Bob Vila & Our Master Bath

Something exciting happened this week.  And it's not just the fact that I decided that I'm never too young (or too proud) to start filling in my eyebrows to make them look fabulous.

No, the exciting thing I am referring to is that Kathleen, an editor from BobVila.com, emailed me earlier in the week wanting more information about our Master Bath renovation.  She really liked what we did and wanted to interview me about it in order to feature it on the website.

I was surprised and thrilled to get her email, and happy to do it.

To see the article click here. 

Grab me a Q-tip, I got thankfulness comin' out ma ears!

Thanks Kathleen for the feature, thanks Bob for the website, and thanks to all of you wonderful readers for reading, commenting, pinning and following along.  I love keeping you all up to date on what we are doing around this little house-o-ours.

Side note: Does anyone else think of Tim the Tool Man Taylor's constant rivalry with Bob Vila, any time you hear his name mentioned... or is it just me?   #childofthe90s

For more posts on our bathroom renovation click here, here or here for the complete before and after. 

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Complete Bathroom Before & After

Hey guys! I promised you all a couple weeks ago that I would be back with a post about the full bathroom renovation.  Today is that day.  Let's get started shall we?

One thing I don't think I have ever really showed you guys is what the bathroom looked like to begin with. 

Pretty nice, eh? Sponge-y floor, peel away tile, and a whole lot of laminate. 

There certainly was work to be done.

Not only did we gut the bathroom down to the studs, we also rearranged the layout. 

 We closed off the door from the hallway and created the entry into the bathroom from the new master bedroom (to see all our house's layout changes see this post) - creating a new master suite.  We also removed the closets in the bathroom and bedroom which gained us a large enough space to fit a good sized shower and tub.

 With all the extra space we got, we were really excited to fit a double vanity into our bathroom. 

 

It's 72 inches long and great.  I wish I would have thought a little bit more about how I wanted drawers of the vanity set up, but we have made it work for our needs.  I probably would have done a large drawer and then two smaller ones instead of the two larger ones.  Oh well! Live -renovate- and learn!

 There is one thing that we decided to do with our vanity that is my favorite! F-A-V-O-R-I-T-E!

 

Here it is, ladies and gentlemen.. 

We had our electrician put an outlet inside the bottom part of our center vanity cabinet.  That way we made ourselves a little electric toothbrush charging station.  It's freaking awesome!

I always kind of hated leaving our tooth brushes out on the vanity to charge.  And now we get to keep our toothbrushes safe from any particulates that may be flying around the bathroom... you know what I'm talkin' about.  

Yep.  Best. Decision. Ever. 

We debated a lot about the size of our shower but finally decided on a 4'x3' shower and it is perfect. 

My brother-in-law did the tile work for the shower as well as the floor for us and we think he did an awesome job! Super thankful for all his hard work and time.

The floor tile is something that was inspired by a home we saw when we were house hunting.  I love the feel of it.  It is kind of a playful, yet classic.  I think the basket weave pattern fits in well with having a clawfoot tub.  

When considering the layout for our bathroom we discussed a couple options.  One with a linen closet, one without.  Ultimately, we decided on the layout that felt more open - but it was the one without a linen closet.  I did have a couple of remedies for that linen closet problem.  

So, as you know, Michael and I built some floating shelves several weeks ago.  They turned out great and have really helped beautify the bathroom as well as store things like cotton balls, towels, toilet paper, etc.

Baskets were from Hobby Lobby and so are the little chalkboard plaques that I attached to them.  Genius find by my girl Kelly. 

The Psalm plaque is something I painted years ago and has found it's way into every bathroom we've had since we got married.

And the second part of my idea for storage outside a linen closet...

See what we did there, behind the tub? I had Saint Steve build out an area with the beadboard to bring the tub out more flush with the shower.  But I didn't want this bump out to be just a hollow box.  So I had him create a lid that I could open and have access to the inside of the bumpout.   We've always called it the bumpout but really I think, more accurately it should be described as a built in storage chest.

It's where we store assorted towels, extra toiletries, extra toilet paper, etc.. Stuff we don't need quite as frequently.

The only thing left to do is add art!  I have a waterlily painting by my Great Great Aunt Betty Jean and I love the idea of it hanging in here.  It is a nod to having our home on the river and it reminds me of her.  I think I'd be interested in re-framing it, probably with a thick wooden frame.

I am also thinking it may be kind of nice to add a simple roman shade in a fresh pattern on the window.  Someday, I'll get inspired by some fabric and I'll get that done.  But for now, this room is feeling refreshingly finished! Ahhh, now, all I need to do is fire up that bathtub and take a nice long soak!

But first..

Who wants to see a side by side comparison between the old bathroom and the new bathroom?.. I thought you might!

Source List:

Vanity: Leatherman Supply
Faucet and Fixtures: Delta Cassidy Collection bought through Amazon
Floor Tile: Metro Basket Weave Tile in Black and White from Home Depot
Subway Tile: Daltile 3x6 white tile Home Depot
Clawfoot Tub: Craigslist
Towel Bars: Gatco Designer II series from Lowes
Mirrors: Gatco Tilting Mirrors from Lowes
Vanity Lights: Wall Mount Sconce bought from Amazon
Towels: Kohls 
Bath Rugs: Target
Paint Color: Benjamin Moore, Quiet Moments

That's that!  Its exciting to have another room on the "mostly done" list.  And by "mostly done,"  I mean, it's actually painted.  :-)  To see our other finished rooms click on the corresponding links: kitchen, dining room, living room.

Linked to: Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop, Funday Monday,Week's End - Oak+Oats, Merry Monday Linky Party, Before and After Party,

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Building Our Own Floating Shelves! It's Easy!

When we got back from Alaska, I was itchin' to get my hands in a project.  So we considered a couple of painting project, but realized that both of us would have a full 3 days to work on things together thanks to the Labor Day weekend. 

So we decided to tackle a project that I have had on my radar for a while.

The bathroom tub nook.

I love the tub and the storage that we built out behind it with beadboard. But the space above was feeling a bit empty.

The plan?  Build three floating shelves wall to wall.

Guys.  These are SO easy! You can do this! You barely even have to have any power tools! And Bam! You got your selves some built in shelves!

Let me show you how its done.  Or I guess, Michael will show you, I will tell you. 

The shelving DNA:

We went with select pine wood to make up the shelf and the face pieces.  It's a good choice for wood that we were just planning on painting.  But since we didn't have to worry about the cleats of the shelf being pretty, we went with the less expensive whitewood. 

Michael measured and marked all the boards according to the wall measurement. 

After Michael cut all the pieces to size.  I sanded them down.  I got really good at that job about a year ago when we were putting up the trim in the whole house.  Really all I needed to do was make sure the boards were smooth and then knock off the corners. 

See how the board on the left has sharp edges and the board on the right has more rounded edges?  I did that.

I just work the power sander down each edge- actually just the edges that will be exposed, you don't need to do that to the edges that will be against a wall or another piece of wood. 

Once everything was sanded, it was time to space everything out on the wall.  We measured the distance from the top of the chair rail to the ceiling - spacing them out evenly.   Note: We did allow for a little bit extra space for the top because Michael had to be able to fit his drill up there to secure the shelf to the cleat.  You'll see what I mean in a minute. 

Find you studs, level, and screw the cleat into the wall. 

The side cleats were not long enough to reach another stud so we used several nails to secure those.  Should we have used drywall anchors and screws?  Probably.  But we felt pretty confident that the nails secured it well enough. I trust my engineer! ;-)

For every nail, we also had to use a nail set to drive the nail head back deeper into the wood so that later we could fill those holes with wood filler and make them disappear forever.  - A very important step!

Once the cleats are secured to the wall, you can add the shelf on top.  We screwed the shelf to the cleats.  This is where Michael's forethought saved us from a BIG headache! Remember when I told you to make sure that you leave enough space to get your drill in there?  Phew! Plenty of space!

Then we hammered the face plates on to give the shelves more substancialness.  Fact.  Substancialness is a word.  Look it up.  Actually, maybe don't look it up. 

Then all you gotta do is fill the holes, sand, caulk, prime and paint! And don't forget to look fabulous while you are doing it! Exhibit A:

For more details on how we paint our trim and get a finish we can be proud of, check out this post I wrote last year that explains it all.

So without further ado, shelves!! 

So what do you think?  All it took was $92 and two days (including the priming and painting).  Do you think you could do it?  I KNOW you can!

Also, we finally decided on a new paint color for our bathroom.  It's called Quiet Moments from Benjamin Moore (I believe the picture above is the best color representation of what it looks like in real life).  And its oh-so-wonderful! The color we had before was called Refreshing Teal.  It was fine but it was not what I was going for.  I wanted a soft seafoam green, and it was definitely more on the teal side - who would have guessed - refreshing teal?

So after going through many possibilities the last week, and living with no bathroom mirrors for that week, we finally found our color. I would describe it as a bluish green with a decent amount of grey.  I think it helps to bring our bathroom up to a more sophisticated level over the teal, that just felt a little bit too playful.  I mean, not that I'm not a playful person... maybe just not so much in my bathroom ;-)

So that's where we are at in the bathroom!  And I realize now that I never actually did a complete before and after post of the bathroom renovation, including before, during and after photos.  So consider this is my official IOU slip for that! 

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Bathroom Preview

About two months ago, I gave you all a small (very small) glimpse of what our kitchen is going to look like. In that post, I promised I would do a follow up of a bathroom preview.  Well this is me, following through on that promise.

Like the kitchen, I had several photos that I used as inspiration.

Inspiration #1

What first caught my attention in this bathroom was the center upper cabinet between the two sinks.  As soon as I saw that, I knew it was something I wanted to incorporate into our master bathroom.  Another element that kept me coming back to this picture was the black and white color scheme.  Like in the kitchen, a black and white color scheme appeals to me because of its timelessness and versatility.  I love the cup pulls on the drawers and I also love the shaker cabinet doors.  I also love the two framed mirrors vs. one large mirror.  And the two farmhouse-ish lights above the mirrors really got me.  This photo was my design jumping off point, however, as I continued to research bathrooms, I found other images that gave me ideas to incorporate into our bathroom to transform it into something unique, that was truly ours.

Inspiration #2

That's right folk! We got ourselves a clawfoot tub! Back before we even closed on our house we found a clawfoot tub for a deal on craigslist.  And we pounced.  It was ours!

And here she is. Harriet.  I just named her.   Harriet....Tubman. Get it? 

What is it with us and naming the inanimate objects that we own (have you met Orville - our Ford Truck)?  Maybe its a sign we should settle down and have some babies.  Whoaw Whoaw, slow down.  Let's just get back to talking about the bathroom please.

Incorporating Harriet into the layout of the bathroom created some challenges. We still needed space for a shower, we wanted to create an open feel in the space, and we needed storage space. We expanded the bathroom to absorb some unnecessary closets, so the first two challenges were settled, but we still needed to make up for the storage we had lost. When I saw the inspiration photo #2 that showed a little bump out behind the clawfoot tub, I had an idea.  What if we built a bump out behind our tub, but instead of it being dead space, could we have a hinge on the top and allow for storage inside of it?  And of course, Steve, being the saint that he is... said "Sure! We can do that!"  And we did! Steve built it a couple of weeks ago and it is looking great!

Inspiration #3

This photo summed up the color scheme I wanted our bathroom to have.  I love the mixture of the oil rubbed bronze fixtures as well as the chrome fixtures.  I especially love the contrast of the fixtures on top of the sea foamy color next to the crisp white trim.  Speaking of trim, we also are doing beadboard like in this bathroom.  Who's got two thumbs and loves beadboard?  This girl! (Picture me - both thumbs pointed back toward me with a big'ol grin on my face.)

Inspiration #4

The last inspiration was from one of the houses we looked at when we were house hunting.  We loved this character filled home in a great neighborhood.  We didn't end up buying the home but we were so sold on one of the character elements that we decided to add it to the home we did buy.  And that element was the bathroom tile.  I can't say for sure whether the tile was original, but if I were a bettin' women, I would bet that it was.  The tile was a black and white basket weave tile that looks like this:

It is unique, interesting, and has an "old house" feel which is something I'm always looking to add to our 1975 home.

We are really looking forward to seeing it all come together! 



The plumbers were here this week and hooked up our faucets.  And my brother-in-law has been making a lot of progress finishing the tile in the shower.  We are pretty excited about how this bathroom is looking. I even started shopping for rugs and towels! Too much fun!

Have a great week everybody... and stay healthy.  The poor Kercher household had come down with a nasty case of the stomach bug! Luckily I can blog from my couch wrapped in a fuzzy pink bathrobe!