Home Improvement: Shower

A few months ago, I got an IM of doom from Jason: "Something is wrong with the shower. It's leaking through the floor." Sigh. Eventually we figured out that some of the 26-year-old tiles were coming away from the wall, and water was getting behind them, running into the bathroom below. Luckily Jason figured this out almost immediately, so we didn't have any ceiling damage to deal with.

So, you know me. We could have just patched the tiles, and that probably would have fixed the problem; but that's not how I roll. New shower time!

Again: you know me. Why pay someone to do something you can do yourself? I think at this point Jason was groaning, but with all that "in sickness and in health, in demolition and renovation" stuff, he sort of had to go along. Before, the shower looked like your basic builder-grade installation from the 1980s.

Then it looked like this:

And finally:

(Yes there is a sock on the showerhead pipe.) At this point money was pried from my cold, stingy hands, and some guys showed up to finish the job. Overheard conversation:

Russian tile installer: I like these subway tiles.
Korean tile installer: Oh yes, American housewives, they love subway tiles.

Um, thanks?Drum roll....... the after:

At some point we will have to install a shower door, because the shower curtain gets sucked into the shower when the water's on. But right now we're just happy to have a working shower, and one that makes you feel like you're in a castle.

Upon seeing the final product, I said, "Wow, that shower is way too nice for this bathroom." (Remember, the rest of the bathroom looks like this.) If you give a mouse a cookie...