This week Mike put up the shower walls and was going to install the shower plumbing fixtures when we discovered the shower fixtures we chose were a few inches too tall for the shower area. This set us back a little bit. But luckily Amazon Prime came to the rescue and everything came in the mail today and Mike will be finishing up the shower (hopefully) Friday. Then I can finish the wallpaper.

This week I made a lot of progress. I built the framing for around the fireplace, added hardiboard, skim coated, sanded, primed, sanded, and then applied Portola Paint’s Roman Clay in the color Piano Room. And sanded between those too. I hate sanding.



I did three coats to get this amazing soft clouds finish. Then I put hardieboard on the “hearth” so that I could tile it. This was such a pain because the hearth was 1/4″ plywood with steel framing underneath. In order to screw in the hardieboard I had to predrill all of the holes with a bit made for metal so that the hardieboard screws would sink in.




After I finished the fireplace I tiled and grouted the kitchen backsplash. I used an epoxy mortar that also doubled as grout for the penny tile. That leaves the trim/toe kick around the cabinets and swapping the lights for recessed lights left. And hanging the roman shade over the window by the kitchen sink.


We have a lot to accomplish to be ready for the reveal in one week.
Thank you to Better Homes and Gardens, the Official Media Partner of the One Room Challenge. A huge thank you to Linda Weinstein, the creator and director of the ORC. Click on over to the ORC blog page and see what the other challenge guest participants and featured designers are up to with their rooms.


Oh em gee…love the fireplace addition! Now I’m thinking….where could I add one to my basement. Old CuzinEd will truly have fire in his belly as he rolls down the road. It’s all looking so good!
? literally. That electric fireplace really makes it easy to add one in anywhere!
That fireplace adds such a cozy feel!!
Thanks Libbie!
I love what you are doing here. I need to start at the first post of your remodel to see what all you are doing. I really want to know more about the shower. I despise our shower surround in our 5th wheel.
Yes, the standard showers in rvs can be sooo cheesy. We pulled out our 34” new angle shower base, put in a standard 36” base we bought from Lowe’s then added this shower wall kit made by FlexStone that we ordered online from Home Depot. The kit came with everything needed to install and because it’s pvc it’s the perfect shower wall for rv’s (lightweight and flexible)…and it looks amazing.
*neo angle
I’ve read all your ORC posts now and I am blown away. You are doing an incredible job here. I hope you tell more about the products you used later. Any reason you got rid of the oven? Or is your microwave also a convection oven? I’d love to know more about the shower. What are these new wall panels made of? They look great.
The microwave is also a convection oven. We wanted to make the kitchen feel bigger and removing the bulky microwave over the cooktop was a huge part of that. We are going to install a streamlined vent over the new cooktop. We also installed a 2-burner cooktop instead of the 3 we had because we could never use the 3rd burner because of how small the area was. Feel free to email me if you have any question, would love to help! Jhambel@hambelsgetreal.com
Now that is impressive I LOVE the fireplace.I need to send my cousins to your site, they are planning on selling and living in a fifth wheel, this would really make it more homey.
Send them over!