The Guts

I am nearly 3 weeks into this renovation and things are really coming along. All of the electrical and plumbing work is nearly complete. All that is left to do is finish the bits and pieces of the exterior of the renovation. Sounds easy, we shall see.

In the meantime, here are the working photos of the guts of the renovations before the final gems are put into place.

Over the course of the renovation, we created a ton of garbage- Last bit of clean up crew tasks.

 BATHROOM UPDATE:

Ben testing out the newly installed bathroom fan- making sure the smoke was sucked out of the room. Testing it with a Belmont- he doesn't actually smoke. That is brotherly love :)

The Power Jet team on site installing all the new hardware for the shower stall. thanks Adam

I took the plunge ( mind the pun) and decided to go for the rain shower installation as I had planned. Set my back a few hundred, but totally worth it. Yes, Moen is the best company- Purchased from Hudson's Plumbing Company.

Adam hard at work cutting up pipes and installing the guts of the shower

Complex installation = No problem: one for temperature, one for pressure, one for direction of water to the straight shower head, the other for the RAIN SHOWER!

I know the rain shower is the luxury peice which will never be strong enough, for example, to get conditioner out of my hair, but will make the spa feeling come true!

I did not install pot lights anyway besides this one IN the shower. Check out this waterproof puppy! Now that is an excellent drywalling job!

 NOTE: Blue plastic pipe will be replaced with shower head!



Nearly completed shower stall, ready to be tiled! Check out the amazing feature of the rain shower coming out of the top drywall nearly 7 feet high above the potlight and of course the recessed shelf!


KITCHEN UPDATE:

Here is the compromise on taking out the wall to the kitchen- inside the door was widened at the top and framed into perfection- 8'5 ceilings and entrance.



Installed top cabinets of the corner of the kitchen!

 DEAL OF THE WEEK

Kitchen Sinks can range from 100 to 3,000. Today I was able to purchase this modern, square edge double sink at an amazing price. This beauty retails for over $1,000.00 at the location where I purchased it. I found a slight damage on the edge (which goes into the under mount) and got a great deal! Lemme know if you want more details :)




Overall, it takes alot of guts as a condo owner to really get to know the inside workings of your new home. Do you have the guts? :)

Shower time

I have decided to go for a modern shower stall in my new bathroom. I do not take baths so therefore I am not putting a tub into my condo. I am going for a spa like bathroom concept. Due to the fact that the bathroom has been completely gutted out, we ( my contractor and I) have decided to make a few cool changes to how the shower will look and feel. All on a dime :)

Tiles- Stone Tile. http://www.stone-tile.com/
Stone Tile is a high end place and the show room is killer. The sales staff are friendly (if you go with a designer or a contractor, they get slight discounts).

I will be doing something like this:

I am inspired by the grey tones and the unique placement of the rain shower form the ceiling

Love the glass doors. I purchase mine from Vinpow ( see contact info is earlier post)

I hope to have a rain shower that will come directly from the cieling instead of the wall.

I also will be doing a shower stall shelf. I hate having to buy those shampoo caddy things. They are so ugly and I have always enjoyed the look and practicality of the tiled in shelf look:

The difficulty with this part of the renovation is that we need to build a new waterproof base for the shower stall. This requires alot of labour. I am in the process of trying to figure out what membranene this project will require. The drain is also placed at the front of the shower stall and not at the middle:

This is what we will have to do, but the drain will be at the front

In Israel, the old school kibbutz hotels do not have a stall. The system in Israel is that there is no lip to the shower edge, the water goes all over the bathroom and then is squeegeed into the drain. I like this idea, but will include a lip around my shower stall so that the doors fit properly. This is interesting because it seems that the tile is directly on the concrete floor with no membrane:

This pic doesnt do it justice, but you get the idea

I have also been inspired by the Israeli water conservation efforts and have decided to go for a double flush toilet as seen below. I shopped around for different toilets because I did not understand the price points. The range from 129- 600 dollars. I was lucky again because costco was clearing these puppies out and I got a serious deal! Check out the Wilson location to see if they have any left in stock.

This perfect flush system is what all new buildings are using. I like it because it reminds me of Israel and it saves the planet, one flush at a time :)