Basement Bathrooms

The Basement Half-Bathroom

Six months after beginning our basement remodel, the half-bath has finally been finished. What was once an indoor-outhouse (by the looks of it, anyway) is now the cutest bathroom in our home! It’s hard to get a good photo of the room because it’s so small (4’x5.5′, and just over 6′ to the ceiling), but here’s an attempt.

The toilet, sink, and faucet were provided by Vintage Tub & Bath, and the sconces were courtesy of Schoolhouse Electric.

I found the mirror on eBay, spray painted it black, and had new glass cut for it (since it arrived shattered). For the opposite wall, I found a little shelf and painted it green to hold a couple of lacquered bowls and zigzag tumbler. The first aid box is empty, but I figure I can keep some bandages and little things we might need nearby to tend to rambunctious kiddos in the soon-to-be playroom. And say, you look lovely today.

I’m loving these man and woman vases just to the right of the doorway So funny!

It was a long process, but I was able to choose every fixture and finish since we were building the bathroom from scratch. I’m pleased with the final result… and glad to be done!

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  • Brianna
    April 13, 2011 at 12:31 pm

    wow this looks awesome. so clean and classic and fun. great job!

  • Nicole
    April 13, 2011 at 12:33 pm

    Gorgeous!!! And love the vases — too cute!

  • Emily
    April 13, 2011 at 12:34 pm

    Perfection!!

  • Sarah
    April 13, 2011 at 12:36 pm

    This looks amazing! I’m so impressed with how you used such affordable accessories in such a polished way.

  • Stephanie
    April 13, 2011 at 12:38 pm

    true to form, the space is beautiful. Feminine without being too fussy. Great job! Enjoy your new space, even if it is just a half bath :)

  • Erika
    April 13, 2011 at 12:40 pm

    I LOVE the man and woman vases too! The bathroom looks really nice.

  • Jackie
    April 13, 2011 at 12:41 pm

    It looks great! Must be a requirement of living in Oak Park that you love pedestal sinks and octagon and dot. I used them both when I re-did my bathroom too. :)

  • April
    April 13, 2011 at 12:43 pm

    Beautiful! I can’t believe it’s a basement bath!

  • Licia
    April 13, 2011 at 12:45 pm

    I love the final result. It’s been fun to follow the process from the beginning. My favorite part is actually outside of the bathroom: the boy and girl flower sconces. Adorable :-)

  • elsie
    April 13, 2011 at 12:46 pm

    gorgeous. that floor is beautiful. will you come and redo our bathroom?

  • jodi
    April 13, 2011 at 12:49 pm

    Oh my gosh, I have bathroom envy! SO cute and I think the man and woman vases are my favorite. You guys did a great job!

  • Melvel
    April 13, 2011 at 12:50 pm

    Where did you get that wastebasket?

    • Making it Lovely
      April 13, 2011 at 12:51 pm

      It was an Etsy vintage find.

      • samsonizzle
        April 14, 2011 at 12:57 pm

        I was about to ask the same thing! It’s one of my favorite things too!

  • jodi
    April 13, 2011 at 12:53 pm

    it looks so great!!

  • Melissa
    April 13, 2011 at 12:56 pm

    It looks amazing I love it! Great work.

  • dawn
    April 13, 2011 at 1:14 pm

    awesome vases!! you have such a gift for design + rennovation. congrats on completing your new b-room :)

  • Cristina
    April 13, 2011 at 1:16 pm

    I feel kind of silly for asking this but the flowers in your various vases: real or fake?

    • Making it Lovely
      April 13, 2011 at 1:18 pm

      Real. They’re just big mums, readily available at super markets.

  • Nancy
    April 13, 2011 at 1:18 pm

    So cute! Where did you get the hand towel?

    • Making it Lovely
      April 13, 2011 at 1:45 pm

      West elm. It was in the store, but I haven’t seen it yet on their website.

  • Emily
    April 13, 2011 at 1:19 pm

    Looks really fantastic – nice to see it all come together after silently coveting all of your moodboard/decor choices. Cool green walls.

  • Kathy
    April 13, 2011 at 1:26 pm

    So lovely!! You have such a gift :)

  • Laura Gaskill
    April 13, 2011 at 1:29 pm

    It’s adorable! I love the sconces, vases, that print, really everything – and I will be keeping a picture of your octagon and dot floor tiles on hand for reference…I may have some remodeling of my own to do before too long :)

  • Germaine
    April 13, 2011 at 1:33 pm

    This is gorgeous!! Love the green walls and accessories!

  • Eileen
    April 13, 2011 at 1:36 pm

    I love the hand towel too! Could you post where you got it from? Love the finished bathroom!

  • julie
    April 13, 2011 at 1:36 pm

    i love the floor tiles! where did you get them? and, of course, love all the decorative touches — the cups, the first aid box, the vases. :)

  • cristina
    April 13, 2011 at 1:37 pm

    bellissimo, complimenti !

  • Gwendolyn
    April 13, 2011 at 1:43 pm

    I love it :)

  • Janna
    April 13, 2011 at 1:46 pm

    Looks awesome! I wish our bathrooms were finished!

  • Rachel H.
    April 13, 2011 at 1:56 pm

    It looks great, and I love the sconces…but…I think that the bare wall that you first look at when you walk in is in some dire need of artwork or something. I’m surprised that there’s nothing on it.

    • Making it Lovely
      April 13, 2011 at 1:59 pm

      I know, it looks bare in the photo. In real life though, the room is so small that it would be overwhelming to have something on each wall. There’s enough visual interest with the two adjacent walls when you see it in person.

  • Lindsay
    April 13, 2011 at 1:56 pm

    Love it! I imagine I’d feel very much like Alice in Wonderland in there — I’m just over 6′ and my husband wouldn’t fit at all at 6’5″. This is why we haven’t finished the basement in our 1925 bungalow that has similar ceiling heights.

    • Making it Lovely
      April 13, 2011 at 2:02 pm

      Here’s me in the room (from a few weeks ago), but I’m only 5’5″.
      Basement Bathroom

      The rest of the basement has more clearance. The bathroom has a lot of duct work consolidated overhead.

      • Lindsay
        April 13, 2011 at 3:54 pm

        You, of course, look adorable in there! I’d have the Quasimodo thing going on.

  • Laura@JourneyChic
    April 13, 2011 at 2:10 pm

    I adore those little man/woman vases! I need something like that on our half-bath’s door, because people always end up walking into the pantry instead!

  • mk
    April 13, 2011 at 2:17 pm

    darling! impressed that it feels as airy as it does, being so small and with low ceilings! love the little print – my favorite part.

  • Katie
    April 13, 2011 at 3:21 pm

    Love how everything came together! I also have the man/woman vases outside our small bathroom in our house! Great work!

  • Caroline
    April 13, 2011 at 3:48 pm

    The bathroom looks lovely. I am a new reader of your blog, so forgive me if this was covered earlier in another post, but I kind of wish that items in the bathroom were not gifted to you (“provided by…” and “courtesy of…). I just prefer it when the homeowner purchases the items and then their endorsement of them doesn’t seem so much like a paid ad. I am not trying to be a pain, but truthfully, it does make one wonder about some of the items in the bathroom- whether they were chosen 100% on their merits or 95% on their merits and 5% knowing that you could get them for free?

    • Making it Lovely
      April 13, 2011 at 9:41 pm

      I understand. I have discussed my position on blog sponsorship before, but just to reiterate… I approached a handful of companies to work with in furnishing the basement, so these are things that I would have chosen on my own (100%).

      • samsonizzle
        April 14, 2011 at 12:56 pm

        It doesn’t bother me that they were sponsored, only that I can’t get stuff like that for free, and it would be out of my price range otherwise, thus I am a wee bit jealous. Not that I’m going to be renovating our dinky rental apartment bathroom anytime soon, but I much prefer to see things that I can do too, rather than just look at pretty pictures wistfully. Inspiration is far more enjoyable than discontentment (not that you’re responsible for my attitude either). But as someone who doesn’t have your knack for decorating, I love to get ideas I can easily copy. :)

  • Paula
    April 13, 2011 at 3:50 pm

    So cute! I LOVE the flower vases … I might have to get those for our downstairs guest bathroom :)

  • Elisa @ What the Vita
    April 13, 2011 at 3:58 pm

    Looks great!! I just finished a bathroom myself, but you did everything from scratch, so I bet you feel even better than I do! I especially love the tile and the first aid kit!

  • Tawnee
    April 13, 2011 at 4:12 pm

    I want to use your bathroom!!

    I love the tile work!!

  • Shifra
    April 13, 2011 at 4:31 pm

    That towel looks like a Jewish prayer shawl (a tallit)! So funny.

  • Jaime from Design Milk
    April 13, 2011 at 4:52 pm

    Looks great!

  • modern jane
    April 13, 2011 at 5:43 pm

    It’s perfect! I love the vases on the wall. You have such a fun sense of style:)

  • Paula
    April 13, 2011 at 10:28 pm

    I LOVE those vases! I want them!

  • Amanda
    April 13, 2011 at 11:07 pm

    The one thing I don’t love about this bathroom is the ceiling is painted the same colour as the rest of the room. It being a tiny room and having the same colour everywhere would bring the ceiling down even more.

    But other than that, I love the accessories you put in and the white, love the white. :)

  • Sam
    April 13, 2011 at 11:46 pm

    Absolutely gorgeous!

  • Kellie
    April 14, 2011 at 9:10 am

    It looks really really wonderful! I love it and I really want that first aid box!!

  • Crystal
    April 14, 2011 at 9:31 am

    So cute – I love the tile you chose.

  • Hollyp
    April 14, 2011 at 10:00 am

    Looks absolutely gorgeous and inspiring. Now you have me thinking about replacing my bathroom vanity with a pedastal!

    I want those vases!

  • Jerith @ Adore and Adorn
    April 14, 2011 at 3:50 pm

    I agree with everyone else Nicole — what a lovely bathroom you’ve made out of an outhouse! It must feel great to finally have it done. The vintage wastebasket is a great touch.

    Have you considered painting the ceiling a decorator’s white to make the room seem taller? You could also bring the white paint color down onto the wall to make a band around the room that is about an inch or two high to help it feel like there was depth above you.

  • Heather
    April 15, 2011 at 1:45 pm

    It turned out so well! Love the color of the walls and those floor tiles are awesome.

  • Tanya from Dans le Townhouse
    April 15, 2011 at 2:49 pm

    Gosh – it is so hard to take photos of tiny rooms. I’m still working on that, but you took great pics! I love, love the finished bathroom. It is so simple but the details are all perfect. I love this post, and those leading up to it, regardless of sponsorship because those items you have chosen seem so true to your style. If I saw them in a shop, I’d definitely think of your blog. Especially the print (of course) and the male/female vases. Quirky but pretty. Vintage by modern. Definitely lovely.

  • soisses
    April 18, 2011 at 3:30 pm

    what a FANTASTIC bathroom – i LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!!

  • LPK Creations
    February 24, 2012 at 11:29 am

    This coloring is really beautiful. It definitely gives it a throwback, but also modern feel. Nice work!

  • Romy Buchner
    March 26, 2012 at 8:33 pm

    Can you tell me the colour paint used? Love it!

  • Stacy
    March 27, 2012 at 7:50 pm

    I love the paint. What color is the paint and maker? Thank you. And if I could get my home sponsored and love it, who cares!!! Good for you for making it happen :)

    • Making it Lovely
      March 27, 2012 at 10:37 pm

      Thanks. The color is “Olive Tree” from Benjamin Moore. There is a page with all of the sources right here.

      • Stacy
        March 28, 2012 at 10:26 am

        Thank you for taking time to respond. I looked all over the blog and could not see the color. I appreciate you taking time to respond, especially since you already gave the information!

  • Improvements Made to the House | Making it Lovely
    May 29, 2013 at 2:04 am

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  • The Bathroom on the Third Floor | Making it Lovely
    January 28, 2014 at 1:38 pm

    […] I’m reusing from the bathroom on the second floor. I have the green vintage wastecan from the half-bath that we added to the last house, and the man and woman bathroom sign vases are back, too. They aren’t always filled with fresh […]