kelsey.mackall, Author at A Dabbled Dwelling

Jeffrey Court Renovation Challenge- Week 4

October 27, 2021 by kelsey.mackall

We continue the Jeffrey Court Renovation Challenge– Week 4! I’m totally *not* freaking out over how much I still have to do… the end of this week marks only TWO weeks left of the challenge. I’ll be transparent… I’m getting a little nervous about being able to finish on time. Granted, I’ve been nervous the entire time but now the pressure is really on!

Last week we left off with almost having finished the bathroom floor tile. Picking up there, it was time to grout! Grouting marked the very first completed task and now the floor tile was done!

woman smiles at camera while grouting geometric marble floor tile

Prepping The Shower

Now that the floor was finished, it was time to move on to another huge task, the shower! We finished up the last bit of cement board and moved on to prep for tile. This involved taping and mudding the seams of the cement board to have a complete surface. Next, we used AquaDefense to further waterproof the cement board. This is necessary because even though cement board is water resistant, it’s not water proof. In an area like a shower that’s consistently wet, the walls should not be able to absorb any moisture. The Aqua Defense goes on like a paint (pictured in light blue) and dries like a plastic. My kid’s were dying to help so this seemed like an easy task to get them involved in. Check out the last time we remodeled a shower.

Shower prepped with cement board and mudded seams

mom and 2 kids paint on waterproofing membrane as part of the Jeffrey Court Renovation Challenge- week 4

The Shower Tiling Begins

Finally, it was time to tile the shower! I got my crappy clothes on since I tend to be a messy tiler. I was a little nervous about laying all this Suburbs marble picket tile but since they are on mesh sheets it went pretty quickly. However, I did get “off” somewhere with my spacing which resulted in some frustration. Luckily, white grout will hide lots of imperfections!

At this point I started having a little bit of a meltdown which tends to happen in any big renovation project. I had thought I’d be further along at this point so it was hard to see an end in sight. Sometimes DIY is just as mentally exhausting as it is physically! I just have to remind myself of the end goal and keep on pushing through!

We end week 4 with the shower not quite finished… but close!

Keep on voting daily for the winner of the $5000 prize!

Mirror selfie of woman in oversized tshirt getting ready to tile

woman tiles shower with white marble picket shaped tile

Tiling continues as part of the Jeffrey Court Renovation challenge- week 4

DIYer dancing in front of shower tile progress as part of the Jeffrey Court Renovation Challenge- week 4

Jeffrey Court Renovation Challenge- Week 3

October 20, 2021 by kelsey.mackall

Week 3 of the Jeffrey Court Renovation challenge has been a pivotal week in our remodel. Perhaps the most exciting… the tile came! Delivered on a giant heavy pallet, I ripped open boxes as quickly as I could to touch and feel the tiles I had selected online. Can you tell I’m excited? I chose 3 different tiles for this space. The Balancing Act Mosaic for the floor, the Morning Mist Blue glass subway tile for behind the sink, and the Subarbs White Picket Marble for the shower. Can 3 totally different tiles come together seamlessly? I sure hope so!

Posting with all my Jeffrey Court tile for the renovation challenge!

Tiling

We got started tiling the floor right away. I figured this might be the hardest/biggest area to tile and we had never done a floor before. It was our hope to have at least one finished surface to continue the renovation on. Laying the full tiles went very quickly, however, making all the cuts was the most time consuming. The detailed cuts lasted into the next day… or two. I was fortunate to have my husband helping and we often call him the “Tetris King”. I’ve said in the past that tiling is a lot more about attention to detail than it is skill!

Check out the last time I tiled here!

The Vanity

Needing a tile break, I decided to start working on the vanity. As you saw during demo we removed the existing vanity and needed to replace it with something. Because this bathroom design is so tile-heavy, I thought an old dresser would give it a softer touch. We came across this bright yellow piece on Facebook Marketplace and knew it would be perfect. It felt feminine and vintage enough to compliment the geometric patterns in the floor tile.

I chose an emerald green color called “Trellis Vine” my Behr. This will give my mainly white bathroom design a pop of boldness and fun. Wagner Spray Tech was kind enough to send challenge participants a Flexio 3500 paint sprayer which was the perfect tool to use on this vanity. The sprayer was simple to set up, use, and clean. Of course it was raining the day I set out to paint so I had to lay paper all around my garage. I was impressed that the Flexio 3500 had minimal overspray which allowed me to do this!

Finally, I decided to keep the original dresser hardware and spray paint them gold. Typically I replace this sort of thing for something more modern but I thought they were so unique and charming. However, once the vanity was in the bathroom I felt the ornate hardware was competing with the geometric floor tile- Giving me major “Wizard of Oz” vibes. Ultimately I decided to order some simpler/modern style pulls.

original dresser vanity in bright yellow

Wagner paint sprayer with freshly painted green dresser vanity

overhead view of finished vanity with the original hardware

green vanity with gold hardware fitting snuggly in bathroom with geometric floor tile

With the Jeffrey Court Renovation Challenge now being halfway over, its feeling like we still have a long way to go. I vacillate between worrying we aren’t going to finish by the deadline and being excited at what’s to come. Decorative items like a faucets, rugs, and a shower curtain were delivered this week which gives me a bit of energy to see design elements coming together. One way or another we WILL make it happen even though there is a LONG to do list to get through in the next few weeks of the challenge.

Jeffrey Court Renovation Challenge- Week 2

October 13, 2021 by kelsey.mackall

Its week 2 of the Jeffrey Court Renovation Challenge and we have made some good progress! This is definitely that “Oh boy what have we done” stage of a project. Where it feels like you have made a space worse rather than better. We’re just going to keep moving forward and eventually it will all come together… Right?

More Demo

We continued with more demo by removing the tile floor. It was sad to see the painted tile go, but I’m so excited to to finally update it thanks to Jeffrey Court. This was the part of demo I was most nervous about because I wasn’t sure what would be underneath or how hard it would be to remove. Luckily I was able to pop off the tiles with a pry bar and found a waterproof membrane underneath. after removing the tiles I basically “dug deep” to find my inner hulk and ripped the membrane right off the subfloor in sheets!

My husband removed the toilet for the last bit of tile and what did we find? MORE ROACHES. I can’t even fathom how they manage to get under a toilet that was sealed to the floor but thankfully we had an exterminator out a few days later. If I wasn’t so excited about this bathroom project I think I may have put the house on the market right then and there!

We tackled a few more loose ends like the wall studs from the doorway we removed last week. As well as the rest of the vanity.

woman removes tile floor with hammer and pry bar

half removed tile floor revealing orange waterproof membrane underneath

shower down to the studs and doorway removed

Build Back

Once demolition was complete, it was time to start building back this bathroom and prepping for tile. I laid 1/4 inch cement board on the floor and 1/2 inch cement board on the shower walls. Because cement board is moisture and mold resistant it makes a great foundation for tiling. Also, mortar grips to it wonderfully and it give a nice fresh and flat surface to work on.

Finally, I began taping and mudding the seams on the cement board floor. This simply involves putting down mesh tape and applying a thin layer of mortar on top. Doing so makes sure that water won’t seep into your subfloor where the cement board meets.

Thats a wrap for the Jeffrey Court Renovation Challenge week 2! We hope next week we can begin tiling as we await our big tile order from Jeffrey Court!