One Room Challenge: Guest Bathroom, The Reveal!

For those of you who are new here – I’ve been documenting the process of remodeling our 1940’s Colonial home in coastal Connecticut into a space that’s modern, fresh and layered but still maintains its traditional roots. You can check out past week updates here: week oneweek twoweek threeweek fourweek five and week six.

Welcome to the final week of the One Room Challenge™, where we’ve spent the past six weeks completely renovating our guest bathroom from 80’s basic to a modern take on the old-school European hotel bath. This bathroom pairs with our guest room, so keeping a consistent thread from room to room was critical. To be completely honest, I wasn’t sure we’d complete this project in time because we bit off A LOT with this one (thank goodness for that extra week!).

During the course of this challenge, my husband and I took our bathroom down to the studs, laid new level subfloor, installed radiant in-floor heating, framed out the new tub, ran all new electrical and lighting, hung our first ceiling, installed cement board walls, installed our first tiled floor, completely tiled all four walls in the room, painted the ceiling and trimwork, grouted everything, hung crown moulding, installed all new lighting, installed the shower curtain track, and more. It was insanely busy and a very ambitious project for the two of us to tackle (plumbers handled all the pipes, rough in and fixture installation).

So, without further ado, let’s get on to the photos:

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And a quick reminder of how far this bathroom has come:

The tile is the star of the room. I knew that I wanted to use classic materials for the tiles, since they’re permanent fixtures that we never intend to change (and hope that buyers feel the same way if we ever choose to sell the house too). Starting with the floors, after a lot of debate, we opted for marble since it’s a nice upgrade and truly makes me happy. We also installed radiant coils, so these floors are nice and toasty (another upgrade). For the walls, I’m a huge fan of going big, so we used the basic subway tile that’s historically relevant to our home and applied to over all the walls. It was no doubt a lot more work but it completely elevates the space.

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The tub that previously was in this bathroom was extremely shallow and was really non-functional for baths. After spending a lot of time at the Kohler showroom, we narrowed our choice to the Underscore soaking tub, since it’s great for baths but also comfortable to step into for showers and looks awesome. Since we took down the wall that closed in this shower, I was adamant about using a tub that didn’t require us to put walls back up to keep the space feeling nice and open.

The faucets were finds at the Restoration Hardware outlet that perfectly merge the clean, modern lines I love, with the vintage details like knobs labeled ‘Hot’ and ‘Cold’ that elevate the space and create a more custom feel. The brass hardware helps to bring some warmth into the room, which contrasts nicely with the all white subway tile.

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The vanity was a last-minute decision when our first choice became out of stock and also allowed us to be opportunistic when we discovered we’d gained an extra few square feet of floor space. We swapped out the hardware for nice, heavy brass hardware from Rejuvenation that make this vanity look much more expensive and custom. I wasn’t sure how the stock marble countertop would look, since it can be hit or miss with pre-cut marble, but this countertop is actually a pretty gorgeous piece of stone with great movement and veining.

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I’m a huge fan of having a lot of light sources in every room, and I make sure that as many of them as possible are on dimmers for instant ambiance. In here we added some extra lights including the pair of pendants flanking the mirror, the recessed light in the shower and relocated the overhead light so it was centered on the doorway. The pendants were super budget-friendly scores we found at Homesense but were in a shiny chrome. A few coats of matte black spray paint later and they totally fit in. The overhead light was a last minute swap (literally at 11P last night), where this CB2 light replaced a vintage find that we had sprayed black, but featured four more globes, which competed for your attention with the pendants. Using a simpler, lower key flushmount allows your focus to land on the pendants.

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We added the crown moulding to keep the room cohesive with the rest of our house. It’s a nice traditional element that keeps this room from floating too far into the modern end of the spectrum. We gave all the trimwork a fresh coat of paint, including the windows and door, which went Onyx by Benjamin Moore for an instant dose of chic. We spray painted all the window hardware a matte black to blend in. I’ve been debating this paint treatment on the windows for a while now, and seeing it in this bathroom has cemented that I need to do it on our main floor too. The ceiling and trim are painted in Benjamin Moore Decorators White, as in the other spaces we’ve completed in this house.

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The shower curtain track was a DIY inspired by Kristin Jackson at The Hunted Interior, where we didn’t want to rush ourselves into a glassed in tub (which I don’t love for baths and is pretty pricy), until we’d tried out this budget-friendly solution. Apologies that the shower curtain looks a bit droopy – we ran out of ball chain and of course weren’t able to secure more in time. The rug is a vintage find from eBay, as is the lion’s head towel ring (which also matches the one in our main floor bathroom).

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All in all we definitely pushed ourselves to create a bathroom that we’re completely smitten with and made sure not to sacrifice the design or any details for the sake of completing this room on time. Taking a step back and looking at how this bathroom works hand in hand with the guest bedroom it accompanies, I couldn’t be happier with the shared elements (crown moulding, ceiling medallion paired with black light fixtures, brass accents and vintage details), but they also both definitely have their own personalities and identities, mainly represented in the use of all-over immersive walls in totally different materials and colours. In short, we’re smitten.

Sources:

Marble Hex Tile | Subway Tile | Grout | Bathtub | Vanity | Vanity Pulls | Mirror | Toilet | Faucet | Shower Head | Tub Spout and Control | Shower Curtain Track | Hand Towel | Flushmount Light | Ceiling Medallion

And don’t forget to check out all the other awesome reveals by other One Room Challenge participants here.

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Introducing: The Guest Bath

One of our bigger projects on the docket for this year is our upstairs guest bathroom. A major selling point for us when buying this house were the three full bathrooms, which most houses in our budget in our area were in the 1 bedroom to 1.5 bedroom range. We love having both a master ensuite and an extra bathroom upstairs, especially when we have guests in town. This bathroom will primarily be used for guests, but we know that when we eventually resell the house, it will likely become a primary bath for a family with kids. So we’re trying to be smart about how we create everyday storage solutions, while also creating an oasis for guests.

My biggest challenge with the bathroom currently is the layout, where it’s bigger than the main floor bathroom, but the layout actually forces us into a smaller vanity and a less efficient use of space. Let’s start with some before photos:

I can’t stand that your first view into the room is the toilet, and when the door is open, this is the first view you see coming up the stairs to the second floor. The toilet also isn’t centered between the duct and the wall, which drives me bonkers.

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While I can appreciate the value in a cast iron tub, this one is just so low and doesn’t make sense for using the tub as both a shower and bath.

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These institutional 1970’s radiators are all over the house and remind me of my middle school, and not in a good way. We’d love to replace the radiator with a charming vintage-looking one, but realistically, will likely create a new cover to go over this one to hide that ugliness.

UM5A0005.jpgWith the wall separating the shower on the right of the vanity, the vanity feels very tight and claustrophobic. We’re also trying to finagle a larger vanity into the space, but it might not be realistic.UM5A9998.jpg

Beautiful, amirite? Fortunately, there isn’t anything in here that wasn’t added during the early 1980’s renovation of this house, so I have zero guilt over taking it down to the studs.

And for reference, here’s a floorplan of the current space, where the entire bathroom is about 60 square feet.

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We don’t know exactly how the plumbing is set up behind the walls, so in the event that we demo the room, see that a new floorplan is workable, this is the dream plan. But, given that this is a guest bathroom, where we don’t want to over-invest, it’s going to come down to the numbers as to whether we stay with the current floorplan (above) or shift to the much more efficient plan below (including my notes for things to keep in mind).

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We’re going to be taking down the drywall around the duct right in the middle of that back wall, since it isn’t level on either side, so hopefully we’ll be able to squeeze some more space out of it.

Assuming we stay with the current floorplan, the plan would be:

  • Replace the tub with a drop-in tub with a tile surround
  • Remove the wall between the vanity and the tub and install a glass wall to create lightness and open up the space
  • Replace the vanity with a lighter, freestanding option with a smaller sink but larger countertop space
  • Build shelves over the nook above the toilet for towel and toilet paper storage
  • Replace the toilet with a much prettier, newer model
  • Tile all the walls in subway tile
  • Install in-floor radiant heating
  • Replace or mask the eyesore of a radiator

Not too much, right?

And to leave you with some idea of some of the elements we’ll be introducing into the space (for more of the inspiration, check out this post):

We’re doing a similar drop in tub + glass + tile combination to this:

Black trim + a venetian mirror as in this one:

A pretty freestanding vanity, maybe in a fun, rich color:

Inspiration for the guest bath

We have planned since day one to gut both of the bathrooms upstairs and we have finally reached the kick-off for the first one: our guest bath. This bathroom boasts a slightly awkward layout, lackluster 80’s tile and a very institutional radiator, lovely.

We are planning on demolition in July, so this project is sneaking up on us fast. While we’ve been busy working on a design plan, creating a budget and sourcing, I wanted to share some of the design inspiration for the space.

Since this isn’t the master bathroom, we’re trying to be contentious about using materials that will be consistent with the master, but being cost conscious at the same time about where we’re splurging and where we’re saving.

Another thing of note, I know not everyone agrees with me on this, but I’m pretty adamant about using materials that would have been available and common when our house was constructed in 1940 – so that’s ceramic, marble and wood, for the most part. Cement tiles are beautiful, but don’t make sense given that we live in the Northeast in a house that’s 80 years old. I don’t want to fight the bones of the house either, so this should feel traditional with a modern, coastal twist.

We’re going to be tiling all the walls from floor to ceiling in subway tile, because while it’s totally ubiquitous, it’s also 100% authentic to the era in which our house was built. And it’s cheap. Not only are we putting it on the walls, we’re also planning on tiling around a drop-in tub, to really take it to the next level.

bathroom-black-and-white-tiles-industrial-20151207165622-q75,dx1920y-u1r1g0,c--.jpgKali Cavanagh in Domaine

And a version with a subtler grout (the direction we’re heading in).

JHID_Neely0127_F2.jpgJessica Helgerson in Architectural Digest

I can’t shake the idea of hanging a Venetian Mirror over the subway tile. I know it’s impractical to not have a medicine cabinet, but I’m hoping we can figure out some sort of storage solution.

main.original.640x0c.jpgChristine Dovey

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Perhaps to compensate for the medicine cabinet, we might add some glass shelving above the faucet.

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One Kings Lane

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Domaine

Another frequent debate is over the flooring. We originally wanted to do a marble tile, then were lured by the ceramic herringbone that was 1/6th the price, but at the end of the day, I think we’re likely to land up in the carrera marble family in a small hex or basketweave tile pattern.

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Lexi Westergard

Since we’re doing a fully built in tub, I want the vanity to be free-standing (but with lots of storage space) to break up all that subway tile. Though, let’s be real, it will probably not be green, and ours has to be pretty narrow.

Casework

And lastly, I can’t shake the idea of a honed black marble countertop. I haven’t had much luck in sourcing it, so I don’t yet know if it’s within the budget, but seriously, is there anything more chic that honed black marble? No, the answer is no.

Enjoy company

Wish us luck! I’ll dive into the moodboard and a more concrete plan in upcoming posts.