Let me tell you a little story of a room. It's not completed as of yet, but we can go a long way towards the finish line in photos. I find that it is very very therapeutic to do this, especially as things right now seem to be going frustratingly slowly.

Here's a photo looking into our downstairs bathroom last September:

I forgot how much I liked that green color. I must make a note to try and get a bit more color happening in the new version of the house, if not in this particular room. There was a small three legged claw foot tub behind the door and the entrance was in the living room area, so if we had people over for dinner, going to the bathroom was a somewhat public event. Plus the floor was built directly over the ground, so there were areas where you could see through to the dirt.

Cute, but in need of help.

Here's a photo during the demo:

The fixtures are all gone and you get a better idea of the window placement. The plan was to make the bathroom accessible from the guest room and the kitchen, which required some pocket door action as well as the elimination of a tub. We also moved this old window upstairs and put in a new one here.

Then comes the long long period where nothing is done and we worry abstractly about tile. I finally get smart and ask around the Domino offices and am advised to head over to the Ann Sacks showroom to see what they've got to offer. The answer is, quite a bit, despite the fact that the first time I meet Josh there he hasn't eaten lunch and is therefore predisposed to hate everything he sees. We make numerous trips back, measure and re measure our floor, shower stall and wall and finally, much thanks due to the lovely Anna Daly, decide on a beautiful tile by Heath Ceramics in a color called "sand rutile" whatever that means.

Of course we order them right away, but they take around 6 weeks to get to us (special order from California!) But they finally arrive and are ready to be installed, little square tiles for the shower floor (to allow for proper drainage) and 2 x 6 rectangles for the rest of the room. Here they are on the floor, ready to go:

Josh has carefully drawn out exactly how the tiles should be laid out, and we chose a grout color that is slightly lighter than the tiles, to keep the room feeling a bit more open. Here, at long last, are a couple of pictures of the bathroom as it is now, somewhat primed (not painted yet) but with the tiles and the fixtures in place. For a larger view, click on the images:

So there you have it. No need to go into how thrilled we are at the results. Suffice to say that the next time I see Anna Daly from the Ann Sacks showroom, I'm going to give her a big hug and kiss.

We don't need to get into the fixtures this time... I'll save it for the next post, as I can't imagine you're all not a bit tired of reading at this point. We're now just waiting for the glass shower door to be made (2 weeks, supposedly) and then we'll be in business! Who knows, we may even have painted by that time. But don't hold your breath.