Rewind to where we left off at the end of last week’s post. I had laid all of the tile on the bathroom floor, but I had only grouted around where the toilet was going. So back to the old knees, to finish up the project! I decided to use the same grout that was used on the shower tiles to keep the design cohesive after doing a sample test of the colors together.

Boy oh boy does that floor look nice! I actually like the slight color variation in the tiles. It gives it a real natural look.

The next day my Dad was coming to do some dry walling in the main area of the future third floor master bedroom to help us get to the next step that I’m calling “cork phase”. Yep, you guessed it, more flooring projects in the upcoming months!

First things first, I had Dad help get a vent register back into the bathroom wall. It couldn’t happen quick enough, because temperatures were pushing 90 degrees! We had to extend the original flexible ductwork around the corner and make it less conspicuous by placing it by the toilet.

Ahhhhhh… feel the cool breeze! I still can’t believe I totally forgot about that. Thankfully, I realized it in May and not July in St. Louis!

One of the major problems with this bathroom was the angled ceilings and the occasional noggin bumping. I knew we would need storage to make this bathroom function like a master bath, despite it’s tiny footprint and angles everywhere. My theory was, if I built storage on the sloped wall, it would prevent me and my husband from walking too far forward and hitting our heads. I decided that making the room smaller would in turn make it bigger! I know that’s some crazy logic, but you know what?! IT TOTALLY WORKED! I measured about a billion times and found that I could combine four Besta cabinets from IKEA, and create a storage wall.

Next up on the finishing projects list was the wraparound shelf, for plants and some quirky knick-knacks. Finn and I constructed a 9″ deep shelf from four pieces of maple we picked out at Menards. We tried to match up the color and grain as best we could, knowing that there would ultimately be a seam. I tried a few different stains and landed on a gel stain in Golden Pecan from Varathane. Gel stains are weird, as the consistency and color of this one seemed like I was spreading ketchup on wood! But no drips and it went on easily and it was really pretty. I didn’t taste test it to see if it was indeed ketchup…

Time to fit the shelves again. You gotta be kiddin’ me… ANOTHER TRAPEZOID!!! Out came the cardboard template and it was micro adjusted to fit, then Finn cut the tapered edges, and lo and behold, it fit!

I’m on the hunt for fun stuff and small planters to fill up that shelf with personality, but my kitty figurine and little pilea is a tiny start. I’m actually relieved that I have time now to search for the perfect pieces, since the challenge is over.

I was really excited about how the storage cabinets and the sink ended up looking. And look at the happy accident, where the top cabinet door JUST clears the top of the toilet! It’s the little things…

This is what 8 weeks of work looks like from a couple of DIYers who work other jobs during the week. I think we did a bang up job! It would have been really great to have the shower trim kit and faucet on (the last of the missing pieces just arrived TODAY, I kid you not). This challenge has shown me that you cannot control everything, and you have to roll with the punches.

I did not get to my fancy schmancy LED back lit mirror project that goes above the sink, nor the baseboard trim, or the bathroom hardware. And we will be waiting a bit for a custom angled shower door that wasn’t in the immediate budget. But I’ll post again when I am totally done, because the details make the difference! I’m thinking this weekend, I might just take a break… HAHA!

Thanks for coming along with me on my attic bathroom renovation journey! Thank you’s and HI-5’s all around to my helpers that kept me mostly sane and allowed me to get almost all the way to the finish line. And thanks to the One Room Challenge for the um… well, CHALLENGE! Check back for updates in the upcoming months!

-Michele aka Kiki

The post Attic Bathroom Redo ORC Spring 2024 – Week 8 appeared first on Orange Pop Design.

I spent quite a bit of time pre-planning the tile layout after finding the square of the room to go off of. Luckily, the room wasn’t off by too much in any direction. I had a high spot in front of where the toilet was going that I had to deal with. I leveled it out with this stuff called Planipatch from Mapei that I picked up at Lowe’s, and it did work well as long as you were speedy.

The next morning we put my tiling plan into action. I was hoping that I had laid out enough tiles in all directions to be confident enough to pull off this floor by Monday morning when the plumber was scheduled!

Marc, aka Finn, was my helper once again as we tiled over the weird patched area and around the toilet drain. These tiles are not perfectly cut with factory edges, and there are variances from one tile to another, so I had to do some micro-adjusting here and there, keeping an eye on my guide lines that I had drawn on the floor. Finn did a great job of cutting the tiles where the toilet goes, while I cut the end of the row pieces. I planned out all the cut pieces to be on the walls where the tiles are mainly hidden, and I made sure I there would be NO tile slivers. Let me tell ya, it did not take long before my middle-aged knees started cursing me out! Sometimes you gotta suffer for your “art”…

We got a good start in, but I was quietly freaking out about day two of floor tiling solo. Finn told me to enjoy the process, which I then in turn relayed that same message to my knees. They said to me, “hey lady, we didn’t sign up for no one room challenge!”

I worked steadily throughout the morning and afternoon, and made good progress. My husband, Chet, joined me for a few hours grouting the shower/tub walls. I had picked out a matching grout color for the wall tile, and I was so happy about how it blended into the tiles and the grooves, disappearing in most cases. Where the tiles had a bit bigger gap on the ceiling, you can’t tell, which was such a relief!

I knew that I needed to get far enough with the tiling that the plumber could set the toilet and install the sink, so I really couldn’t stop until those areas were done. It was still light out when I got the tile laid under where the sink cabinet was going. It’s a floating vanity, but I knew it would be a hassle trying to lay tile by laying on the floor myself trying to get to it! This is where I ended up, playing beat the daylight clock with grouting the toilet area, finishing up around 8PM. Nothing like a 12-hour, manual labor workday to make you feel alive! Or dead? In my case, it felt like a little of both.

Bright and early Monday morning Don from Maplewood Plumbing came to install the toilet and the sink. If you’re in the St. Louis region, I highly recommend them. We had to wait on the shower/tub due to a part that ended up being backordered, but Don said it wouldn’t be a problem to come back out when it arrives. He worked on what could be done, and within a few hours, we had a new working sink INSIDE the bathroom and a second toilet once again!

I have come to terms with the fact that I will not finish this attic bathroom by next week, but the deadline has pushed me to get really far along in the remodel. Check back next week to see how close I get to achieving my goal, but right now I’m off to grout. C’mon knees, you can do it!

-Michele aka Kiki

The post Attic Bathroom Redo ORC Spring 2024 – Week 7 appeared first on Orange Pop Design.

I seriously loooooove old buildings. My excitement knows no limits when reimagining the spaces of unloved structures. But my dad, who made his living remodeling houses, always told me that it’s harder to fix up something that’s old than to build something new. And I got an unhealthy dose of this very logic during week 6, as we tried to install tile on a sloped ceiling in the attic shower of this 140 year old building. What I thought would take maybe a day, took THREE. It was six stinkin’ tiles! Talk about slow and steady wins the race. How slow can you go? Oh wait, I think that was “how low can you go?”

Things started off great. I had gone to Harbor Freight the night before we began this adventure to get some cargo bars that I guess people use in their trucks and SUVs. They were adjustable. The heads pivoted to fit angles, and the grip could tighten just enough to hold those tiles on the ceiling until they dried. They really were a godsend! So Friday afternoon into the early evening, it felt like we were making progress. Two tricky tiles cut and installed in the matter of two hours, which doesn’t sound like much, but when dealing with an un-square sloped ceiling that’s a huge WIN!

I’m not gonna lie, I did wake up around 4:30AM worried that the tiles must have shifted or the cargo bars failed, etc. You know those middle of the night wake up with anxiety moments? I waited for moral support, so when Finn came over we went to check on it and it was all totally fine! Stupid brain.

We knew we had to line up the black trim before we could put the next two tiles up. This is where things started to slowly go south according to this perfectionist. We had a much larger gap where the grout lines were going to be than I was expecting. And there was nothing to do about it with the first two tiles in place. I had to visually line up the next tiles in the spots that looked the best, but still lined up with the vertical pattern. I added complexity to this project by wanting the line up the grout lines with the back wall, and I was starting to regret that decision! We forged ahead and got the next two tiles on.

Okay, we’re almost there! Now for the weirdo shaped tile with the hole for the light. I cut and trimmed my cardboard tile pattern with the hole. It fit pretty good and I was ready to try cutting an actual tile. My goal was to line up the vertical pattern on the newly cut tile with the tile below it and the also on the wall with the shower fixtures. The pattern did not line up with my grout line cuts. A thunderstorm rolled in and made it way too dark to work in the attic, so we had to quit for the day. I felt tired and defeated, having to spend part of another day on this ceiling.

The next morning I was determined to have a better representation of a tile, so I spent some time cutting a piece of 1/2″ foam board and drawing the linear pattern on it so I could really get the correct angles on my next attempt.

I was never great at geometry. It was the ONLY class in high school that I ever got a down slip in, and it wasn’t for lack of trying. My skills were being tested. I was cutting a trapezoid tile! I got one cut to fit, but I was disappointed in a couple of spots where the tile chipped in the tile saw. Finn thought it was fine, so he got to work with his angle grinder cutting out that precarious circle, which of course he NAILED IT (not literally)! Meanwhile, I cut another tile without the chips, then broke it to him that he would need to cut another circle out. I felt bad, so I bribed him with free hot fresh pizza! And he cut a perfect hole once again.

I cut the last tile to line up before installing the tile with the hole in it, hoping to ward off any evil last minute problems that might pop up. I just reused the foam board tile by taping back on the ends I cut off and refitting it to the last tile spot. Another trapezoid, though not AS trapezoid-y as the other! We lined them up and stuck them up there for good. And just like that (hahahaha), the shower ceiling was done!

So if you can’t figure it out, I’m pretty behind at this point after fighting the ceiling. I keep telling myself, I can only do what I can do and it’s okay to not be done with the room by the last week. The plumbers come on Monday, so I have to tile the floor and get some grouting done where they will be working at. Plus, I’m missing a piece for my shower, that was supposedly in stock when I ordered it, and now is backordered. Trying to go with the flow…

Gotta go start the tiling process for the floor tiles. Join me next week for more misadventures in the attic!

-Michele aka Kiki

The post Attic Bathroom Redo ORC Spring 2024 – Week 6 appeared first on Orange Pop Design.

When you have big projects to do, you grab your biz buddy and BFF to help with precision, problem solving, and sanity! This is Marc, aka Finn, the other half of Orange Pop Design.

I looked at numerous versions of this style of tile, and landed on this one from Floor and Decor, called Ribbon Oak Wall ceramic tile. These tiles are 16×48″. They are BIG. The largest tiles I have ever tried tackling. But the fluted design ran vertically which I wanted, and two side by side equalled the exact depth out from the tub to go on the side walls, and the angled ceiling. This was a big plus, hoping to not have to cut many of them the long way. Also, I’m not gonna lie, the price was pretty great!

We started tiling the back wall with the intention of covering up any mis-cuts that might occur with the factory edge of the tiles going on the ceiling. Finn and I planned out the bottom row across then decided to stick them on the wall. Due to the tile size, it was suggested that we use Mapei Ultraflex LFT tile mortar because of its non-sag formula. With both of us having middle aged eyeballs, we read the instructions wrong on the bag (why do they make the font size so small?!) and put in WAY too much water to mortar. And we were basically at the end of the daylight hours. So thinking extremely positive, we put plastic in the bucket and put the lid on real tight and hoped we could use some of it the next morning. This is what we ended up with… THE FAIL PAIL!

The chances were very slim, so we laughed it off and got back to work.

We got some quick wins in here and there, and cut some successful holes to go around the plumbing fixtures. We were feeling pretty great about our progress!

I wanted a small black trim edge, and decided on the Schluter edging in a matte black as the finish piece. It was EXACTLY the right choice for the vibe, clean and minimal. Basically a finished outline.

After we got all of the tiles up on the sides of the shower, we started to see how the ceiling tiles were going to go on with the uneven, not level, almost 140 year old angled ceiling. We got stopped dead in our tracks trying to find where to base “square” off of! So Finn bought the last of his most wanted tools, a cordless Dewalt angle grinder with a diamond blade, and we cut our short wall tiles at an uneven angle, so we could fit the tiles, yet keep them snug against the back wall of the shower.

This is where we left it for the week. Once we get the ceiling tackled, which I think will end up being the hardest part of this bathroom renovation, we can start cranking out the floor tiling. I guess you know what is on tap for next week then!

-Michele aka Kiki

The post Attic Bathroom Redo ORC Spring 2024 – Week 5 appeared first on Orange Pop Design.

It started off with taping and putting thinset on the seams and the corners of the shower/tub walls. Those tight angles are pretty tricky to get into with material. So I have spent basically the ENTIRE week worrying about how in the heck I’m going to tile this weird space. Tiling is top of the list for next week, so be sure to tune in to see if this project turns into one hot mess!

This was my first time working with mesh tape and thinset over cement board. I approached it like drywall mud and tape, and it seemed to work out pretty well. It’s just much grittier, like myself some days!

I also got all of the walls painted. I wanted to keep it very clean and put the emphasis on the blue sky showing through the skylight, so I stayed with the main color of the entire attic master bedroom, which is Sherwin Williams’s Westhighland White. It brightened up the room for sure!

I feel that a lot of color and value shifts will happen with all of the angles, so keeping it minimal in terms of the overall color will add to the “spa-like” vibe I’m going for. Will there be color, you ask? Heck yeah! Here’s a sneak peek at some of the materials I have gathered for the remaining weeks’ projects:

Okay, maybe the bright blue won’t be in there in a big way, but it will be right around the corner from the bathroom as the soon-to-be done kitchenette. I’m hoping to have that part of the attic master suite done before the next Challenge comes around, but if not, I guess I know what will be next! I’m loving the color palette!

Alright, back to the boring prep work part of this journey….

After reading quite a bit, and watching YouTube videos about waterproofing shower walls before tiling, I decided to get a gallon of Aquadefense and follow everyone else’s lead. But this brings me to a broader point that I would like to express for the DIYers like myself who are also perfectionists and hate doing things wrong. I have tiled about a half dozen projects in my few houses that I have lived in and fixed up. Before the internet, I just jumped into projects with reckless abandon! And you know what? The tile never fell off the wall. It never cracked on the floor. Did I know to put cement board on back in 2003? Nope. It was nice to not have to be policed by the internet, or fear that my project would all fall apart due to my naivety. It was actually kinda fun to try a new skill!

I have NOT felt this with this bathroom project. I keep researching to make sure that I am doing things perfectly, because I can thanks to the wealth of information out there on the internet. But it is mentally exhausting, and it is squelching some of the enthusiasm I once had going into a new project. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not justifying doing anything crazy, I’m just saying there is no reason to paralyze yourself with the fear of doing something wrong. Because the sense of accomplishment you get from trying something new, even if it’s not EXACTLY how you thought it would go, is pretty terrific!

And that is my project pep talk! Back to waterproofing. It’s done. Three coats on the seams, corners and edges, and two coats on the walls. Here’s how it looks, ready for some BIG tiles to cover it up!

Green means GO! Which is what I am off to do right now. Let the tiling commence with just a touch of reckless abandon thrown in! Check back next week when you will most likely see me drenched with water and wet ceramic dust from the tile saw. And of course, check in with some other participants and their One Room Challenge journeys!

-Michele aka Kiki

The post Attic Bathroom Redo ORC Spring 2024 – Week 4 appeared first on Orange Pop Design.

Now onto the problems. We were experiencing unusually warm spring temperatures here in St. Louis this past week, and I was sweating my butt off while priming the walls in this third floor bathroom, thinking “it shouldn’t be THIS hot in here”, and remembered that this room had a wall register for the ductwork before we drywalled it all in! So I scrunch down and go into the eaves behind the bathroom where the ductwork is and find that where it used to be in the wall is now where the newly run plumbing is located. A quick call to dad for advice, and sounds like we will need to add length onto the ductwork and run it around the corner to the wall where the toilet is to avoid the plumbing lines. So it appears that he will be making a special appearance during this challenge now!

After watching videos about how to tape seams and waterproof Durock, I got worried about it not being secured enough to the ceiling to hold the very LARGE tiles over time. It’s probably just my normal worrying, but better to overdo it in this case. So down came the piece on the ceiling and we built a better structure under, so it is super secure now!

One step forward, two steps back… story of my life HAHA!

As you can see, we also got the hole cut for the shower niche. It’s a powder coated matte black stainless steel niche that you don’t have to tile around, which sounded pretty good to me. I typically bite off more than I can chew, and this instance with the ORC design challenge is no different, so when I can make my life a little easier I’ll do it!

I did manage to get the walls primed at least, and my husband started getting the thinset and seams done in the shower area. I have a lot of catching up to do this weekend going into next week’s post (I work during the week, btw).

Crossing my fingers that I am prepped and ready to begin the tiling journey soon! But for now, I better sign off and get to work. See ya next week for more One Room Challenge updates!

Michele aka Kiki

The post Attic Bathroom Redo ORC Spring 2024 – Week 3 appeared first on Orange Pop Design.

And I know a little somethin’ about petting cats… so yeah, my technique was purrfect after that comment!

Okay, back to work. We had lots of corners and funny angles in the drywall to tape and mud, but here’s how the bathroom looks before the messy sanding had begun. It’s starting to appear more finished!

The “ceiling” had quite the granular texture on it, so out came the sander to grind some of that off and then a quick skim coat of drywall mud to even it out a bit.

I wanted to take down the texture some since the ceilings start at 4′ and go up, I could imagine scraping my knuckles on the sloped ceiling. I will texture the walls somewhat, to blend with the rest of the attic space. The previous owner had the whole third floor attic drywalled and finished, which is fantastic for me, because that would’ve been one heck of an undertaking! Even though the rest of the attic space has this same texture, it’s up higher and mostly disappears into the overall space. It was too prominent in this room, being that close to it. It looks much better now!

I know, some really RIVETING stuff here on week two of the One Room Challenge! But that means next week is one of my faves, PAINTING! See ya back here next week when I will be sporting a bunch of dried paint under my fingernails!

-Michele aka Kiki

The post Attic Bathroom Redo ORC Spring 2024 – Week 2 appeared first on Orange Pop Design.

So this is what the room looks like as we embark on this 8-week challenge. As you can see, the room is very small and stuck into the eaves and dormers on the third floor of this old, beautiful building. There is no real flat ceiling to speak of, just angles everywhere that are hard to capture in photos. My husband and I added a skylight to bring in some much needed light and that definitely helped to open the space up. This room will be our master bathroom, a tiny, but mighty one!

We had plumbers come and get us ready for drywall last fall, and I have been busy finding other things to do ever since. I’m actually pretty excited, and I hope PREPPED for the next 2 months! In terms of design, I love mid-century modern, Scandinavian, warm wood tones, natural finishes, lots of art, and pops of color. I thought long and hard about this bathroom design and found myself gravitating to this look:

I love this wood-like tile from tilebar despite me hating all other ceramic tile that looks like wood. I am going for a “Scandinavian Kitsch” vibe for the entire master bedroom suite that this bathroom is in. What is that, you ask? I might not be 100% sure, but stay tuned to find out! The design is chock full of IKEA, so it tracks…

I have champagne tastes and a water budget, so I am constantly finding pieces on sale or on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace, and putting the pieces together into a cohesive design. I find it a fun challenge and when I come across a big ticket item like the soaking tub for half price on Craigslist, I find a place to store it for 6+ months, til it’s time to use it! I also hack IKEA pieces like it’s my full-time job. There is also a DIY lighted mirror idea that I’m still noodling around with, that I’m hoping to figure it out before time runs out!

Okay, so let’s get down to business. My to-do list for the next two months is as follows:

-Finish drywall and sanding

-Cement board on the floor and prep seams and coat the shower area with waterproofing membrane

-Paint the walls and ceiling, assemble and hang the IKEA cabinets, cut wood shelf, sand and stain

-Tile the shower walls and the floor

-Put up lights, fit the bathroom shelf, DIY a lighted, fitted mirror above the sink

-Wood trim around the door, frost the panels on the door’s glass panes, install door hardware and hang door

-Plumbers install the toilet, sink, and shower fixtures

-Finishing touches! And DONE.

Don’t forget to check out and cheer on the other participants in this Spring 2024 One Room Challenge!

The post Attic Bathroom Redo ORC Spring 2024 – Week 1 appeared first on Orange Pop Design.

Are you the kind of person who sees the above image and thinks, “Nope! Noooo way! This place is a mess, a time suck, likely a money pit, and therefore not for me!” Or are you like me and see this “dump” absolutely oozing with endless possibilities? If you think the latter, I call this being able to see the potential in EVERYTHING. It is my greatest strength and my greatest weakness. I know I’m not alone in this……

What kind of weirdo would walk into this space looking for places to buy and say, “Yep! Sign me up, it’s perfect!” Well, maybe I didn’t think it was perfect, but I fell for it because of, yeah…well, just look at the possibilities here. Untapped!

With two previous houses under my belt, I was feeling a bit cocky, er…. I mean confident to tackle this biggest project yet! A three story, mixed use, 4,000 square foot brick beauty hailing from 1885. I’ve always been obsessed with buildings where there is a storefront space on the first floor and an apartment upstairs. The building was also in an up and coming, and historic neighborhood with a great vibe called Benton Park, in Saint Louis, Missouri.

When we purchased this building, it needed some minor structural and major design attention. And perhaps I was too willing to answer this building’s cries for help. I am now 7 years into this project. I won’t lie, there have been tears and moments where it seemed like giving up was the best case scenario. But equally, there have been many moments of joy and accomplishment that so far cancel out the negatives. And I can say I look around every untouched corner of this building and STILL see design possibilities everywhere! Like I stated before…total WEIRDO.

Has anyone ever asked you what you would do if you didn’t have to worry about money? I always reply with the same thing. I would save all the old houses and buildings. Well, maybe not ALL of them, but I’d sure breathe new life into as many as I possibly could!

The post Seeing Potential in Everything appeared first on Orange Pop Design.