Nautilus inspired bathroom (photo heavy)

[Joeynana]

I had this fantastic idea that I would get some Tasmanian oak bullnose and just tidy it up.



...and with a piece of perfectly cut blank of tassie oak down the middle... And viola, a perfect solution, if it was any other room in the house, but this is a submarine and I just wasn't happy. 



My wife loved the look of it so much to my wife's chagrin I decided to change tact.

[r_is_for_rachel]

ooh, this is fascinating! and is making me jealous as my bathroom needs to sorted out (we have 2 baths sitting in our bathroom- the horrid avocado green one which works and the gorgeous copper bateau bath which is sittting next to it!!)

[Joeynana]

While pulling my hair out, the kind people over at nautilussubmarine.com gave me an idea.  I used a rough interpretation of a similar area found in the nautilus and with a bit of added creative flair and... Well I'll let the photos tell the rest of the story.





So with a little bit of reluctant help from my wife the MDF was ruled up and cut out by myself.



Now it's starting to take shape.

[Joeynana]

Now things are really starting to take shape.





The circles in the cut out areas are where the rivets will go.

[Joeynana]

Then the bullnose re-applied (it faces away from the end of the wall, which is not typical in any other area in our house, but it gives the look I'm after) and then all I need to do is drill, add the rivets, sand, tidy up the gaps, undercoat and paint and then I'm done.

[link4044]

wow that is so awesome.........need to ask the wife if i could do this to ours 

[bicyclebuilder]

wow that is so awesome.........need to ask the wife if i could do this to ours 

My wife informed me before I eaven asked. The answer is No.
Ah well, I've got a son on the way. Perhaps I can brainwash him into Steampunk. 
I've got a 1 1/2 year old daughter but she's all into pink and princesses. 

[crookedfingers]

An idea for the flushing fish tanks, perhaps instead of having reall fish someone who knows what they're doing could make false jellyfish out of a flexible, silicon-like material. If they are wieghted properly they would move in the water currents every time its flushed and the fronds could look quite naturalistic.

Loving the bathroon so far, keep up the good work!

[MechanicalMouse]

An absolutely amazing project. I'll show this to the wife and see what she thinks. Our bathroom is in need of a lot of work.

[Joeynana]

I had a little time after work today and before I had to pick up my son from Preschool.  I did a little more work on the "jutty outie bit"

[SeVeNeVeS]

Ive personally been collecting a few "shippy" bits and bobs, as and when the budget allows, to do a themed room. Your bathroom, sir, is possibly the best project I have seen to date. I too thought about my bathroom, being more "nautical" than Nautilus. What I had initially planned is nothing compared to this......truely inspiring stuff!!!

Please keep us posted on any updates.

~SeVeN~

[Joeynana]

Thanks Seven.  I have found a few themed rooms on the Internet but what they lacked were "how to" or "WIP" pictures.  I know my attempt at showing you guys here is not perfect, however for the most part (and along with my input if anyone has questions) you should be able to get a good idea of what to do if you decide to tackle your own project like this.

[Orcon Windar]

This bathroom is amazing. Simply amazing.

[Joeynana]

Thanks everyone for all of your kind words.

R-is for-Rachel.  I hope you get your bathroom sorted.  Having a copper bateau is such an appealing idea, here in Australia though, coming across something like that is rare to say the least and would come at great cost to own.  Thankfully though our bathroom only has a shower to deal with.

[Clym Angus]

You sir, are a jigsaw god. The voodoo you can do with that reciprocating saw. Blindingly good work.

It's kind of hitting that really cool point in the project, the part where you can almost feel how good its going to be. I hate the first part of "big builds" like this. You know; standing there with planks, plans and a gutted room. It's so much more fun once you've broken the back of it. Still stuff to do but from the looks of things more is done than not.

Keep up the sterling work!

[Joeynana]

Clym,

         I only have a couple of small things to finish off now (although I'm sure it will be constantly evolving) before the rest will need to be done by professionals (epoxy floor, the shower walls which instead of tiles will be sheets of glass etc etc) all of that will take time too.  The floor guys can't come for about three months for example.

However the one thing that's gonna be a killer in this project, is that while the bathroom is useless as far as showering is concerned, it's a high traffic area for the loo.  To finish this off I'm now at the point where I need to pull up the tiles around, and remove the toilet.  I'm still working my way up to it, it's going to be a long walk to the other one if I have to get up for a 3am piddle after a few night caps if you know what I mean.

[Joeynana]

The toilet area of the bathroom has been very neglected, so today I decided that I'll make a sign so that everyone knows this bathroom belongs to my son.  It starts with a very simple piece of 3mm MDF, drawn and cut by hand (the imperfections will give it a sense of whimsy... I hope)

[Joeynana]

Then it was onto the frieze style handle.



This too was drawn by hand.

[Joeynana]

This was then replicated as a mirror on the other side.  Then the sign itself was measured and cut.  To replicate the other side I just simply traced around the first one.



This is a rough idea as to where it may sit. I was going to put it up high and then about two feet out from the wall but my wife (the cleaner) said "no way Jose" so it'll be installed flush against the wall.

[Joeynana]

The sign will read "CAPTAIN"

[Joeynana]

Anyone using Tapatalk to view this thread will notice you can't see the pictures.  I assure you they're there, if you go to the BrassGoggles website they do load.  I have forwarded a message onto Photobucket in regards to this issue, however I'm thinking this may be a Tapatalk thing (it seems a little buggy sometimes).

[Joeynana]

...and then some holes cut out to give it a nautical look.

[Joeynana]

Near the start of this thread Musist asked what I was using for rivets.  Casting them in resin is the cheapest way to go, but there is an art to it, also it takes time, can be messy and on top of all of that you need to either make or find something to cast them in.  To avoid all of those issues I used pine "cover buttons".  They are designed to be fit into a countersunk hole covering the screw head in furniture making. THEY ARE NOT CHEAP.  Generally one would only buy 10-20 of them, in my case boxes, literally hundreds of them.  They range from about 40-50 cents individually in a hardware store (depending on size) and are a little cheaper by the box, you can also pick them up much cheaper on-line, however there is usually a minimum purchase.  Following is a couple of pictures of the buttons themselves and the technique I used to put them in.

[Joeynana]

[Joeynana]

These are the typical size cover buttons I've used, the 16mm (larger) is what has been used on the walls.  The 16mm dictates the size of the base, thus the size of the hole to drill to set them into.



And the tools.