Finishing the Bathroom

It was a busy weekend this weekend, but it ended with a successful sort of feeling, as if I'd accomplished a few things. This has certainly not always been the case, so it's nice when it happens from time to time.

I went to a local muffler shop - Dad's Mufflers - to see about getting my piece of 3/4 inch copper pipe bent. He's always been really helpful, and it has a comfortable "old time" sort of feel there. He said he didn't bend that sort of pipe, but he had a hand bending tool and I was welcome to do it myself. Fortunately, he was also having coffee with a fellow who said I'd better go and fill my pipe with sand first. Turns out this works really well to keep the pipe from crimping and collapsing when you bend it. So, now I have pretty snazzy shower curtain rod. I also shined it up with steel wool and then put Varathane Diamond Coat on it to keep it from tarnishing.

 I know this is stating the obvious, but here we have the curtain closed,

 and here it's open.  :-)

I also finally got started on drawer fronts and was able to finish the bathroom cabinet - except for Varathane and drawer pulls.

The backsplash is also finished around the edge of the cabinet. I used small pieces of shale rock and shaped them to fit the space with an angle grinder and masonry wheel.

I used clear silcone to set them in place. I'm not sure if this is a good idea yet - it's simple, works really well initially, glues things in place, seals everything, and looks pretty good too. Time will tell if it's a good idea or not in the long run. Hopefully it will last for a while.

I also added a small LED light bar going up the corner. I'm not sure if it will give enough light yet, but it's pretty compact. I don't like looking at the bright little LED spots though, so I added a thin strip  of wood up the side to block direct vision of the light. It's wired so the plug it is plugged in to is operated by the switch above the sink. I need to find a mirror to go beside it.

 The first bit of colour in the house. I don't think this picture, or maybe my computer screen, captures the colour completely accurately, but it is supposed to be kind of rosemary green. It looks pretty good, despite what may appear here.

Since I'm hoping to have cork flooring throughout the house and cork isn't great in chronically wet areas, I decided to make a concession for the chronic problem of floors rotting under toilets. I put in a piece of the vinyl sheeting I used for the shower stall as the floor base and siliconed the heck out of it. No leakage here!

This isn't common practice, but I decided if I'm going to seal things up, I'm dang well going to seal them up! So I siliconed any spare holes in the toilet flange and put scads of plumbers putty around the toilet bolts. If this floor gets wet, it's not going to be for lack of preparation!

Another possibly useful little tid-bit of information: I installed a toilet flange that had a plug in it to close the hole until I was ready to install something on top of it. I thought the plug would just pull out. It doesn't. They have to be cut out with a jigsaw. Follow the outside rim of the plug with the blade.

And here is the toilet. Not sure I'll keep the wood seat yet. It kind of grows on you though.

A little confessional note: I have previously posted that I intended to use a composting toilet. I experimented with the bucket type for a short time, but found that my bathroom was smelling like it was inhabited by a really, really big hamster. I think urine separation would help, and also maybe a better composting sawdust mixture. However, since I'm going to be in a place with an easy connection to a septic system, no water shortage, and no real reason to use a composting toilet, I kind of gave in on this.

 Another little task was to put the dowel in to hang clothes from. I decided to add some pegs for all the things that one wants a hook for, so used a board at each end and drilled some holes at an angle, then glued in small dowels.

 Here's the other end.

The closet is already a bit of a mess in this picture, and I don't even have much in it yet. There will be a door, however. I'm just going to use a sliding/folding door. Hopefully the plastic wood colour won't clash too much with everything around it.

And, finally, the drip plate trial number three - extended version. I added half an inch and moved the point about two inches away from the wall. No more splatters, splashes, or misses. All drips hit the sink!

That's a wrap for last weekend. On to kitchen and front room things next weekend.

Spring Break Part 3: Kitchen

The Kitchen received a few additions as well. Here are the recent kitchen projects:

 Drawers in the pantry. Another rather time consuming project, but it makes use of the space much more efficiently. All of the drawers pull completely out so everything is accessible.

 The view from above.

and with the drawers closed.

Some cups that my daughter, Kassia, made for me. The upper ones were actually supposed to be for my parents, but they graciously allowed them to migrate to the tiny house because they fit the setting so well. 

Moldings and shelf around the triangle "window" from the loft overlooking the kitchen.

 Cupboard doors. Yay!  They still have to be sealed with Osmo though, and handles added.
Again, thanks to Dad for his help with these.

 They're pretty simple doors. I just used laminated pine panels, cut them to size, sanded them down and then used a router to give some shape to the edges. The panels started out at 3/4 inch thick, but I planed them down to about 1/2 an inch.

 Also a tricky little door with a piano hinge to close the corner space where the lazy susan is. This is another thank you to my father.

The corner door and cupboard door open in different directions so the opening is wide enough to get things in and out easily.

The pointed white plastic triangle at the bottom here is the end of version two of the drip collector under the drying rack/dish cupboard. I ran a bead of silicone down the edges to direct the water. I have to move the point a bit still though to get it to drip in the right place, so version three is coming up. It does work well though - no more dish drying. Or, a lot less anyway. Still some modifications needed here, including something to hold cutlery.

 My original table idea was to have an Asian style low table on the floor. However, the floor space wasn't as conducive to this idea as planned, and the somewhat negative feedback about the idea - especially from older feedback suppliers - caused a change in plans. This is a first try at the table design.
The long dowels fit into a board that is attached to the wall under the counter. The same board has small dowels sticking up that lock into the table top when it is placed over them.

The end stand and the dowels all detach easily until the table locks in. At that point, they are held tightly together.

The table currently has two pieces, hinged in the middle with a piano hinge, and when folded it fits into the slot under the counter. It works pretty well, but I think I will make the second section about six inches longer to give a bit more room. I'm also planning to have a second set of large dowels and third section of table top which will connect to the end. Currently it seats five reasonably well. The third section will hopefully accommodate two more so I can seat seven.

 Making Pizza.

 Table set for five. Not much room for extras on the table, but the kitchen counter is close and has lots of space.

All cleaned up...

So, that's it. I'm back at work again so things will slow down. This has given me a boost though, so hopefully progress will continue.

By the way, I've had a few people asking how they know if I've posted something new or not. If you would like to be notified of new posts, you can enter your email address in the box on the top right where it says "Follow by email". It will then send you an email if something new is posted.

Spring Break Part 2: Bathroom

A Functional Bathroom!

 The bathroom sink and stand are finished, except for drawer fronts and handles.

 Making the drawers was rather time consuming, but makes the space much more accessible and adds lots of bathroom storage. The molding around the top and the wall beside the sink aren't finished in this picture.

 and there's a larger drawer under the washer/dryer to hold bigger stuff.

This shows the beginnings of the box to cover the pipes.

These two pictures show the box finished, sink stand side done, and door for the hot water heater space completed.

I just used plywood between the toilet space and the washer/dryer/hot water heater. I'm thinking of adding some colour and painting it.

Special mention is given to the molding boards around the tub because they taxed my somewhat limited ingenuity with all of their angles, dados, insets, kerfs and confounding complications. They didn't turn out perfectly, but they'll do the job.

On a related note, I can happily say that I have now had a shower in the shower (no photos provided) :-) and it works. I was worried about the on demand hot water heater. It took a bit of practice to learn how to adjust the temperature. However, once I got the hang of it I had quite an extended warm, comfortable and luxurious shower. I told Precision Temp that if it worked I'd put in a plug for them. So here it is - it works!  :-)

I don't have the shower curtain up yet. I learned an interesting thing about bending copper (or other thin walled) pipe however. Fill it with sand first and cap the ends. Then it won't collapse when you bend it. I'm going to use a 3/4 inch copper pipe for the shower curtain rod. I was able to put a nice 90 degree bend in it, so just have to drill some holes to hold it now.

This shows the closet framed in with the separating wall in place. I had to leave a 3 foot space for the electrical boxes that is supposed to be dedicated to them.

 This door comes with much thanks to my father for building it. It does double duty as a door to the electrical room and a bathroom door. Mostly, I won't need a bathroom door, but when there are more people around it can open to close the bathroom and look like this:

...and this is what it looks like from the kitchen direction.

This picture doesn't show the finished space, but this will be my clothes closet. I'm planning to use a sliding/folding door to close the space. A dresser for clothes will sit about where the heater is in this space, under the window.

Spring Break Progress Part 1: Curtains and Siding

After months of slowly puttering along the two weeks of spring break provided an opportunity to put some focus back into my house project and to build a bit of momentum again. Here's what's happened lately:

Curtains:
My friend Deirdre stopped by again for a few days. This time on her way to a bike trip through Europe. She does get around! However, she brought her sewing machine with her and managed to fabricate blinds or curtains for most of my windows before she went. Pretty handy with a sewing machine that lady!  :-) She successfully (and somewhat forcefully) avoided the camera, so I don't have any pictures of the seamstress at work.

Here's the bathroom window, with funky fabric Deirdre brought back from a trip to Africa a while ago.

and here's what it looks like when closed.

Some kind of dark pictures of the big windows. These blinds are made from a couple of curtains I got at Jysk. Materials for eight blinds and curtains came in under $100, so I thought that was pretty good. :-)

 South (to be) window, blind down.

North and West Windows. I quite like the African fabric contrast.

...and curtains for upstairs. They are all done, but I've only got one of them up so far. They will pull back and tie with a string on the ends.

Finally finished the siding

 The last few pieces of white at the top that have been bothering me all winter are finally covered.

 and the top row on this side of the house - the one with so many cut-outs in it.

..and around the door and in the gable above the porch roof. I still have to make the deck railing though.

...and around the upstairs windows. I was quite concerned that I wouldn't have enough siding. Fortunately I did - with two pieces to spare!  :-)

My father refusing to look at the camera. I wouldn't have gotten nearly as much done without his help!

Me in my "spring" clothing. It seemed that siding days all turned out to contain snow, rain, sleet, hail, cold, wind, or a combination of the above. This last bit mostly had just cold and wind - but one session was curtailed due to rain mixed with snow pellets. Funny how it always came out that way.