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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

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!

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. 

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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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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