Another project off the list! Master shower and tub surround

 We seem to have an endless string of projects that we want to attack here at home. We finally got to a big one this month... our master shower and tub surround. Suspiciously, the wall of our shower began to "give" a bit in one area and then the grout cracked. We filled in the grout, but we kept having issues with this wall being somewhat soft. We knew it needed to be done and dreaded opening up the wall for fear of what lay inside. We put aside a little more for this project for any remediation that needed to be done. We are glad we did. We were surprised that when the wall was torn away, it revealed a roof leak in that area. Something we didn't expect or even think was a possibility. There were no tell-tale signs of ceiling damage in the area, so we weren't clued in. Apparently, the roof leak was right around a pipe that went up to the roof. Rain leaked right down the pipe and was ruining the wall behind our shower. It was a quick and inexpensive fix and the damage to the studs wasn't extensive. It just looked gross. We are thankful to our contractor for identifying and getting this fixed to prevent future damage.

Picking the tile wasn't difficult. We wanted to pick up in the color of our floor tile done earlier. I was easily able to find both the floor tile color (Roman Stone - Noce by Del Conca) and a complementary shade (Venetian Stone - Rialto White by Del Conca) in the 6 x 6 tiles I wanted to use by the same maker as our floor tiles. A 10% off coupon at Lowe's saved me a bundle on this project. (Click here on where to find them.)

Mindful of future buyers, I had to stick with a classic design for the back wall of our shower. It's always nerve-wracking trying to be all-encompassing in your design.

We also were interested in having a little box built into the wall of the shower for our shampoo and soap. However, we were wary of having another point where the tile grout could crack and water could leak into the wall. Shelves didn't seem to suit our design. Our tile guy presented a very cool solution that both my husband and I were thrilled with. It is a one-piece solid design that you place into the wall and tile right over. All our concerns went away! I'm so glad we went with it. It looks amazing. All our shampoo bottles are hidden away but easy to reach.

We added a travertine pencil line accent piece that went along the top of the tile. I am so thankful for this now. Our walls were horribly crooked and this covered a world of sins. If your walls are awful, this could be your saving grace!

We struggled with what to do about the front of the tub. It is a whirlpool tub, so there are mechanical parts under the tub that one might need to get to in case of a problem. Usually there are access panels but I've never seen them done well. In the end, we decided to just tile over it and keep extra tiles and grout on hand in case in the future we had to get into it. It's maybe a $100 job to replace the tiles. We rarely use the tub, so we don't see that as a problem in the foreseeable future. The front of the tub looks great!

It's funny how making up update in a room accentuates the shabbiness of the other items. I'm eyeballing my awful builder-grade mirror and cheap "Hollywood" light fixture next. 



BEFORE - oh the humanity!



AFTER - love it!