So it's time to reveal our washroom renovation. :) I am so, so, so happy with how it turned out. Every night I have a bubble bath and unwind and I look around and feel like I'm in a fancy hotel. Although I designed the room (picking the finishes, faucets etc) Aubrey did all the work making it come together. So here is a full reveal of the room, now that everything has been installed.

The main design decision that impacted the space was deciding to bump out the washroom wall into the hallway to make extra room for the vanity. This allowed us to have a nook where the vanity would fit and give us more floor space in the washroom. It was absolutely the best decision.

In the shot above you can also see how all of our choices came together. The 2" hexagon marble floor compliments the porcelain marble "look a like" tile that we carried onto the face of the bathtub. The trim is bright white and the walls - Classic Gray by Benjamin Moore. Grays and whites - all working together.

Vanity Lighting: One thing that was a bit concerning was that we had zero space for any vanity lighting. We ended up doing a single pot light right in the middle of the alcove. I'm happy to say that it gives off enough beautiful light. I wouldn't have it any other way.

We purposefully dropped the ceiling in the alcove to be the same height as the door, so it worked together, but also so that the potlight was close enough to where we stood to give off enough light. If we had made it much higher, we likely would not have as nice a light source. (See animated gif below)

The mirror - oh, the mirror. I had quotes of getting one custom made (close to $300, framed) searched high and low in retail stores. Nothing was right - or if it was, it was too expensive. I stopped into a Hotel Liquidators and low and behold they had the mirror above for sale for $15. Sold. Aubrey glued it to the wall and it looks like it was custom cut for our room.

Our vanity is gorgeous and it was pretty reasonable coming in around $500 (that includes the vanity and sink, not the faucet). In terms of function - this vanity hits all of the right notes. I love that the sink portion is flat - which means that you really have a full counter in front of you if you're doing makeup. You don't have to rest things on the side of the sink - as the interior basin is flat. I love that we went with zero handles, as it saves the floor space and I can get up closer to the sink. The only downfall is, that since we have no overhang of the sink - if water drips off the sink it drips onto the front of the drawers which is occasionally annoying.

I LOVE having drawers - they can store a ton of (my) things. Aubrey has one side, I have the other and the bottom drawer (not shown open) houses extra toilet paper, bubble bath, toys for Oscar.

And there you have it - Our bathroom reno! :)

SHOPPING GUIDE:
Porcelain Shower Tile: Manufacturer: Cerim, Style Name: Precious Pearl 
2" Hexagon Marble Floor: The Tile Store
Bathtub: Jaccuzi Soaker 60" x 32" drop in - purchased at Lowes
Toilet: Kohler Memoirs (I LOVE this toilet) purchased at Lowes
Vanity: Veneto Bath 690C in Walnut  Purchased at Bath City, Beaches Location
Three Way Shower System and faucet: TAPS 
Robe Hooks and toilet paper holder: Kraus Aura Line, Home Depot Online (online only)
Shower Curtain and Liner: HomeSense
Shower Rod and Rings: Target
Towels: HomeSense
Mirror: Advance Hotel Liquidator 
Paint: Classic Gray for the Walls, Chantilly Lace for the trim (Both Benjamin Moore)
Drywall: Joe (He's done our basement, our kitchen and now our bathroom)

Other posts of interest: Deciding to Bump Out the bathroom wall, Washroom Before, Picking Tile,  Shower Systems, Choosing a Bathtub,

There are two outstanding elements to be tackled in the washroom before I can reveal it - the hooks and the second is the mirror above the vanity. The hooks I'm not so concerned about but the mirror has me frustrated a little. One because I don't want to spend a lot, and two, all of the mirrors I *do* like are expensive. See my conundrum?

Anyhow, I've been avoiding the mirror search for awhile but think I need to narrow it down. We have a 27" wide x 43" tall space to work with for the mirror above the vanity. It's a nook, so we could technically fill the entire space with a custom mirror cut to size - however because it's an old house - even though we made things as straight as possible - I'm concerned that we may highlight not so straight walls by doing this route. So ideally we'll find a mirror that fits within the space that has some style and matches the rest of the modern, hotel style look I've gone for.

West Elm has THE perfect mirror (shown above) but unfortunately the finish is wrong. Ughhhhh. The price was right, the sizing was pretty perfect but the fact that it is nickle throws it into the "nope" category. I love polished nickle everywhere else in our house but the rest of our washroom is chrome. So, as Oscar would say; "Oh poop". (Would it be silly to buy it and paint the mirror frame?)

I love Restoration Hardware for their hardware and pieces like mirrors but I find the pricing uber expensive and get irritated that they tack on an additional 20% to an order here in Canada to account for shipping/duties. But if they had THE mirror I may do it. Above are some mirrors I liked off the bat. Top Right is a mirror I think is stunning - it's called the Astoria and has a little shelf which is amazing for small space washrooms. The curve of the top doesn't match the clean straight lines elsewhere in the washroom and I think the shelf would interfere with our faucet. But if you're doing a small washroom, this mirror looks like it would be amazing. The full lengh mirror to the right of the Astoria has a hook to hang a towel. Um. Genius! But it's $695 which as much as I love it for one of our blank walls in our bathroom, the price makes it unobtainable. But it is a genius piece for a small washroom. And even if we could afford that mirror, it still doesn't solve the mirror above the vanity issue. Carrying on. The bottom left mirror actually comes pretty darn close to being spot on. The 24" x 30" would fit in our 27" x 43" space and is quoted at $335 (US) which isn't that bad (then we tack on 20% for being in Canada)  But could I get a custom mirror made for less than that? Because the design is ridiculously simple compared to the others....

I checked out Ikea, Pottery Barn, Crate and Barrel and CB2 for their mirrors (I LOVE this one) and although they all have lovely items I'm pretty specific with style/finish/size. So now I'm debating researching custom mirrors with a custom frame. We've gotten mirror custom cut before but never "framed" so I'm off to google that.

Happy Friday! The washroom is slooooowly coming together. There are a few missing pieces like finding the right hooks and installing a mirror above the sink and up until yesterday there was no shower curtain (but I found one at HomeSense that I adore...And it is obviously white) Although I love showing progress shots I really want to show a grand "Ta-da!!" for this washroom. I think because it's so small, I just want to reveal it all at once. So I think I'm at a stage where I'm going to hold off on more shots until I nail down the last two details! Wheee!

Speaking of washrooms - check out these gorgeous bathroom accessories I spotted at HomeSense (Eglinton and Laird) yesterday. Acrylic gorgeousness (that I bought for our washroom) and faux marble pieces that are ridiculously awesome.

See more HomeSense finds from yesterday over on Facebook.

Have a great weekend! xo Linds

1 /  2  /  3  / 4

One thing that I have left to the very end of the washroom reno to choose has been the hooks. I'm not a very modern person with design but the washroom has really turned out to be a pretty modern washroom - Aubrey feels that the hooks should reflect the modern design, whereas my heart always goes to the traditional styles. So I'm struggling with what choice to make for the hooks the washroom. (I appreciate without seeing the washroom in full it's hard for you to comment) but I thought the choices we did see, may be nice for someone else designing a washroom. So my dilemma is that I'm trying to figure out if I should stick with a modern hook like the rest of the washroom, or, if I can go with a traditional hook like No. 2 above.

I went to Upper Canada Specialty Hardware yesterday and found these from Emtek. I REALLY love the two "prongs" as it will surely make hanging towels nicer. (Choice #1 in the mashup above)

But then we were at Lowes last night I spotted this Allen + Roth line, and fell madly in love because it was both polished nickle and traditional. (I've shown it in a chrome finish in my mashup above, because I don't think we can do polished nickle in our washroom. So sad) Aubrey feels that it's much too traditional and after sleeping on it, I tend to agree.

Anyhow - we actually purchased this set above (no. 3) - but I'm not sure I love it. So I think it's going back. Truthfully if we're going for modern, the set from Upper Canada Hardware (No. 1) is about $10 more dollars more a piece, but I know the quality is amazing and I still really like the two prongs.

So in the process of writing this post I think I've come to the conclusion I like #1. Wait. Maybe not. I'm not sure. Ugh. I think I need to hold them up in the washroom and make a decision.

We're making progress on the washroom! The floor tile is in and grouted, the walls have been painted, and Aubrey is setting up the shower today - possibly even the vanity. It has taken us way longer than we anticipated but we've also made a point to enjoy our summer - throwing BBQ's, going to the cottage, taking a day off here or there when we need a break. Excited to show you more "reveal" photos soon. But I'm even more excited to have a BATH.

Ps.,  I'll be doing a shopping guide at the end so if you want to know exact wall colours or where we bought things I'll list everything in the room. In the meantime....you can go through some of the washroom posts you can see where things came from.

Although some may have seen some updates on my Instagram last night, I thought it was time for some decent photographs of the process of the washroom. :) Above was one of my biggest concerns, the bump out. As you may recall we chose to take up unused hallway space and give it to the washroom - I was terrified it was going to make the hallway seem small, but after it was done, it's not even noticeable. Surprisingly, it feels like it should have been like this all along. We still have to add back trim and I have to do some painting - but you get the idea of how this looks. On the opposite side of the wall this made room for a nook for the new vanity (not yet installed)

Although in the hallway it doesn't feel (or look like) much space was given to the washroom - While you stand you in the washroom it feels quite the opposite - You realize that a lot of room was taken from the hall. In this nook our vanity will fit - giving us more floor space. It's not much - but every inch counts. I'll explain more about this nook later, when we have more pieces of that puzzle put in place.

Aubrey finished installing the tile and grouted the walls last night. I may have done a jig when I saw it - It was *exactly* as I had hoped it would look. Like a fancy hotel bathroom. It feels clean, clutter free and well - clean.

 The bathroom floor has yet to be grouted but will also have white grout lines.

New pot lights. I looooooove pot lights.

The bathroom is feeling larger, cleaner and brighter than our old washroom did. I'm really happy with our choices so far. We still have a few steps (as you can see) including me picking a wall colour (likely white) but I thought these pictures may be fun to post. We're also changing up our toilet. We had installed a new one a few years ago but because of budget got a really inexpensive one. We didn't love it, it ran all the time, and so we've decided to do the same toilet as in the basement, the Kohler's Memoir that I think is so pretty.

Baby steps!

Read more about the tile we picked in this post. / Floor hexagon 2" tiles

The bathroom reno is still going on as you may have guessed. :-) Thankfully the lack of bathroom on the top floor isn't disrupting us that much - Except at midnight when I'm lying in bed and I have to pee and I try to tell myself to fall asleep instead of having to walk down two flights of stairs.

All that being said - we're almost at the finish line. I'm loving how the choices are coming together and Aubrey is doing an amazing job at tiling. I'm debating a wall colour for the walls but knowing me, I'll likely stick with a white. Anyhow, here is a video I happened to catch while I was snapping the photos above with my phone. Oscar adores Aubrey and wants to help with all of his projects... (Ps., I love his little voice so much)

Tile is going in. :) For the shower I chose a really huge porcelain tile that looks like marble but doesn't have the upkeep. I'm in love with them. They definitely make the shower feel much more modern and really super clean. I love the reduction of grout lines compared to what we had before.

I would have liked to continue the same huge  tile on the floor, but I was worried about such large tiles being slippery. So we ended up going with hexagon tiles. I'm not totally sure it is the right choice - but the washroom is so small that I don't think it's that big of a deal. It's proving to take awhile to do the tile as Aubrey is doing it on his days off. But we're getting closer!

Our bathtub is in! Yay! It is a great feeling when a renovation turns from the demolition process to the "rebuilding" stage - this is when things start to take shape. This post is on the entire process of choosing a bathtub. So if you're going to do a bathroom renovation and have limited space like we do - then the rest of the post may be of interest to you.

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Sorry for the quiet. With the exception of checking work e-mails once a day to make sure I can help customers, I'm not drawn to the computer very much while living with my family. There is less of a feeling of the need to work while here and it feels slightly like a little vacation. I know the feeling isn't mutual for Aubrey - as he's in the thick of the renovation.

I've yet to see the progress of the reno in person, but get photos sent to me via e-mail. The boys got the new tub in place (top photo) and bumped out the bathroom wall to create a nook for the new vanity - giving us more floor space in our very tiny washroom. Tomorrow the drywall guys come and things start being put back together. We're a long way away from completion but perhaps inching closer to when it won't be super dirty and Oscar and I can move home.

Anyhow, I do love some good photos of rooms that are torn down to the studs. :)

Bathroom demo day one is done - There is no turning back now. :)

*Huge thanks to my awesome brother (who is elegantly posing in our old bathtub on our lawn) for the manual labour help! :)

The shower system -  I had been putting off this decision for awhile as I wasn't confident on the style of shower system (modern or traditional) and I also wasn't clear on what I needed to look for. I'm not sure why it was such a scary purchase, but I was really delaying this decision. With the washroom reno starting next week, I got a gentle push to make a decision from Aubrey who kindly reminded me that he needed to have the shower system on hand to be able to start the reno. Ooops.

I ended up going with my Mom to TAPS to talk to Daniel who is my go-to-guy for questions about choices like this. When I went to the store I had come to the conclusion that I really wanted a traditional shower system, much like this and immediately after walking into the shop I saw the top two shower heads and fell in love. Daniel at TAPS (who I had help me with the kitchen renovation choices) first asked me if it was just a shower, or, a shower/tub combo. Apparently it does make a difference. Cue the record screeching to a halt.

You see, since we have a shower/tub combo he explained that the systems I was falling in love with weren't compatible with a shower/bathtub combo...You can't just add on a bathtub filler, when you have the Rainhead and a handheld. You need a system that has a 3 way diverter.* Ok, I'm getting confused even trying to re-create the conversation because all I heard was "You can't have that". Heart. Broken. Does any of that make sense? Basically I thought you could just add on a tub filler to any system out there. Apparently that's not how it works.

So going back to the drawing board I really liked the idea of the rainhead and a handheld (the handheld was a non-negotiable for me) and Daniel showed me a kit that was on special that had the rainhead, the handheld AND was made for the bathtub too. It took me awhile to come to the realization that the top two traditional designs were not going to be possible and ended up going for the kit. I know it will look substantial when installed in the new washroom so I think I'll get the look I wanted, even if it's not super traditional.

Oh, and I picked that super beautiful faucet too. Again, I was pretty in love with a lot of traditional faucets but they all were for three hole vanities and, well, the vanity we picked has one hole. Bah. Foiled again.

Check that off my list.

TAPS Bath Centre in Toronto, my go to guy is Daniel Scheffel  He's helped me in every purchase and also was the go to guy for my Mom's renovation.

*I think I also understood that it may be possible to make some systems a 3 way but it would have cost a LOT of money and potentially a lot more work. 

The next step in the washroom reno is to pick tile. Although I feel most comfortable going with small white subway tile for projects (like in my kitchen and in the basement washroom) I'm stepping out of my comfort zone and going with larger tiles that will give us a more modern look in the shower. But I'm careful of the fact that we don't go SUPER modern.
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So, bathroom vanities. Such a small piece of furniture but for our washroom it's a major element. We're bumping out a wall for it so it's something that I've been fretting over for quite some time.  This is (knock on wood) the final post on vanities so I'll recap quickly what has been happening.*

Going back to the beginning - we first sourced a few quotes on a modern walnut vanity from custom cabinet makers. The look was inspired by one of Sarah Richardson's bathrooms that I always liked and Janice's bathroom captured the look as well. However, when the quotes started coming back pretty high - we settled on the idea of going with a big-box store vanity and painting a modern colour. This choice wasn't ideal (and there was a lot of debate about me painting the vanity myself)- but at the time was the only option that we thought we had.

Vanity that we were close to buying at TUBS in Toronto

Then I spotted the modern walnut vanities at Tubs and things instantly fell into place. Tubs had the exact style of vanity that we were getting custom cabinetry makers to quote us on with the exception that the vanities at Tubs had handles. It was a great Ah-ha moment that the "Bath" stores that I thought were going to be out of my budget weren't - and that Big Box Stores like Lowes and Home Depot aren't the only place where you can find a huge selection of vanities. But there was a little bit of a downside to the vanity that I had decided on.

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It seems I published my post on vanities a full day too early because this morning my Mom and I too a trip to Tubs on a whim to look at what they had in stock and I may have fallen in love. Truthfully I wasn't going with much hope - I thought they'd be well out of our budget but at the encouragement of someone via the comments in one of my posts, I decided to go. Well, this visit was a wee bit of a game changer.

Tubs has *the* style of vanity I was getting quotes for from cabinet makers. In the store - in stock, were modern vanities in walnut - and most come with drawers. I snapped a ton of photos and may have flipped about the find. The prices are pretty great, they come with sinks (which means I don't have to go hunting for a sink and counter) and they come in walnut, my favourite look.

Above you can see some that I liked - The top left is out of the running as one drawer isn't enough for our home.  But it is beautiful and reminds me of a hotel. The one on the top right is gorgeous but I really dislike the handles and the handle placement - I asked if we could get the unit without the handles but that wasn't an option. So that's likely out of the running. The one on the bottom left likely is what we'd go with if we decide it's a go - the one you see there is 24" but we'd get it 27" and in walnut. Again, the drawer handles aren't my favourite but we could potentially swap them out. The one on the bottom right is hands down my favourite but has two issues. First it's 2" too big and second of all - it doesn't come with drawers - something I really think we need. But I adore that bottom shelf at the bottom.

Decisions, decisions. This is totally more modern than the rest of our house but it's a look I love, and think it suits a small washroom design. More to come I'm sure over the next few days.

Ps., I'm actually writing this post AT my Mom's house because I'm flipping out so much about the find. :)

A demo date for our main washroom has been set for the beginning of May. I'll move into my Mom's house with Oscar and Aubrey will handle the demo. I asked Aubrey to set a date so I'd feel the push to pick items because without that date on our calendar I was delaying making any design decisions. So we're now finally moving forward.

The first thing on my to-do was/is deciding on the vanity. If you're considering a small washroom reno, or are just interested in the process there's a super long post after the jump. (again, a long post which is why I break these things up sometimes)
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Photo via The Marion House Book, Photo by Janis Nicolay

I've been dragging my feet with the bathroom renovation. Truthfully I am finding this room extremely difficult to design. I have issues with spacial planning - I'm not awesome at accurately picking items that would fit. Give me a 10 foot wide room and I'd go and pick a 20 foot long couch. (Aubrey can confirm that. I'm not exaggerating at all) Thankfully Aubrey is the opposite (and perhaps 99% of the rest of the population) But my inability to properly judge sizes, and having a hard time conceptualizing the proposed "bump out" in the bathroom have kept me from moving forward. All of that mixed with my indecision as to the style of washroom - well, it will be amazing if we actually renovate anytime soon.

Anyways, thank goodness for Pinterest. I've been able to collect inspirational images while I lay in bed at night. But if you look at my Pinterest board on washrooms you'll see I'm all over the place when it comes to looks. A year ago I would have designed our washroom to be much like the photo above from Emma's blog.  It's gorgeous. But within the past month I've come to the conclusion that I'm overdosing on subway tiles in our house. I used them in our basement washroom and in our kitchen. And although I love them in each application that we've done,.... I think I need to do something different for the main bathroom. The problem is - subway tile played to the classic look that I loved. And subway tiles are quite economical - So finding a substitute I knew was hard.

I have really started to crave a more "zen" look to our washroom. I have a bath every night before bed - it's my little ritual that I've done since being a kid. Shower in the morning, wash my hair and at night I had a bubble bath.* So I would love a "peaceful" room to relax in. I just revisited this image I had pinned from (again) Emma's blog and it kind of sparked something.....

Photograph by Kristin Sjaarda for The Marion House book

The marble tiles are classic - marble is always classic - yet the large tiles makes the shower feel more modern. It's a perfect mix of traditional and modern. Although I love the look of marble I saw that the homeowner found the marble to be "high maintenance" which reminded me that is exactly why we didn't do marble in the kitchen. So I'm not about to put it in our washroom. But I love the look.....

Disregarding the maintenance factor, we couldn't afford marble at $20+ a square foot. Well, we could possibly afford it but then it would mean we'd have to penny pinch elsewhere. Bottom line - I don't feel like busting our full budget on tiles. I did happened to see some "replica" marble at The Beach Tile Store down the street from us that ranges between $2 - $10 a square foot because it's porcelain. I'm not sure if I'm tricking myself to believe it looks like marble?

Anyways, that is where we are. We're pretty much set on the larger tiles that look like marble. Next, I'd love to find a drop in bathtub that fits that would allow us to tile the side of it. Aubrey isn't sold on continuing the same tile from the show onto the floor, so that is up for discussion.

Baby steps. Baby steps.

*My friend has informed me that I am not the norm with my bathing habits of showering each morning (I was my hair every day) and bathing at night. Seriously, I can't think properly if I don't shower in the AM. I've done it since I was a kid. Funny to realize people have different rituals!

*Update - the second picture is a subway pattern - the pattern itself I still love but the fact that it is with HUGE tiles makes it more appealing.

I haven't gone to great lengths to source items for the washroom renovation yet. Truthfully I find that process terribly stressful. The washroom is super small, so we are in a conundrum when it comes to finding pieces that will work. When I get back from New York I'll put some effort into sourcing local items, but in the meantime I have been pinning inspirational pictures to get an idea for what may work and look good in our uber small washroom. Here are some inspirational pictures that I've compiled for our washroom reno over on my Bathroom board over on Pinterest. I'm digging the last picture a lot - I love it. Anyhow, just some bathroom porn.

[Top Photo] Photos all linked to sources on Pinterest [2nd bottom Photo] Source [Last photo] Source

I adore our house but our washroom is pretty small. A downside of semi-detached homes in our area. It isn't that bothersome but with a renovation coming up we're trying to think through every possible solution to gain more space. Truthfully there isn't much we can do. 

When we first moved into the house we considered moving the entire washroom wall more into the hallway. You'd gain more bathroom, but loose a significant amount of hallways space. Recently my Mom suggested to just enlarge the unused space behind the bathroom door (as shown where Aubrey is standing). In the washroom this is where the vanity is, and if we could bump this area out into the hallway, we'd we able to sink the vanity into this wall and gain really valuable floor space in the bathroom.  Confused? It's hard to visualize. Thankfully for us, my Mom's house has two washrooms that have had this done when they renovated, so we have some visuals on how this would look in our washroom. Take for instance Mom's basement washroom....

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[The washroom before we took possession]

So, we're doing another reno. Our main washroom. The last big reno inside our house. Crazy. Even though it's our last room to renovate - ideally I would like to put off this bathroom renovation for another year - financially it would being nicer (we did just complete a monster kitchen reno) and it would also give my nerves a rest. I'm only just recovering from the twitch I got during the kitchen reno. I stress over the details, so renovations make me toss and turn.*
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