Our first attempt at remodeling the Master Bathroom of any house was this one. It went ok, but we had never worked with a general contractor before. We are really controlling and like to have our hands in at every step of the process, plus I was painting everything and felt like I was getting better deals on almost everything when I sourced it myself.
I was happy with the tile work they did, which was the bulk of the project. They tried to convince us to gut the entire place but we really liked the layout and we knew if we just updated the finishes it would make a big difference.
We painted the middle cabinets a dark color to ground the room since everything else is so light. We replaced all of the hinges, drawer pulls, countertops (it's silestone), sinks, faucets, and accessories.
I've always wanted a chandelier above the tub, and this is a capiz one. I wish it were bigger but we were afraid the ceiling couldn't support a bigger one. The only drawback is that I can't turn off all of the lights in the bathroom and leave this one on- that's my real dream. But it's ok because I don't take baths that often and when I do, I don't mind having the lights on so I can read.
The contractor suggested curved niches flanking the tub but I felt like with so many other hard angles, we needed to keep the theme and have the niches echo the window shape. We added the glass tile to the back because originally I wanted the whole area above the tub done in glass tile but they convinced me away from it because of the cost. I'm still not 100% convinced it was the right decision, but we can always go back and add tile later.
My helper model is back!
The mirror is only half the width of the counter now, so the room feels much more open. It's also frameless and mounted top and bottom so it's more secure.
We had a situation with another mirror idea where we special ordered some wire hanging brackets and had a heavy mirror affixed to a sheet of frosted glass. Then we had to sign all kinds of paperwork to have the liability taken off the mirror manufacturer so that we could hang it.
It cracked the very first night, and when we talked to the mirror people directly, they suggested the brackets we ended up with. I would have been fine with them from the beginning, but going through the contractor, we had her opinion to deal with as well.
Still no door on the toilet area, but we are planning to install a sliding barn door with a white frame and frosted glass insert. We are just on the lookout for the right door and the brushed nickel hardware. This is the only room in the house we used brushed nickel for all the fixtures and hardware.
We kept the shower the same size but opened up the wall with more glass. We kept the half wall so that we would have a place for the towel bar.
I love the stripe of glass tile we did. The floor tile is the same as the tile we used on the floor in the rest of the bathroom and around the tub, it's just in a smaller size. The wall tile is a little darker for contrast. We painted the walls neutral so it would feel open and simple but we could always darken them and get some real drama in this room. I'm already ready to repaint the center cabinets in a darker brown or an awesome dark teal.
Bean did all of the baseboards and door trim in this room as well as the Master Bedroom. Speaking of which... without further ado...
It has looked this way since we finished it way back in early 2014, save for a few minor decor changes. This is our summer quilt because it's 70 degrees here in January. We used our winter quilt for about a week but haven't felt like we needed it since then.
As part of my minimalist journey, I'm debating on whether we really need this huge mirror or not. Leaning toward not. I just got rid of 5 throw pillows that I bought for our bed that were always just piled up in the corner because even though I make the bed like this everyday (yes, with hospital corners), I never put the throw pillows on.
This is something I struggled with because I had some crazy belief that 'good' wives had throw pillows. Like I still believe that a 'good' wife always has homemade iced tea available for guests. Don't ask where I came up with these hairbrained ideas, because they definitely weren't explicitly taught! ha!
I don't care about throw pillows, and I like how simple it is without them. I'm not good at making homemade tea and until I think that it's very important to learn how, I will just continue to make sure I have a great drink fridge instead. And I actually enjoy organizing it and fronting everything, just to relive my glory days in retail.
I love the chandelier we put in, and of course the medallion. Bean struggled with this because he really prefers a ceiling fan in the bedrooms but I just think ceiling fans are so ugly. They are in all of the other bedrooms and we compromised by keeping the air a little lower in this area.
There's a perfect little space for artwork in between the bathroom doors.
I enjoyed the tediousness that came with installing frosted contact paper over each pane of the french door leading to the patio. It's simple, and nobody can see in!
Please note the woven shade and patterned curtain. It all started here, folks!
Also, please notice the very expensive chair and matching ottoman that I have used less than 10 times. It is not very comfortable, but it looks cute. I'd love to get rid of it but I also always fantasized about a reading nook in my bedroom. So I'm at a crossroads. Also the gray shade doesn't quite match the rest of the room. It's a little pink.
I framed some of our favorite vacation photos and hung them with a Banksy print called 'There Is Always Hope'. It struck a nerve with us during the time between the two kids in dealing with the miscarriages.
I love this easy print I made of our wedding date- super simple with giant stencils borrowed from a friend. It took 5 minutes. The other piece sat undone for a couple of years, and then was completed in less than 2 hours. Bean started the lettering and I cleaned it up (he was loving the extra swirls) and filled it in with marker.
Above the bed I was inspired by pinterest with the branches surrounding a mirror. This is a great example of the importance of being a can-do woman. I'd been pestering Bean to hang these up for several months- even before Francie was born. The project seemed so complicated- searching for a stud, what fasteners to use, etc.
I decided I needed to get these photos taken to share the room, so I went out to the garage, grabbed some small finish nails and my trusty hammer given to me my a great friend's dad when we graduated high school, and nailed those silly branches to the wall. Bean sure was surprised when he came home!
The funny part was his first question, "Did you glue those to the wall?!"
Seriously?! hahahaha
1 comments:
After trying our hand at a bathroom remodel, we gave up and hired a contractor. I know many people do like to save money and do much of it themselves, but we would have ended up spending more money fixing the things we did wrong. Thankfully, in our situations, we ended saving money by using a contractor.
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