The bathroom remodel continues (and will conclude) this week. This weekend we took time to do any easy but important step to getting the bathroom done, and that was to add the transition strip between our hardwood floors and the tile in the bathroom. Initially, when we had the floors installed, the company put in a transition piece that went from the floors to the laminate, but when we added the tile, that strip no longer worked because the tile sat much higher than the laminate. At first, we hemmed and hawed over if we should cut out the old one, but in the end, we decided that would make it look the best. So, here’s what we did.
After tiling the bathroom, we were left with a large section of grout because of the spacing between the tile and hardwood, that looked like this:
I know, it’s not pretty. Knowing we were going to cover this up meant I didn’t carefully grout here, so it’s uneven and just plain bad. Adding the threshold was actually pretty easy though. We went to our local Home Depot and picked up an oak floor strip that had a very small elevation, since the floors were pretty even to each other. Then it was a matter of measuring and cutting it to fit.
Once that was done, it was the tedious process of sanding it lightly with 220 grit sandpaper, then applying two coats of stain. We used the same stain and color that was used on our floors, Minwax “golden pecan” wood finish, followed by two coats of Mixwax’s polyurethane.
After letting it dry 24 hours, next was to make sure that the strip would fit in the doorway. I had measured the length, but still had to notch out a small section of the door frame so the strip would slide in easily. I could have cut it shorter and left the frame in tact, but we already had notched a small section of the door frame when we were laying the tile. It was the only way to get a stubborn piece of tile to fit. First I took a coping saw and cut around the frame, but two things happened. One, I couldn’t cut it all out, and two, I started cutting into the frame. So then I got out my handy-dandy Dremel tool that my father got for me way back when I first moved out on my own. I bet he thought I never used it, so here I am to prove him wrong.
(Ignore the fact the frame started to separate, that will be fixed and painted). Once that was notched and ready to go, I easily slid the new strip into place, and using a friend’s nail gun, secured it into place with 6 small finish nails. So, let’s see that before/after money shot, shall we:
BEFORE:
AFTER:
Much better, and really it gives it a more natural and clean look. I’m glad I installed it under the door frame because I was able to hide most of the nails down there. I did have to put two nails in the center of the strip, but unless you look really hard, you won’t see them. I should also mention that I did have cut down the door about 3/4″ to get it to close, but we’re installing a new door this week, so I wasn’t overly concerned with it. With the bathroom almost done, let’s take a look at the original checklist and see what’s left:
replace the light fixturepaint the ceiling and wallsinstall triminstall the toiletinstall the sink and new faucetreplace the outlet with a gfi switched outletstain and install the new threshold- hang a new door
About Matt and MC
We just recently bought our first home, and we decided to share our story of our adventures with you. The ups and downs of home ownership, and all the fun we'll have in between. Ignore the typos and just have fun, that's what we're here for. 
