The biggest thing that's been going on is that the venetian plaster is almost finished. This stuff is a lot easier than I thought it would be. The instructions on the can and everywhere online pretty much sum it up. Using the 3-pack of trowels sold at Lowes (or wherever else), apply a thin first layer, wait for it to dry, then do a thinner second and third layer. When that's dry take the trowel and burnish it which brings out the shine. It comes out smooth - almost like glass when you're done. Apply a protective coating only if you want to, which we did because it's a bathroom.
The main part of the bathroom is more or less done - at least all that can be done while the cabinets are still in there anyway. The water closet is coming along pretty well. The first layer is done, and I'll do the second and third tomorrow afternoon.
It's really about as easy as painting so pretty much anyone can do this on their own. The only downside is the burnishing step which gets old fast. I tried a few shortcuts around it with an electric buffer that I read about online but none worked out. The ones that did polish out the plaster polished it way too much and it looked too smooth like paint on a car. There really aren't any shortcuts out there so don't bother trying them.
We also figured out the sinks and all other hardware, including a couple of options for the doors throughout the whole house. We're waiting on pricing for one of them before we make up our minds. What I thought was funny over at the showroom is that the same stuff we have on the doors now from 18 years ago is still available. Probably in that polished brass color from the '90s too (eww!) if you ask. We're going with something a bit nicer. All this stuff came from Ferguson's which has an awesome selection and completely destroys Lowes / HD pricing for the things that both places carry.
We also started installing cabinets. There's only one that could be installed so far, but we went ahead and did it anyway just to see how the blue and brown go together. Looks pretty good. It was loads of fun to install because it's almost exactly the width of the room, but we got it done somehow. Still needs hardware, like all the other cabinets will need at some point.
Coming up this week... I need to call the glass place we chose and let them know there will be an order... just as soon as the shower is installed and we have exact dimensions. The tile place came by on Wednesday to estimate what it would run to remove the existing floor and shower. Never heard back from them so I guess tomorrow I break out the air hammer and go at it myself. I'm not exactly enthusiastic about that, but the mortar holding these green tiles in is a lot weaker than the nasty stuff underneath the other tile. Yesterday I tested one and it came out easily so this might not be so bad. They were also going to quote me on granite for both the kitchen and bathroom but no call so far, so I'm going to call a couple of other places. Their numbers weren't that great anyway so maybe I can get better service and a better price. The last thing coming up is to get the stone and tile actually delivered which I'm really not expecting to be a problem.
Between the wait time for the granite and the shower glass it'll probably be another two weeks before the bathroom is fully functional again. In the meantime we'll move on to the kitchen, because in the informal dining room we know we want to do the same plaster as in the bathroom and that will give us something to do. We have a plan at least. Anyway, more to come!
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