, in order to pass final inspection. Bringing our 1950's foundation up to code during this project has been something of a challenge (read here for foundation footings issue).

This is before, you can see concrete mixed into the dirt and
gravel shoveled back against the fence.

the punch list mid-century style

We are getting down to the nitty gritty. It is punch list time. I realized the contractor was scheduling the last of the sub appointments for this week and next, and we had to speak now or forever hold our peace. I made Albert walk through the addition on Sunday and help me make notes of all the little things. He actually got way more into it than I did, typing on his iPad enthusiastically. I finally discovered why Apple added cameras to iPads. Evernote plus iPad camera equals an amazing punch list. I found myself saying, "I can live with it" kind of a lot. You get to this point. Plus Albert is really picky, if you ask me.

Amazing Punch List

nearing end of construction mid-century modern bathroom

We're getting closer. Tile is up in the third bathroom, and it is the "surprise" darker tile. You like?

Dark tile feature wall

no baseboards in mid-century modern bathroom

What no baseboards!??! And no crown molding? They may kick us out of Corona del Mar. Had I examined our plans more closely, I wouldn't have been as surprised when the contractor announced the first two bathrooms were done. I immediately emailed him my list of little things to take care of. Like, where are the baseboards?

Do you see a baseboard? I sure don't.

tile begins in the third mid-century modern bathroom

Three and a half months, and finally, the third bathroom is in progress! You probably already have the general idea from the other two previous bathrooms, but this one will be a little different. This bathroom is, by far, the biggest bathroom of the three, and the widest. Therefore it will have a tub, and a darker "tile feature wall."

Tile in the guest bathroom will be the middle right.
Alex's and master was the top right.

lights, towel bars and wood floor repairs in mid-century modern remodel

My pictures are going to be of slightly lesser quality. I explain why here. However, they won't totally suck as I am using an iPhone 4S. Check out this picture comparison of the iPhone 4S and other phones/cameras. Amazing.

The first two bathrooms are essentially complete. We had some additional lighting finished, and also got the towel bars and toilet paper holders installed.

Master totally lit up, see the light above the vanity? And the light in the shower?

shower doors and paint in mid-century modern bathroom remodel

Doors are so important to the shower experience and I am happy to report we have beautiful, stunning, extra clear glass, half-inch thick shower doors. Of course they are frameless with a plain chrome handle. They swing both in and out. We also got the bathrooms painted in Benjamin Moore Super White. No kidding. I thought it would be blinding but I kind of dig it.

Alex's bathroom; see the shower door and the blinding white paint?

toilets, faucets and showers in a mid-century modern

This was plumber week. Good news is we have working toilets, faucets and showers. I'll get to the bad news towards the end. Alex's bathroom first.

Alex's Bathroom!

Kohler Santa Rosa toilet, which is considered a compact size. We like that it is sleek and modern.

mid-century modern bathroom counters

Typical, back-in-the-day, mid-century modern bathroom counter tops were some sort of cool pastel shade  like pink or turquoise. Learn more about pink retro bathrooms at savethepinkbathrooms.

avoid remodel rework; check your bathroom parts

When remodeling any space, parts pile up. Plumbing parts, doors, sinks, toilets, hardware and the like. I haven’t really been paying much attention to them, except when they get installed.

Parts stacked all over the master bedroom.

check tile specs and measure very carefully during a bathroom remodel

There is a pattern to the contractor’s communications. First the text, “Call me when you get a chance.” Usually I drop everything and call immediately. “What’s up?”

“Hi Rebecca, we have a little problem.”

It appeared that the plank tiles specified in the plan and that the contractor special ordered from Italy were not exactly 6x24 inch; they were instead 5¾ x 23½ inch. The 6x6 inch white semi-gloss tiles had already been installed in both showers. The white squares were supposed to line up in perfect rows with the 6x24 inch planks (the tile feature wall). That just wasn't going to work.

In hind site, there was a clue to the size difference. On the spec sheet for the 6x24 inch tiles, it also listed the metric size, in perfect centimeters, 15x60. Were the tiles 6x24 inches or were they 15x60 centimeters? Can't be both. The tiles were manufactured in Italy, so a good guess would be that they were made in centimeters. 

Here is the spec sheet for the tile we ordered. Can you see what is wrong?

physics laws, stucco and mid-century modern remodeling

Alex called me at work last week. I always pick up for him, just in case it is important.
“Mom, how much did that bowl on the table cost?”

“Why?” I asked suspiciously.

“Just tell me how much it cost,” insisted Alex.

Sharp as a tack, I immediately catch on. “Were you playing around with the Lazy Susan?”

Sitting on it, I have a candle from CandlEssence in a mid-century modern Bauer bowl. 

He confessed, "I forgot about centrifugal force." 

broken windows theory and remodeling: wrapping a mid-century

Here is the Valentine's card I am giving Albert tomorrow. 

electrical upgrade to mid-century modern house

Last week we got a new electrical panel. We went from a 100 amp service to a 200 amp service which allows more circuit breakers, and means we can have more lights and more stuff running at the same time. We have had trouble with Christmas lights, blow dryers and the ever present space heaters. I like this video on YouTube from “Randy” which explains when to upgrade your panel. He is a little dry, but what do you expect from an electrician?

New electrical panel next to 60 year-old crappy panel on left

framing a mid-century modern remodel

Good news or bad news first? Let’s start with the good news. We had lots of work done last week and saw many trades march in and out of the addition. The framers showed up at the crack of dawn one morning, crawling all over the property. Shockingly, by the end of the day, much of what you see here was completed. Framing makes things seem much farther along than they really are. You still need electrical, plumbing, wallboard, a roof, tile, sinks, blah-blah-blah but for the first time, you get the real idea of what all your money is buying you. The new bathrooms look VAST in my opinion. Let me remind you of the humble beginnings. Again, 167 very important square feet are being added.

Left side from Alex's room