Making it Lovely » Bathrooms

White Walls? Paint the Cabinets?

Making it Lovely — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 03:46:17 +0000

I’ve been thinking more about the kitchen and bathroom. All of you seem to be leaning toward dark or mid-gray walls, where I’m looking at it and thinking I want to go with white. So I was trying to figure out why I’m so drawn to the idea, when I’ve never been known to paint a room white before. Would it look cold? Sterile?

I’ve been toying with the idea of painting the cabinets a color for a long time now, but I’m not sure I’ve mentioned it other than on Twitter.

I think my kitchen cabinets want to be painted. They’re just sitting there, all plain and vanilla. They want to be colorful! I can tell.

— Nicole Balch (@makingitlovely) August 29, 2011

So here’s what I’m thinking. The kitchen is keeping its stainless steel appliances (though how I wish for a colorful fridge!), white subway tile, white trim, wood floors, and upper white cabinets. The walls would be painted white (or almost white), and the bottom cabinets would be painted a color pulled from the new curtain fabric. The bathroom keeps its hundred-year-old hex tile (damaged as it may be) for now. The sink is unchanged, the toilet seat gets swapped out for a black one, and the pedestal tub probably goes black too. The new black and white polka dot shower curtain is a cutie and makes me happy, so that’s staying, and I think the metallic stool stays as well. The walls get painted the same color as the lower cabinets in the kitchen for continuity, or maybe a shade that is similar but not exactly matching. I need to finish painting the wooden doors to the kitchen and bathroom white too, and put a coat of colorful paint on the wooden step stool. Make sense?

You know, like this.

photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

What do you think — can you see it? Still see dark walls as the better way to go?

Polka Dotty

Making it Lovely — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 19:13:56 +0000

Here’s the new shower curtain in the bathroom, along with the little bronze table/stool. The polka dots are cute (Eleanor likes them a lot), but I’m still not sure about the proliferation of stools (heh) in a 5′x7′ bathroom.

Below is a shot of the cracked tile that I mentioned in my last post about the bathroom. I love the hex tile, but the house is more than a hundred years old and a fair bit of settling has occurred over time. The floor slopes downward (two inches or so) from the doorway to the other side, beneath the heavy pedestal tub.

We’ve done a good job of ignoring it for the five years that we’ve lived here, so we can probably ignore it for a while longer. The update I had in mind for the bathroom was more cosmetic than structural, and I’m not sure if we can address the tile right now. I want to (scope creep!), but I need to do some more research to see how to best approach the project.

The Bathroom (Before)

Making it Lovely — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 20:02:38 +0000

The bathroom on the main floor is right off the kitchen. I have my direction for the kitchen refresh, and I have my inspiration for the bathroom, but I realized that I never showed you the full ‘before’ of the room. Let’s do that, shall we?

The wide-angle lens is skewing the proportions a bit, but the room doesn’t look too terrible. Until you look to this direction.

Yikes. I thought the rolling cart would be so cute in the space! The bathroom is small (5′x7′), but there’s just enough room for a little something-something in that corner. Unfortunately, that cart is not it.

Moving on.

I’ve already picked up a new shower curtain (black and white polka dots), and I think this little bronze stool will go in that corner to replace the cart. We don’t actually need the storage (there’s a medicine cabinet, and everything else is stored upstairs near the other bathroom), so I’m just looking for something that will be pretty. Is it weird to have a stool/side table in the corner though, and then functional step stools under the sink just a couple of feet away? The kids need those to reach the sink, so they have to stay.

*edit* I forgot to mention that the potty no longer needs to be there. Eleanor has moved on (“I’m a big girl! That’s too small for me!”), and August isn’t ready for it yet. So that frees up a little more space in that corner.

Black and White Bathroom Inspiration

Making it Lovely — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 20:39:50 +0000

I’ve been wanting to do something different with the bathroom on the main floor. The only thing stopping me is that I have no idea what I want to do with the space. I was looking at my Pinterest bathroom board today though, and I realized that I do have a look I’m pretty consistently drawn to. Behold.

images: 1, 2, 3

Oh man, do I love that sink (I almost went with it when I was working on our laundry room). I think our bathroom could get the same look if I painted our pedestal tub black (it’s currently forest green), kept our existing white wall-mounted sink, and put a black seat on the toilet. White paint for the walls, a new shower curtain… a plan is starting to come together.

Orla Kiely for Method

Making it Lovely — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 16:42:06 +0000

That picture of my kitty, Violet, in the sink is from early 2008. I went back through my photos to see how long we’ve been refilling the same old Method soap bottle, and it turns out it’s been four years now. They don’t even offer this shape anymore, but I’ve never found a soap dispenser that I like better and this one has held up, so we’ve kept it. I’m working with Method though, and they sent a couple of bottles from the new Orla Kiely line… and I think I may have found a replacement.

Cute, right? (Although I’m still holding on to the old bottle too! Ha.)

There are four Orla patterns in the new limited edition line, and each has a signature scent (primrose, vanilla chai, bay leaf, and pear ginger). They became available online and in Target stores last month.

p.s. I really ought to update the bathroom, eh? It’s the only room in the house we haven’t done anything to, beyond hanging a shower curtain!

Some Affordable Bathroom Update Ideas

Making it Lovely — Thu, 10 May 2012 17:36:13 +0000

I’ve been sort of planning a little redo for our main bathroom. Not in any real, concrete way, mind you. More of a “gee, we’ve lived here for five years and have never touched the space, aside from hanging up a shower curtain” kind of way. (I’ve never even showed it properly, other than this shot.) So I’ve been looking at affordable updates, and I put a whole roundup together of bathroom decor under $50. I think a new shower curtain may be in order at the very least.

Sources: shower curtain • Botticelli Angel paint • mirror • wall vases • washing machine hamper • bath mat • cart • more here

Skip to My Loo

Making it Lovely — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 19:01:22 +0000

I could say this is the most ridiculous thing I’ve received as a blogger. It’s a signed Jonathan Adler toilet paper roll cover, which does in fact feel ridiculous to type out. But the thing is… it’s actually pretty cool.

And it looks cute in my bathroom.

There are three Adler designs available from Cottonelle. They’re an Alt Summit sponsor too, so I imagine you’ll be able to see them in person if you’re headed that way.

The Basement Half-Bathroom

Making it Lovely — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 17:25:05 +0000

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!

Art for the Bathroom

Making it Lovely — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 17:49:13 +0000

One of the benefits of having a green floor is the ability to layout art on it and imagine the arrangement on your similarly toned walls. Trouble figuring out placements for a gallery wall? Just paint your floors to match! Great planning aid!

I kid. Here’s what I’ve got so far though.

I’m going to use a little ledge for the tumbler and bowl, either in white or green. I’m considering adding a clock though too, and then maybe I’d need another little ledge to balance it out. What do you think?

Also, I’m trying to choose a color for the mirror. I had originally planned on yellow, but I nixed all of the yellow accessories for the room, so now the color would probably look out of place. Maybe black? Or the darker green of that little bowl above?

The (Mostly) Finished Basement

Making it Lovely — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 18:51:17 +0000

Ta da! Does it suddenly feel like December again? Because that’s when all of this was supposed to be finished. Here’s the floor plan:

Let’s head down the stairs to take a look around.

And now a before:

And after:

Before:

After:

That’s as good as it gets for empty basement ‘before and after’ photos, because once we reached this stage we started moving in all of our stuff. Witness, we couldn’t even wait at this point to start filling up the storage area.

The play space used to look like this:

Now it’s a play room, and it looks like this:

And of course, we have the bathroom and laundry room sneak peeks you’ve already seen:

Our house feels so much bigger now. I think we added about 600 sq. ft. of living space to our existing 1400. Now it’s on to the fun part: decorating it!