As promised I am back today with some of the details of our bathroom and the renovation itself.
In case I forgot to mention it along the line, the reason we embarked on this reno was this, the floor was installed improperly by the previous owners and was cracking everywhere.
There was nothing specifically wrong that was making our bathroom not function and it was generally nice to look at. But alas, that nagging gnome in my brain said that it would be lovely to paint the room white and then while we're at it lets change the tile and of course that means we have to change the tile on the tub deck and of course, that means new taps. Plus, wouldn't it be great to not just have a plain old pedestal sink? How about some kind of table or desk (thanks Jess, your design studio bathroom started that one) for the vanity?
Let's do a refresher.
Here is what our bathroom looked like when we moved in,
i couldn't find my photos of the house when we moved in so i swiped old blog photos hence the previous mt-tails watermark
And this was the most recent incarnation of the room, as I began following instead of ignoring my love of brass and adding it into the room.
First, first, lets start with the jewellery and move backwards to the dress. I saved my pennies and bought the loveliest set of uncoated brass cross handle faucets I could find in our budget. I spent weeks researching unlaquered brass until I came across a site that had them listed as uncoated. DUH! Most of the time when you are searching unlaquered brass they will keep referring you to Waterworks or Barber Wilson (both extremely out of our price range). These were purchased from Quality Bath. As I had mentioned previously this company was great to work with (not so much as a blogger, 5% discount which is the same as their very frequent weekend sales) but they shutdown completely for passover. Therefore no communicato when you are looking to find out where your taps are even though I planned 2 extra weeks for them to be behind. They ended up 4.5 weeks behind. This was however an actual manufacturer issue. These taps are made by Newport Brass (amazing quality btw, these babies are heavy) and they were having factory issues? but the rep at Quality Bath was great about keeping me informed once they reopened.
They are already starting to age and I couldn't love them more.
We chose not to move the plumbing on the front of the tub deck, which means you climb in on the side but it would have been a big expense and this is not our main bathroom so using the tub daily isn't a concern.
table found vintage (green barn antiques), changed hardware to brass
vessel sink: American Standard via Lowes
baskets under table: auction
toilet paper holder: thrifted
milk glass and brass light above man: Kamerman's Antique Lighting
man and women art prints: auction
but this comes with a story.
i was at the auction one week and my love of old black and white portraits won me this photo of the man from the 1800's. i was splendidly happy with my purchase and leaned him against the wall in the dining room with the rest of my pile for the bathroom.
two weeks later i was at the auction again and this lovely lady below came on deck. MINE!
i also put her in my pile of bathroom paraphenalia.
fast forward a few weeks to it being time to hang the artwork and style the shelves. (my favourite time). i was standing in the tub and trevor was helping me and was reading the back of the portraits. as he was handing the frames to me, we realized that these two portraits are actually husband and wife. they were in 2 different auctions, 2 weeks apart and here they were reunited in our bathroom. (they had extensive handwritten lineage on the back with names, dates, married to, daughter/son of etc.) well of course my personal attachment to these photos grew and i started crying in a happy way. trevor laughed at me and we hung them on the wall so they gaze at each other across our tub.
a vintage love story!
turkish towel: mine from a few years ago (first one i purchased)
wood planter: vintage
tub deck tile: honed carrara marble 1x1 mosaic ordered from Ebay, seller in Toronto
grout: Delorean grey, Home Depot
trev was quite happy to choose a grout that involved a delorean
i think i have mentioned that trevor used to be an avid bowler. we found this trophy with bakelite casing at an antique show and he had to have it. i gently bartered the lady down and now he lives in our bathroom in eternal throw mode.
brass tone frames: thrifted and diyed. check out the original post here
someone on instagram mentioned they are a bit creepy but i think the intellectual men just keep you company in here
brass shelf brackets: House of Antique Hardware
paint colour: all walls, trim, shelves are Benjamin Moore White Dove OC-15
this colour is used frequently in our home but in this space took on a totally different appearance. it comes off as a grey white in our dining room but in here is much more a creamy white. again interesting how different lights, exposures changes the tone of your paint
ceiling fixture: vintage from a local antique store that salvaged a few of these lights from a local church
floor tile: honed carrara marble in 3x12 inch slabs found at Star Tile Center in Fonthill
We had to remove all of the beadboard on the front of the tub to access the faucets during the rip apart process. I knew when we were replacing the baseboards that I wanted something more simple than traditional baseboards so I chose to do plain farmhouse style molding in square cuts. Trevor spent a lot of time getting the trim in properly and ripping the bullnose so that everything fit and we can actually remove parts of the trim to access the tub motor should anything go wrong. When the previous owners did this bathroom, they super nailed the beadboard in and left no access for servicing.
I also like the idea of not having the entire room surrounded in beadboard. The front of the tub feels more modern now but still ties in with the rest of the materials.
We used a very similar tiny version of the baseboards to add details along the bottom of the beadboard around the tubdeck.
very large midcentury lamp: Etsy here
brass and glass soap pump: Target Threshold collection
Trevor built the box around the top of the window with bits of MDF and trim we had laying around so that I can put a little roller blind inside for when we are in the tub. The curtain that was here was curbing Sammy's sitting in the window habits and he kept pulling it down with his tail.
Well that about sums it up I think. If I missed anything you wanted to know, please ask in the comments and I will try to answer you.
I do have an amusing story I mentioned yesterday to share in the future sometime about my personal experience with DIY unlaquered brass.
Meg
joining
jennifer rizzo
