bathroom finally prepped for tile; drywall finished--ready for primer

Dry-fitting the Kerdi

This took Polly about 4 hours to get all 18-20 pieces measured out and thumb-tacked up

Finished product.  We figured out how to tile the window--see notes below.

Bathtub taped off for tiling coming next.

Wall niche sealed up and waterproof.

Finished product--took about five hours to complete with two people.

So we finally got to placing the Kerdi on the walls of the bath-shower area.  We used about 2/3 of a 50# bag of thinset (Laticrete 317) and it took Polly and I nearly 4.5 hours (closer to 10 hours when you really figure in the prep of cutting and dry-fitting the Kerdi, actual set-up,  and final clean-up) to get it all on the walls.

Some notes:  

• Measure and cut the Kerdi first.  Never would we have gotten this done sanely without doing this. 

• I used a couple of tools--a small mason's pointed trowel to initially apply the thinset; a 1/4 X 3/16" V-notched trowel to remove excess thinset; a 8" drywall taper's knife, and a 6" plastic putty knife--both to smooth out the Kerdi and squeeze out the excess thinset and air pockets.  the metal taper's knife was useful to really get the Kerdi into the corners--holding it in there and then pulling at the surface away from the taper's knife with the plastic putty knife, thus creating a tight, and smooth corner.  Finally, a drywall "hawk"was helpful to hold the thinset on while I used the small trowel to apply it to the wall. 

• keep your tools and work-area clean--clean as you go.

• have patience with your spouse! ;]

Next up is tiling.  We are going to use 3"x6" Daltile mat-white finish subway tiles with a Carrera marble accent row.  The window will get a treatment of porcelain tile from the kitchen floor leftovers.  The window is not plum or really square, and the easiest thing to do seems to use 6 pieces of the 12"X24" floor tiles cut to fit the uneven opening and sill/top-plate.