Finally

My bathroom project is finally (mostly) complete. It started with a sink (these things usually do for some reason). M and I got it in Montreal. It was amusing explaining to the customs agent that we were importing a sink. It was not amusing carrying it around Montreal on a hot summer day. We had the sink and the original bathroom. It started out like this.

The scruffy white areas above the sink and to the right (where the light switches are) were covered in this weak tile. Nothing horrible, but nothing exciting either. The tile looked like this:
We needed a countertop. The wooden vanities in the sink store looked nice, but buying these pre-fabricated was too expensive for my cheap ass, so we found 8 feet of Virgina rock maple butcher block counter top for a decent price. I ordered and waited and waited and waited. Eventually it arrived and I barely fit it in the Subaru. I drove home, trying not to be decapitated by 110 lbs of sliding wood. We got it home and it sat behind the couch for a few months while we decided how to approach it. I did my research, decided I could handle it and went looking for tools. I asked the local tool rental place about what I needed and they told me it would be easier to ask a local woodworker. Great. I liked that idea. I called a few and waited and waited and waited and decided if this joker didn't want my money, hey I have 8 feet of this stuff, why not at least try? So I turned the dining room table into a saw horse, made my cuts and went all-in. It was mostly good going. The wood was intended to be very hard and cut-resistant and was generally slow going. The hardest part was getting everything straight. Some of the cuts came out at funny angles. I borrowed a hand planer flattened those edges amish-tyle, but without the sweet beard or suspenders. M thought we should add a sidesplash to the backsplash, so I ripped a sidesplash out of the backsplash. This was not fun with hand tools. It took the better part of a day but it got done.

Next up was color and sealing. I don't need it to be food-safe, so a more industrial finish was acceptable. The fumes were a concern so I needed a good weather day to do it outside. A couple coats of cherry stain got a nice rich color. Th urethane came next. I read the instructions and started cleaning the countertop with mineral spirits, like the can said. Unfortunately it got all cloudy and started looking bad. If I read the can further along, I would have realized the mineral spirits came before the stain and I had just un-did some of the previous staining I just finished. A third coat was needed. We banged that out, got two coats of urethane on and it looked something like this:

So the wood was done. This weekend was the final assembly. After last weekend's toilet and vulgarity explosion I was not looking forward to another 5 hours on my back with water spraying in my face, but this needs to be done before the Rooster arrives. I jumped in after an enormous brunch and a gallon of coffee. Demolition was relatively fast. Once I fitted everything, I realized this bathroom didn't have 90 degree angles on the corners either. Yippee. The counter and back/side splashes were installed. The faucet was fitted, the sink was adhered and the last step was cutting and installing the wall paneling. we elected to go for a bronzed-looking metallic finish. It sort of matches the faucet. I think this stuff is intended for ceilings, but it can work on the walls. It's not cheap and kind of unpleasant to cut cleanly. Eventually we got it done with minimum destruction. The final product is here. I'm happy.

The hot/cold lines aren't exactly perfect. I bought the wrong sizes and my retrofit of the existing lines didn't really work, so it's one more trip to Lowe's and then we're done. Finally.