We have been working in a custom mixed color for the interior painting of this historic Portland home. The house was built in 1889 and has a lot of original features. The trim work is original, it is a stained an finished fir, we are taking precautions to keep it clean of paint. We have found that to get the blue tape masking to stick to it we have had to wash it first with a damp rag. The large color sample is a custom mixed color specified by a local designer.

Everyone likes to be appreciated, this handwritten note from a recent project really made our day.

The bathroom is all done and working. The alcove to recess the sinks in worked well. The bathroom is narrow however, with the change in the interior wall layout has made room for the double sinks. The Carrara marble  has a semi transparent nature.  We had a delay as some of the tile arrived scratched from Italy. Next time we will have the shipment in place and quality approved. The shower fixtures, towel bars and sink fixtures are all chrome finish. One wall of glass in the back of the shower is a textured water glass. The bathroom turned out well and the home owners love the new room.

The walk in shower is a special feature in this project. Carrara marble tile in 1 inch hex tiles was used on the floor. The small tiles are more slip resistant with many grout lines. The larger tile show the marble character more.The bench is roomy and with the handheld shower fixture one could sit for a while. The glass shower door is hinged to swing both in and out of the shower so that you can open the door turn on the water and get right before stepping in. The wide angle in the photo is curves the vertical lines. In the house the walls are not curved.

The Carrara marble tile floor is in place and looks amazing. The tiles are 12×12 they were set with a white thinset cement instead of the usual grey. This keeps the color of the marble a bit brighter. I like how the marble baseboard detail turned out. The dual sinks are slab Carrara marble.

The alcove design leaves space in the room in an area that would be a narrow passage by the shower. A pedestal sink would not work well in the room. Lots of storage  under the sinks.

The sheetrock is in place and the alcove is taking shape. We are making some extra efforts to contain the dust from the sheet rock work. We covered the hot air vents to the room and will heat the room with portable oil filled heaters to reduce air movement while the work is being done. We also placed a furnace filter over the cold air return to keep the dust from circulating through the house. Soon we will be ready for tile an finishes.

Bathroom Remodel: Framing for the sink alcove is in place. We put in a 2×8 across the front edge of the sinks they will be marble slab and we want it to be sturdy.  The alcove will allow a for recessed lights in the ceiling over the sink. This new part of the room would be dark without additional lighting. The new electric and plumbing is roughed in.The heating duct location was changed from next to the toilet to a toe kick register by the sinks. We got the floor patched and fortified for the tile work. The interior wall between the bathroom and bedroom is insulated in recycled cotton insulation for noise. The Cotton insulation has no formaldehyde, it is not itchy and works great at reducing noise transmission. It has more mass than fiber glass or cellulose insulation. We like to work with it when possible.

Bathroom Remodel: Planning
In planing a bathroom remodel it is good to consider the possibilities of your home. It is often it is less expensive to redesign interior walls than to add more square feet to the house. We have made good designs by rearranging bedroom and closet walls. By doing this we have been able to create or expand bathrooms. In this bathroom remodel the home owners recessed the sinks in an alcove in the wall to keep floor space in a narrow part of the bathroom. On the bedroom side of the wall bookshelves and nightstands were built in along side the alcove area.

Spring is here in Portland and I am trying out a new version of an old machine. The push mower so far it is working great it is a joy to push around an almost silent mower. It is cutting through everything, tall grass no problem. It feels great to be outside and knowing that mowing the lawn is not polluting and noisy as it used to be. One small change towards a more sustainable world.