Working in the Slate Mines

OK, so it's not as bad as mines, but it is slate. The small bathroom off the master bedroom was functional, but not in the best shape when we bought this house. The tub surround was in particularly poor condition, and looked as though it was two different colors patched together. Gerry (of plumbing hating fame) took out the old surround and repaired the damp-damaged wall behind it. It was a lot of work. Then he put up a new tub surround and everything looked clean and white...and wet...from behind the waterproof wallboard he just installed. We were not happy. After he damaged his hands ripping out the tub surround, calling in a plumber, and replacing the waterproof wallboard again, we decided to do it right and get just what we wanted, not a "get by." It took us at least two weeks of shopping to decide, and we went back and purchased the very first thing we loved.

Right now we're working on 4 X 4 tiles in the tub area. Gerry has already installed a new shower door and we'll tile up to it on one side, and put up beadboard wainscotting in the rest of the room. The 1960s era Spanish-looking tiles on the floor will be replaced with 6 X 6 slates tiles. To offset the darkness of the tumbled slate, the wainscotting will be a bright white, and the area above that will most likely be a pale sagey-green (although the wall color is subject to change).We spent the day yesterday working in the tub area, and have two of the three walls done. Today we'll do the wall with the plumbing, and then we'll seal the slate. I think we'll take a couple weeks to get up our courage to do the floor. After all, that will mean removing the toilet and vanity, which involves plumbing, and we all know how that goes!

This is what it looks like with two walls done. The white tiles you see to the left will be gone and replaced with the wainscot. The grout we have chosen is a tan/gray color that is perfect with the variations of the slate. Though we were worried about the darkness of the slate, I think keeping all white fixtures and white wainscot as a contrast will provide the lightness we need.

As you can see below, we tried to keep a random effect with the tiles, but lay them out a little in advance, so we didn't get clusters of any one shade. Gerry cut cardboard to the size of the wall, and I worked on layout. So did the dogs; Cosmo helped too when the dogs were tired.