We're inching towards the finish line in the bathroom and we've completed a huge hurdle in the last week.


All the bathroom tile is complete!

The floor was done shortly after my last update and I love the black hex tile with the dark gray grout.  I took these really quickly with my iPad before the babies woke up so the lighting is bad and it's making it look like the grout is half done, but once we get more done in here I'll take better photos for sure.
 

The shower tile took the longest, and I'm really proud of the detail Mike put into this.  Both of our pet peeves in tile work is small slivers left on the edges where the spacing wasn't laid out in a thoughtful way.  Mike measured everything a dozen times and used a laser level to keep his lines straight.  He made sure he left at least half of a tile at the top so that it mimicked the half tile at the base of the step.

We both were a little disappointed with the grout lines, and I had hoped they would be smaller.  The tiles were self-spacing, but Mike had thought he was making the thinnest lines he could by spacing only 3/32".  I know that eventually the thicker lines won't seem so noticeable once we install everything else in the room, but it's something we're keeping in mind for tile projects in the future.    


The marble topped ledge and shower step are two of my favorite details and I'm so happy we went with the ledge instead of a niche.  I think it's works well with the tile design and achieves my goal of a step to shave my legs, as well as a ledge for shampoo and stuff.


We got a couple quotes for the glass shower door and just gave the official approval last week, so hopefully we have that show in a few weeks!

We're waiting to figure out a solution to a problem we have with the pocket door right now, but once we finish that we can wrap up the trim in here and start installing the vanity and toilet.  I'm not making any deadlines for us, but we're very much looking forward to moving into our new room and it's motivation for us to keep moving ahead!

One of the things I did early on was design our bedroom closet organizational system.  We knew we wanted to work with the white wire shelving we used in our old house.  I know there are tons of systems out there, but we liked it for it's price as well as the option to reconfigure.  I actually reconfigured our old closet a couple times while living there to better utilize the space.  And, we completely redesigned the office closet into a nursery closet easily using the same rail system.

 
I had wanted to try the Pax system from Ikea, but all my designs either didn't fit our dimensions, or didn't maximize the space we did have, so I went back to the wire systems.  I knew I wanted to incorporate drawers (I like drawers way more than shelves - in all organizing situations), so I looked at The Container Store since I loved their wire drawers in Archer's closet above.  Anything was going to be a vast improvement over the one sagging clothes hanger/shelf situation that we started with. 


I inputted our dimensions and they're planning tool asked questions like was it a male or female, or combined closet, and then what types of doors.  Then it gives you a couple premade designs.  You can modify it a little like adding in more long hang space if you have more dresses (I do not), or shoe storage for example.  I had to be very cognizant of where the drawers were because of the bi-fold doors.  I needed them to line up with the openings to be able to open fully.  After some tweaking, I came up with this design.


Because everything is 2' wide, I knew I could switch the pants hanger and shoe drawers (the shoes lined up right where the bi-fold doors were so they wouldn't work in that location), I just wasn't able to change the design online to show this.  Because I made this while I was 8+ months pregnant I didn't want to drive to the nearest store and spend time designing with someone so I just bought this whole premade design and also some extra drawers and shoe drawers to switch out in our final design.

To prep the closet, Mike skim-coated the walls after removing the old shelf/hanger and to even out the texture, and installed the base trim before I painted everything.  I like to use semi-gloss in closets because it adds a little more forgiveness to all the bumps and scratches that happen when you're moving things in and out.


It was actually at this point that we realized that adding a light inside the closet would be really helpful.  Mike wakes and gets dressed while I'm still sleeping and usually uses a headlamp to get his clothes out of the closet so he doesn't wake me or Finn, who's still sharing our room.  That's love right there!  Having a light inside would mean he doesn't have to wander around our room with a silly headlamp and creates minimal disruption.  It was relatively easy because there's an attic above where Mike ran some wire to the new LED light and added a switch right out side the doors.  He installed it above the closet doors, so it kind of shines at (as opposed to down if it were mounted on the ceiling) the clothes.
   

The installation of the closet system was pretty easy, but I will say, Mike was not a fan of the "Easy Hang Standards" as their called.  Basically you screw in the top rail and then just hang those rails off of it, they don't get screwed to the wall.  Because they're not attached to the wall, they can swing and shift, even after adding all the components like shelves and rods.  Maybe once you add clothes and more weight they don't, but Mike didn't like that idea and drilled and attached them to the walls.  We later found out they make wall clips so you don't have to but for free we can just drill holes too.

I did go back to the store to return the extra drawers and things that I switched (like switching out a high heeled shoe rack for a regular shoe drawer) and grabbed some extras like shelf liners and a valet rod, because I'm fancy, ha!

We were able to install everything in an hour or so, and we can't wait to load it up with all of our stuff.  Mike keeps pushing to start putting everything in there now, but I know it'll be easier to paint all the trim without worrying about our clothes getting splattered.  Patience is neither one of our virtues!



This is our first time using a complete Elfa system and we had to make some modifications for personal preference, but I really like the system.  We also probably could have made it cheaper by utilizing different systems like we did in the old house (like the rails and hanging supports from Home Depot) and only purchasing the fancier items from The Container store (like the drawers and extras).  But, at 8 months pregnant I didn't have the brain capacity for that type of designing so it is what it is!

Because we were restricted by the doors, our design wasn't centered and after a lot of thought I decided to put the long hanger behind the left wall.  I don't wear dresses that often so it made more sense that way.
 

This left about 18" empty on the right side.  The online design tool only lets you design 104" wide, so I didn't have anything here.  Mike pointed out that we could extend the top hanging rod and gain a little more space, duh!  We had to go back to the store to get the extra pieces, and by a happy accident our laundry basket fits in that space on the bottom!


Next closet on the agenda is Archer's "big kid" room so I think I may suck it up and head up to the store to design it since they don't offer a premade kids closet.  I want lots of shelves and drawers so that the boys can grow up putting things in the proper place.  Hey, a mama can dream, right?!