Bathroom Design Board

For the upstairs bathroom we have settled on the floor tile, wall tile, vanity, bath fixture, shower curtain, and vanity lights. The other furniture is notional, though we are keeping with the spa-like theme so far.

Floor tile - Gray slate. I'm reading up on subflooring and installation for natural stone now, so hopefully I don't screw that up too badly. The floor tile was about $225.

Wall tile - The subway tile I got from craigslist. Subway tile was $350.

The vanity - The double sink, including marble top, both sinks and faucets, the mirrors and the shelf all as a kit from The Interior Gallery. The vanity was $1550 shipped.

The shower fixture - A Kohler Fairfax set for under a $100.

Shower curtain - The Kaiku from Anthropologie. Not to everyone's taste, including the Queen's, but I think it adds some color and texture to the space. A splurge at $50.

Vanity lighting (not shown) - Double vanity lights over the mirrors from Restoration hardware. On sale for $50 each.

So far, the budget is pretty low and I think the look is good. We discussed how much of the vanity wall to tile, and I think we are going with the middle option below. We think this option will create the look we're going for without tiling all the walls around my huge bathroom (6'x14'). That would be too much labor, and a bit too retro.



Since the vanity doesn't arrive until mid-July, there is a while before the bathroom is done. Stay tuned as I stumble through tile work!

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I promise some progress pictures of the downstairs this weekend, including the completed entryway. :-)

Hungarian Bookshelves & Subway Tile Fireplace

The Hungarian shelves and the white subway tile in the fireplace are finally in. The fireplace was non-operating, thus tiling it over wasn't an issue. We thought we were going to paint the mantle white, but after looking at it with the white tile in we decided it was too cold looking. We'll just refinish it, with the wood adding a bit of warmth to the otherwise white and silver palette.



The shelves were much easier to do than standard bookshelves and we like the modern look. All the online materials I saw had them unpainted, but after a few coats of white semi-gloss they look like a million bucks. We used sanded plywood instead of MDF, as the ends are free hanging so we needed the extra strength. The front edge of the wood is covered with a strip of melamine. I'd never thought of an iron as a device used in shelf building, but indeed it is.

Over the fire place is the electrical and cable line. When we order the TV I'll know exactly where to place the outlets in relation to the wall bracket, so for now the locations are notional.

I'd say it looks better than it was before, especially with the ceiling fan gone too.

Craigslist Rules

Guess who gets to spend a 6 hour roundtrip drive on Valentine's day to NJ for tile? This guy! I normally wouldn't be so excited, but the opportunity to save over a $1000 gets me all fired up. It's debatable that the bathroom could look better with a more colorful tile, but being able to do all my wall tile, including around the vanity, shower & maybe the walls for $350 (the guy lowered the price) is a pretty sweet deal.

I'll probably just spend this money to upgrade something else, but this will just make the space look that much better.

P.S. Good thing Leigh is away for work on V-Day, or I think she would kill me.

Gray Subway Tile & Design Software

It looks as if I may jump the gun and get the 3x6" gray subway tiles. After looking online for subway tiles I found prices to be at least around $8 a sq ft, and that is before shipping. Leigh looked on craigslist and found someone selling 20 boxes of 3x6" tile for $1.80 a sq ft. Here are some specs,

Sold: 1 Box
Pieces Per: 100 Piece
Avg. Waste Factor: 10
Shipping Weight: 36 lbs.
Coverage: 12.5 S/FT
Length: 6 Inch
Width: 3 Inch
Thickness: 0.313 Inch
Color Family: Gray
Shade: Medium
Surface Type: High Gloss
Design: Rectangle
Composition: Ceramic
Edges: Straight
Wear Rating: N/A
Installation: Thin-Set
Usage: Commercial; Residential



Seeing as this could save me oodles of money (while costing me a drive to NJ) I think it may be worth it. The use of gray will definitely require some accents for color, but the price is right.

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I also downloaded Google SketchUp and Ikea's Kitchen Planner.

I measured the upstairs bathroom last night, made a model of the room in SketchUp and started playing with some designs. The program takes some getting used to, but it's not too terribly different from AutoCAD so I'm fumbling my way through it. Once I import some cabinet designs from their library I can really start to model the room right. For now, I am just using 3D blocks to represent the major items (cabinets, shower & toilet).

I wanted to use the Ikea bathroom planner, except for the minor glitch that it doesn't exist. The kitchen planner will work, and I think I may just go with kitchen cabinets in the bathroom since they have a higher counter height. I wish I could see how Ikea's Hollviken sink would look in the space.



Some things I am considering in the design are single vanities, double vanities, various closet organizers, as well as breaking the bathroom into two rooms to seperate the sink from the shower/toilet room. I'll upload pictures of design ideas as they become available.

Upstairs Bathroom Design Inspiration

Now that things are coming to closure downstairs, it's time to start planning out the upstairs renovation. While much of the work upstairs is patching drywall, laying flooring and updating trim, the major design decision is the bathroom.

I was going to rip out my 6x14' bathroom, remove (and relocate) an adjacent walk-in closet, and put in two bathrooms in the now 6x17 space. Plenty of room for two bathrooms. This was the plan before I saw cottage house, so now I am pretty well sold on keeping just the one bathroom upstairs to minimize the renovation time. It will still be a nice big bathroom and will make the renovation much easier due to not re-doing plumbing, electrical or re-framing.

I'll be keeping with the modern, but not too modern, theme of downstairs. I am a big fan of subway tile, and am digging light gray; it has a coolness without being cold.



I was thinking the subway tile would go in the shower as well as above the vanity. I'd also like to work in some glass tile, but I'm not sure I want to compete with the cool, smooth lines of the subway tile. I'll have to shop around for some decent deals on this stuff, as I'm really trying to minimize costs on the bathroom redo. I'd like to continue the tile around the lower portion of the room, but it's a big room, so not sure I want to be tiling for a month.



The subway tile coupled with a hex tile on the floor could look good? I am still looking at other floor options as I'm not completely sold on the hex. Also keeping with the cost cutting, I'll most likely be be getting the vanity, sinks & lighting from Ikea. I think it could match pretty well, and could get me a new bathroom at a great price.