The end is in sight!

Wow, where to start. It has been a very productive though tiring week. I really have to hand it to people who do this type of work as a full time job.
Wednesday afternoon I headed to Lowe's and thanks with the help of Marcel and his truck, I bought the proper backer board needed to build up the shower walls. I used a product called DensShield made by GP. It has a built in moisture barrier and is pretty cool. Thursday I installed the two shower walls that didn't involve cutting holes for the piping. Friday, I thought would be a quick and easy job. I would remove the shower handle and tub spout, cut the proper holes in the DensShield and hang it. Well, things didn't quite go to plan. The toughest part wound up being removing the spout. The original spout was a cheap, builders grade one, and the female end of the pipe was glued into the spout. While using my plumbers wrench, the glue gave out, causing the spout to spin round and round, but not come off. I wound up breaking apart the crome plated plastic spout bit by bit, until I could get to the pipe fitting and remove it.
Saturday I attended a HD tiling class...I didn't really learn anything I hadn't already read, but it was useful to see them in action and get to try it out. I returned home and went to work cutting the backer board for the flooring...Geoffrey arrived home shortly and was quite amused and started snapping away.

Cutting a hole for the toilet flange.

The DensShield was installed on top of the first layer of ply-wood subflooring. Between the plywood and DensShield, a layer of mortar was spread to add additional strength. In this picture the floor has not been mortared in place yet.
All of the joints beween the different boards had to be sealed with mortar (not joint compoud) and then embedded with 2" teflon tape. Those walls shouldn't be going anwhere!
After heading to early mass and enjoying a breakfast of Dunkin Donuts, it was back to work. I pried all of the glue away from the baseboard, where the old tile used to be, filled in a large "L" with joint compond next where the old vanity was actually inserted into the wall and then got started tiling! I am using 12" tiles, in Elgon Grey. I liked the tiles (and the price) in the box and LOVE how they look on the wall. The picture just doesn't quite do it justice! I can't wait to finish, paint and get the bathroom back in working order.
Getting closer. Unfortunately I ran out of mortar prior to laying the final row of tile on the 2nd shower wall. It was late in the afternoon and I had no desire to make another run to Home Depot. Tomorrow I'll pick up another batch of pre-mixed mortar (so worth the added cost) and will hopefully finish off the shower walls. Once that is done, I'll paint, install the floor. install a new toilet, new vanity, install baseboards, caulk, seal the grout and call it done. My goal is to have a fully functioning bathroom by the end of March...and I think I'm right on track. That being said, I'm going to go and enjoy a nice glass of wine (or two), grab some dinner and curl up on the couch with the pugs. Geoffrey is out of town this week, so its the perfect opportunity to finish up the bulk of my work.