Day Dreaming Our Bathroom

Pinterest is dangerous, isn't it? It gives you so much inspiration for things you want to do. Our master bathroom is a disaster zone. It's the dirty little secret of our home and I don't think more than four people have ever seen it. I won't even share a picture (yet at least).. but let me try to explain it: vinyl floors so old and used they look dirty even when clean. Unpainted walls that have a layer of popcorn ceiling still on them from when we had our ceilings scraped (unfortunately they will most likely need to be sanded before painting). Trim around the floor that will definitely need to be replaced. It's just... gross. The vanity top and our shower has that old plastic faux-marble.

It's bad.. really bad.

Ever since we moved in I've played out in my head exactly what I'm going to do to fix it up. With this year ending, I've vowed to myself that 2012 will be the year that I will make it happen. Here are my inspiration pictures that I have been saving from Pinterest:

This is a very similar layout to our tub/shower. I'd love to have subway tile in the shower and seamless glass.


Subway tile like this... a very light gray grout.


Glossy gray trim and window treatments like this:


And my inspiration board:

(none of the items are actually sourced.. just examples of what I'd like)

I'm a firm believer in not over-renovating for your home/area. I've watched too many "My First Sale" shows where people spend tons of money on renovations and never get any of it back. I'd like to do things somewhat budget friendly. Here is a list of what I'm thinking:

- Replace vanity countertop with granite but keep current vanity.
- Replace current shower with subway tile, a new plain floor (like this) and seamless glass
- Simple ceramic floors
- New Paint (depending on budget I may do this)

I'm curious - has anyone done a similar renovation in their bathroom? I'm curious to what it would cost. I have a number in my head but would love to get some input!

It's quite comical I have it all planned out and I have no idea when it will actually happen. But what can I say.. I'm a planner!

What about you guys, do you have plans for your house but are not sure when you can put them into action?

And for my next project....

Can you believe it's August ?!?!?! Damn! Time flies....

This month my MIL and DIY-partner-in-crime is coming to visit and I'm planning another project for us. I haven't quite broken the news to her just yet, but I'm hoping she's down ;)

It won't be as crazy as tiling, though (hopefully). I'm sick of looking at the un-touched guest bathroom (it's usually what I use while working at home). Here it is in it's current state:



LUCKILY the walls were faux finished instead of wallpapered... phew.

On the TO DO list:

+ Repaint Walls & Vanity

I am pretty sure I'm going to go with a striped wall in the guest bath like this:



This will be the "hardest" task for MIL and me.

+ Lengthen white shower curtain with fabric trim, like so:



I'm not using the Fortuny fabric anymore (ha!); I just placed an order for this super inexpensive indoor/outdoor Premier Prints fabric:



+ New Pulls

A while ago I had these knobs laying around and I added them to the guest bathroom:



They are glass and and I love the little fun detail! To "match" I will be getting these pulls for the vanity:



+ New Mirror & Light

I haven't completely made up my mind on these yet. But this is only $48.. good deal:



The tile will come later.. I'm pretty sure I will hire someone to do the two upstairs bathrooms because I don't want to deal with subflooring and the carpet!

This month's stage of the update will be pretty inexpensive.. my current budget breakout:

Paint - $50?
New Hardware - $30
Fabric for Shower Curtain - $30
New Light - $50 (one above?)
New Mirror - $100 (??)

Powder Room Plan

I know I haven't yet finished the Master Bedroom, but I've "started" another new project in my home. Don't worry the bedroom is ALMOST done. I just need to get the settee reupholstered and the dresser painted.. and then I will be able to put it all together. Yayyy!

Remember the lucite chairs (how could you forget??) Well, even though it pained me so, I did sell them. Before you disown me, let me explain. We are in DIRE need of updating our powder room. It's embarrassing guys. If you need a refresher, here is what it currently looks like:



1990's-era hunter green wallpaper with a floral border is bad enough.. but then add popcorn ceiling dust and ceiling paint and it goes from bad to terrible.

Selling the lucite chairs was a blessing.. now I can finally update this bathroom and stop apologizing for it when guests need to use the restroom.

I've written about the powder room before here. I've known for a while I've wanted to paper the room in grasscloth. I decided on this grasscloth sample I ordered:



I recently saw that this mirror from Wisteria is majorly on sale. (Good news - it still is!!).




I placed the order and it's been sitting my in my dining room waiting to be hung. It's so pretty with the grasscloth.. love it.



And here is the board I created for the room:



I do have good news for you guys though - I sold the chairs to a friend of mine! She is going to have them recovered in a fun laminated fabric and promised me I could share the before and afters on the blog. Yay!

Bathroom Rules

I think a bathroom should be three things:

1. Calm
2. Clean
3. Clutter-free

And yes, they all start with the letter "c", which was completely unintentional.

When it comes to what to decorating a bathroom, I have three rules:

1. Scale down and put only what you absolutely need in your bathroom. (And I'm mostly talking about products).
2. While furniture steals the show in the rest of your home, hardware and lighting steal the show in the bathroom.
3. There are some great exceptions to this last rule, but typically I like to keep bathrooms neutral and/or monochromatic.

Here are a couple bathroom design/accessory boards I recently have done...





And because we are on the topic of bathrooms, here are some of my favorites :)

Bathroom Inspiration

I can't believe in two weeks and a couple days we'll be closing on our first home!

I've had this bathroom saved in my folder forever and it's become the inspiration for our master bathroom which already has beadboard installed.



We don't have an antique tub, but I do plan on painting the vanity black.

Want to see the current state (previous owners)?




The first thing to go in the house is the popcorn ceilings. We're having them removed before we move in.

Renovations will be slow and done by us.. paint first and then things like flooring later down the road. But I do have dreams of marble tile like in the inspiration image. Key word - dreams.

Here are some great marble deals if any of you out there are making dreams become reality:

Hexagon (like above) - $10.95

Herringbone - $10.95

Or a less expensive alternative, white penny tile: