Old House, New Home: Master Bath Reveal

It's finally done.

The bathroom we've waited for for 2 1/2 years.

We live in a different state than all of our extended family. Which means, when anyone comes to visit they are staying in our home. And with one [you read that right] bathroom, it just wasn't as "hospitable" around here as we would have hoped.

Throw in the fact that the current bathroom is pretty much caving in, but a remodel would mean showering at friends' houses and running to the nearest convenient store for a toilet... It was time for a master bath!

Boy did I have fun designing this room! It used to be our "cloffice" (Closet/Office) so we were literally starting with nothing! I loved dreaming up anything and everything, while working with the challenge of 2 fully windowed walls.

That's right. Windows in the bathroom. 90% of the reason I loved this house when we bought it was the huge, beautifully trimmed, original windows. And I just couldn't bear the thought of REMOVING any of them. So, we made it work!

Here are some pictures of the "cloffice" after clearing things out for our biggest Demo Day yet.

After taking out the floors and drywall behind the shower we had the plumbing roughed in, then started with the tile. I knew we wanted to do white hex floors because we have the original white hex in our existing bathroom and I wanted this one to fit the period of the rest of the house.

For the shower, I wanted to match the muted tones and compliment the antique white walls and greige trim that has become the color palate for the bedrooms. But, because of the size of the room I wanted it to have a little more dimension than the popular white subway. So, Carerra Marble Subway it was! [Also: Please check out the cherubs on that wallpaper. I resisted the urge to pull some off and from them.]

So, while this was going on in the bathroom, I was scouring Craigs List for a vanity...

Which I then painted navy, removed the top, rebuilt the supports, and had a countertop installed. (All while A was out of town. That's right. I mastered the Sawzall.)

Now, we had to paint and have the fixtures installed. I couldn't resist pairing some brushed gold (or champagne bronze, or 100 other names because every company is so creative) with that navy, despite the risk of looking a little "80's reno". WOW am I glad we made the choice to go with gold!!!

Next, we installed blinds, mirrors, and cut the drawers to fit around the plumbing. Originally I wanted mirrors that hung from the ceiling, but our sinks sit back on the vanity because of the lip at the front and we didn't want the mirror to block space over the sink. A ended up engineering a bracket system, and they turned out amazing!