Plumbing Checkmate

I had a go at removing the old taps from my bath this morning.  Complete disaster!  When I took the handles off for painting the tiles, one was really stuck and after finally getting it off, the inside looked like it was all full of grout.

But it left behind a nut that I couldn't remove which prevented me from removing the housing and the spindle.  So I put a huge effort in this morning to remove the nut.  You can sort of see it in this closeup...

Anyway, the result was that the nut didn't move at all, but the whole spindle snapped off instead, nut still attached.

That didn't matter too much, because I needed to remove the whole spindle to put in the new taps, but after hacksawing a bit more off to get a clean edge and removing the housing, the spindle WOULD NOT BUDGE.

I went to Bunnings and got a proper shower socket for the job, but all I managed to do was repeatedly bend the socket out of shape.  And I was very worried that I might do more damage by trying to force it with a hammer or something.

So now, the spindle is fully turned on and can't be closed, which means I have to leave the mains water off until it's sorted.  Gah!  Which means, after managing to avoid plumbers for years, I've finally had to make the call.  :(  He can't come until tomorrow morning, so until then, no running water for me.

I have to say I'm very curious to see how he manages to remove them.

Shower Door Finale!

OMG!!  The shower door worked!!!!!

So I bought a sheet of clear polycarbonate corrugated roofing from Bunnings ($19) and used those 3 jarrah planks from my old outdoor table, put it altogether and hinged it to the wall with gate hinges.  And voila!

I can hardly believe that it worked.  I've attached it to the door frame, mainly because I didn't have a tile drill bit, so I really hope that holds it long term.  And I thought I might need something to stop it from swinging right into the shower, but it hangs wonderfully even (?!) and doesn't really need anything.

And, as you can see in the photo, the top corner is curving over a little, but I hope that is as much as it's going to be.  The polycarbonate is quite floppy, but I'm hoping the corrugations will help it hold its shape.

So that's it!  The door is done ... woot!!  Can't wait to take a shower.  :)

Cabinet Transformed

The sea of green and white in the bathroom was starting to feel a bit bland and I decided it needed a little bit of colour.

The white cabinet on the white tiles with white, white, white all around was getting me down, and I haven't even done the bath yet, so I decided to paint it.  Another Taubmans colour, this one was called "Quirky."  Aubergine, I'd say.  I thought it would lift up the green walls.

I'm pretty happy with it.  I was scared that the colour would be too light, but it's perfect. And the little silver handles finish it nicely, although I would still like to change the tapware.  I did manage to lift off some of my tile paint with painter's tape, but I'm hoping I can touch that up pretty easily.

I also salvaged a trough planter from the backyard, rust treated it and repainted it with a little old tin of Rustguard epoxy enamel that I found in my laundry.  I've been waiting all week for it to dry and it was still a little tacky, but I decided to go ahead and put it on the wall anyway.

I hope it might work to keep some towels in.  I had no idea, though, that epoxy enamel would take so long to dry!  Maybe it's because the paint was so old?  But still tacky after one week .. hmm .. I think it might be a few months before I can think about putting any towels in there!

And finally, here's Molly thinking that the bird on the branch might be worth a closer look...

Next step will be putting the shower door together (fingers crossed it works!) and then, finally, the bath.  :)

Wall Decal

My wall decal arrived yesterday and I was itching to put it up, but I had to work.  So last night, I watched lots of youtube videos about how to install decals, then this morning, got up at 5am because I just couldn't wait any longer! 

And here's the finished result...

 

I'm so happy with it!  It makes a boring wall so pretty.  I was going to install little hooks along the branch to hang towels on, but I don't think that's going to work.  And I don't really want to cover any of it with towels, now that I see it up. 

So I think it might be back to the towel rail.

Shower Door Stirrings

I've been having some radical ideas for a shower screen door.  Seeing as installling a glass one would be upward of $1000, I've been trying hard to think outside the box and, at last, I'm on to a plan.  It involves polycarbonate roof sheeting and an old broken outdoor table dug up out of my backyard.

I've started by salvaging 3 planks of jarrah from the remains of the table and here's what they look like fresh from the backyard.

 And here's Molly photo-bombing...

So let the sanding begin!  (Good practice for the floorboards.)

........

And here they are again - now cut, sanded and primed, ready for a nice high gloss white paint.

I had no idea that old jarrah would be so hard to sand!  Even 60 grit paper on an electric sander barely made a dent.  I think when it's time to do the floorboards, my right arm is going to grow to twice the size of my left.

Third ... and final ... coat

So after 2 coats of the Plastikote tile paint, and sailing very close to despair, I switched from a roller to a large wall paintbrush in the hope of creating a glossy finish.  And I think it worked! 

I can still see little streaks if I look closely and I suppose another coat would make it better, but I feel done with it.  I'll see how it lasts first before I make any more decisions, but for now, I'm happy with the tiles and it's on to the trim.

Second Coat

Oh boy.  I've just finished the second coat on the tiles, hoping it would finish them, but no chance.  When I first started on the first coat, I used a brush which left streaky marks behind.  So I switched to a foam roller, which didn't leave marks, but only put on a veeery thin coat of paint.

And now I've switched to a mohair roller for the second coat, which is my favorite so far. but hasn't been enough to cover the streaky brush marks or the uneveness of the foam roller.

So it looks like there will definitely be a third coat and (oh God), maybe a fourth.

The weather has been steady rain for the last few weeks and I have to admit the reno enthusiasm is flagging...