Bathroom Chronicles, Part Two : Floor Tiling

Oh bathroom... how I love and hate you. Sometimes you let in the cold, and contractors neglect you, but someday, you'll be a star. New walls are up, and the shower pan poured.



Two baldies at work. Pa came down to Austin to help lay some of this wickedly large 12x24 inch tile. You'd think a kind son would be down on his knees instead of letting the old man oldman do it, but...



look at the thinset that guy lays! Julie said, "textbook." She would know... Mine always looked really gloopy and bad. In a few years, when tiles start cracking, we'll know which few I had a hand in.



We rented a tile saw, and went to town. This tile was our Piece de Resistance.



Like a friggin glove.



This tile is NOT the daltile Fabrique, but it's a knock off brand called Strands. Can't find anything about Strands on the internet, but the old Tile Guy is always in the know... Made by the same company and cost 1/4 as much per tile. With saw skills peaking, it's like this tile just grew up and over the shower curb. Baldy's getting a little toot tooty up in har.



Still have the walls of the shower to do... and some grouting, but it's looking pretty sexy.



Oh, and BOOOOOOOOOOOOYAHHHH!

Bathroom Chronicles, Part One

Observe the master bath. It's this here 5ish by 5ish square foot zone. It's hard to take pictures of because there ain't no room. I take a shower in that tiny area behind that door there. Picture that, ladies.



Welcome.



Please enjoy your dank cavern shower.



It's easier to take pictures of the area when big boys knock out a wall. Unfortunately, the toilet was the newest feature of the bathroom, and it took a sledge to the face.



This area is about 5 feet from where we sleep at night. Julie's freaked out about what is going to crawl into the house and cozy up beside her.



I feel like the morning light is going to look a little nicer when it shines in the bathroom window in a few weeks from now. To be continued...

It's gittin grilly in here..

I've been toolin around with this here lamp the past couple o days. Well, it started last week, which began with me divin willie nillie into electricity city without doing my homework, and sparks and smoke arose from my outlets. After some proper learning, I built this lamp! I could have kept it like this here, but I had these curved up bamboo pieces that I wanted to incorporate.



I slapped em on.



First I thought I'd use some rice paper for the innards, but that seemed more blando than this stuff up at Breed and Co. It's a radiator grill cover piece, though I wonder how many homes in Austin have old radiators that need covering.

Luckily, I had a lamp that could use some covering, and this stuff worked out well. It also casts cool shadows that can soothe a wailing baby, when singing Yankee Doodle just doesn't cut it any more.

Maybe I'll sell this gem. It has it's prototype qualities, which could be smooved out, but if someone has their wits about them, they'll pay top dollar for the prototype that changed the face of lighting... or if they are sick of being in the dark when the sun sets.