Durocking On

On Monday I got the news.  Gary didn’t want to ruin my weekend.  The tile guy would not be starting on Tuesday, because his wife surprised him with a two week trip to Mexico – leaving Tuesday.

We simply couldn’t wait, so we decided to conduct a cultural exchange.  We found a replacement tile guy from Mexico.

We didn’t really plan it that way, but it’s the way it worked out.  We asked everyone for the name of their tile guy. We called a dozen or so tile guys and the one that came highly recommended by Gary Luke (The Town Carpenter), was able to start on Wednesday.  Rock on!

More specifically, Durock on!

And by Friday evening, tile on:

The upstairs laundry room is tiled and awaiting grout.

The rest of the bathrooms and laundry/mud room have the tile stacked up and are ready to go.

The tile guys had to uncrate the tub in order to move it around and complete the Durock.  I was so excited to walk in and see the tub almost in its position, the bead board up and the frames for the mirrors completed.

We mimicked the window casing for the mirrors, making little grooves for the mirror to slide into and leaving one side loose.

I like the way it looks, but I’m afraid I’ll scare myself to death padding into the bathroom in the mornings.  I’ll look up and think some wild haired creature with sheet prints on her face is peering in the window at me.  Good thing I don’t sleep with a mud mask on.

And speaking of mud, Garcia the tile guy mudded the floors of the shower stalls,

and put down the shower pan, filled it with water, and is awaiting the inspection on Monday.  Let’s hope the beagle doesn’t drink any more water out of it.

It’s kind of like having an indoor swimming pool.

Some of the tile selections took a lot of work.  In this bathroom, we started with a great vanity in a dark grayish/taupe or taupish/grey that has a travertine top.  We struggled with a floor and shower tile.  Then Builder Gary remembered that he had some travertine floor tile left over from another job.  Armed with that, I finally decided to keep the shower simple and classic with bone tile with a taupe accent and a mosaic floor.

Meanwhile, back outside the brick masons have been working away on the retaining walls.

I actually like the rough smeary looking stucco better than the final product:

Truth be told, I like the grey thin set (to the left below) more than the stucco.  Maybe I should’ve gone a little darker or grayer.

I’m not too concerned, though.  The goal is to have it covered in vines like this wall that has a very similar color:

Maybe we’ll even venture an espaliered fig tree like this:

Now that would be something!

In the meantime, it just looks too clean and almost sterile:

Up close it does have some variation and character, but you can’t see it from a distance.

I suppose all of the cool old crumbly walls that have so much character didn’t start out that way.  Time will have its way with these walls, and I’m sure they’ll be mottled and vine covered and wonderful before we know it.