Bathroom Completed

[Colour Republic]

Thought I’d share some pictures of an old job of mine. It's of the master bedroom ensuite, I ripped out an early 80's gray suite, swapped round the lay out and fitted furniture.

I did this for my girlfriend’s parents nearly 6 years ago and never took any pictures, but I was round there last night for my girlfriend’s grandparents Diamond Anniversary! I had the camera in my hand and thought I’d take some pictures.

It still looks great as the mother really looks after it. Looking back at it I can't believe how much my tiling has come on in that time. If I did it today I would probably set it out differently, well horizontally anyway as I still really like the way the mosaic are laid out i.e. Mosaic skirting, double band round the middle and single at the top. And there is one tile round the window that has a slight lip on it, it looks worse in the picture than it does in the flesh but still it bothers me. I've noticed that some of the grout in the shower has started to discolour so before it gets any worse I’m going to rake it out and replace, a quick check behind the kicker boards and hey presto I left an old bag behind so I know what I used:hurray:

Anyway here it is. Furniture was from MFI, Fittings from my very good local supplier who has none gone bust

I made the window sill from an offcut of the furniture, notice the lip on the top right window tile:mad2:

I think this was the first time I put LED's in a kickerboard, it was 6 years ago, hardly any people were doing it at the time so looked really flash, the picture makes them look really blue but in the flesh it is much more subtle

On the other side of the wall is some built-in wardrobes so I hid all the controls for the heated towel rail in there so it could have a much more sleek look in the bathroom

Still looks good but the chrome tap started to pit after 12 months which really mad me mad, seeing as I know that it has never been cleaned with harsh chemicals only a damp cloth as advised by me. It wasn't cheap either.

 

[Colour Republic]

I built a custom made towel holder above the units which her mum was not expecting but absolutely loves. I am now the No.1 son-in-law :lol:

Swaped the door round so it opens out and installed mosaic skirting

Sadly the blub had blown in the shower cubical when I took these pictures, it's a pet hate of mine when people don't light a shower from inside as it looks dull and un-inviting like in this picture. I think it should be mad law to do so. I'll make sure it's replaced when I re-grout

Lastly, the soil pipe from the bathroom on the other side runs through the ensuite, so I modified the base units so it all looks clean and tidy inside

I think I completed this job in December, so can I enter it in job of the month? Ok it might have been December 2003 but who's counting?

Total cost in 2003/04 £7,500

 

[jay]

looks good still a girlfriend after 6 years:8:

 

[garretridge]

nice work really high class finish wouldnt mind that myself better not let the other half see the pictures or i will be out a fortune!lol

 

[user123]

Wow, you know I really like this, you do do quality work don't you!! (no wonder you don't have time to go to the post office. :smilewinkgrin
No, seriously this is lovely... a handy sort of chap aren't you?

 

[faithhealer]

just goes to show quality lasts, nice one CR

 

[marc1106]

Very cool Bathroom CR

 

[DHTiling]

Good quality craftsmanship...

 

[Colour Republic]

just goes to show quality lasts, nice one CR

TBH It is only very rarely I get to go back to a job so long after I have done it.

I go back to jobs sometimes 1 or 2 years after I have completed work to do something else, like I fit a bathroom and 2 years later I fit a kitchen but in the south people don't get attached to a property as much as in the north, i.e most people try to move up the property ladder after a few years rather than settle down into a family home.

By the time I was 10 years old I had lived in 7 different properties where as when I lived up north for a few years most of my mates had lived in their house all there life.

So when I do get the chance to see my work after such a long period of time it is always with a mixed reaction, I look back on my younger self (I want to say inexperienced but that is far too strong a word, as if you asked me I was the world’s greatest builder and still am. Help me what is the word?) I can pick holes in my work all over, how it could have been done better (tiny details to most but shout at me like a megaphone), that said I think it is very healthy that you are your own biggest critic, it's that which makes you better.

But at the same time I look back and think bloody hell Rob you did well there.... and that was nicely finished... ohhh I like the way you did that...

It's a wonderful feeling to see your work so long after and its stood the test of time, I've been working long enough in my area to bore people as we are driving round the area to point out jobs that I’ve done... See that? I painted the front of that 8 years ago... I fitted a kitchen there... oh that one was a really nice bathroom, the customer was a nightmare

 

[hillhead]

very nice work there colour

 

[Colour Republic]

OK, I hope this post doesn't come over in the wrong way, I’m not trying to bump this post or try to big myself up but after looking over this job I remember the reasons for making all the tiny decisions that determine how a job turns out.

Some of you may disagree with them and that's fine. It’s all personal choice, but I hope to give an insight into why things are done in a certain way and hopefully pass on some knowledge for the newbies

I am just about to waffle on so bare with me....

First off I have a band of 4 high mosaic for the skirting, 2 for the border and 1 for the picture rail (sorry can't think of another word for it)

I debated about 3 mosaic high for the skirting to make the decrease of tile above uniform (3,2,1) but this would give me a very small cut of field tile above the worktop, I thought about 5 high but that would give me another problem with the furniture (see next point), so 4 high it is was.

OK, I knew that when I fitted the furniture I was going to be left with a large void above. So I decided to build a custom made towel holder. I rolled up some towels that they had and measured them, this gave me my first dimensions I also worked out where the top mosaic line was going to be, I re-adjusted my measurements by millimetres so that my cornice would line up with the mosaic.

In the next picture you will notice how the shower hose bends. This determined where I placed the outlet, If I placed it to the left nearer the valve it would either bend and cover the valve or it would loop past the shower rail and cross over making it look not as sleek as it does, i.e running vertical to the shower rail.

Ok in the next picture you will notice that I didn't use the whole length of the room but decided to break the towel holder in to sections to mirror the units below

In this picture it shows the setting out of the LED's. They are centralised with the units above them, I was fortunate that this worked out, On the return units it worked out I could set them out the same, taking in to account the toilet which would be a blank. If you were doing this in a kitchen it is very rare that you would have units all the same size meaning the setting out would be different

The setting out of the down lighters are important here, the ceiling down lighters are not symmetrical to the room. I knew I was fitting furniture so allowed for this and I wanted the lights to hit the furniture and light it up weather the cabinet lights were on or not.
If you do not have complete control over how a room is set out this could cause a major problem as the sparks may not be aware of the room layout. If the lights had been fitted some 200mm closer to the back wall, meaning the lights would have been directly over the cornice, not only would this look rubbish but maybe would have burned it! I can't stress enough how millimetres can make or break a job here.

Keeping plumbing neat and tidy is paramount! I open too many kitchen cupboards where the plumbing is all over the place and takes up so much room where it doesn't need to. It was unfortunate that I couldn't give these people the full use of the space due to the soil pipe from the main bathroom but I maximised the space available.

Now I could write an equally long post about my failures on this job, about how I could have done things better! All relating to horizontal tile layout but I shall leave that either for another time (tomorrow) or I'd like to here your thoughts on it

 

[faithhealer]

nice thinking CR, too many, chuck it in and be dammed merchants about. I've deliberated over bends in shower hoses before!

 

[Colour Republic]

I've deliberated over bends in shower hoses before!

Such a small detail but so important! I wonder if anybody cares sometimes but it really pleases me when i see it

 

[White Room]

Some quality work there Rob, nice to see after 6 years how good it still looks

 

[Diamond Pool Finishers]

realy nice bathroom you have created there rob ,and it has kept in find condition too thank's for pics