Making it Lovely

Tag: Bathrooms

  • A Change of Plans

    A Change of Plans

    The bathroom is further along, but I’m afraid I’ve deviated a bit from the original plan!

    I hated the lights above the medicine cabinet, so I bought a new fixture for $30 from Lowes. We had to take the cabinet down to install the new light, and then realized that we couldn’t put it back up. The lights wouldn’t clear the top, and there were going to be some harsh shadows.

    The new plan: hang a mirror instead and add a small medicine cabinet to the right, over the toilet. I bought a mirror ($30) and a cabinet ($40) from IKEA. Oh, and I repainted.

    Bathroom Redo

    It looks pretty good so far! The trim still needs to be primed and painted, and I haven’t done anything to the vanity yet.

    So far, so good

  • Oops, Wrong Color.

    Oops, Wrong Color.

    I painted the bathroom a few days ago. It looks much more blue than I thought it would. Oops.

    Here’s what the bathroom looks like so far…

    bathroom progress

    That’s “Antiguan Sky” from Benjamin Moore. It’s a pretty blue/green color that I pulled from the shower curtain, but it’s much brighter than I was expecting. It doesn’t look so terrible in the photo, but I just took that picture a few minutes ago (it’s midnight). It’s a very *ahem* cheerful color during the day.

    I hated it at first and immediately thought I would repaint. Now that I’ve added some towels and a bathmat from IKEA, it looks kinda cute. Kinda.

    *addendum*
    Here are some new photos, taken at 10:30 a.m. with lots of daylight coming in:

    bathroom progress

    another progress photo

  • 2 or 6?

    2 or 6?

    I think I’m down to two options for the bathroom redo: #2 and #6.

    bathroom-redo2.jpg
    #2

    bathroom-redo6.jpg
    #6

    I actually like the Zinnia Shower Curtain more than the Graphic Fabric Shower Curtain, but I think the latter works better in my bathroom.

    Have I mentioned that I’m not a big fan of blue? Well, I’m not. I don’t hate it, but I wouldn’t normally choose it.

    Now, do I go dark brown or white with the sink and mirror? Overwhelmingly, you all prefered white (#6). I’m leaning towards dark brown (#2), which was also popular.

    The hallway directly outside of the bathroom is dark brown (the color of the library), so I think it would look nice if continued into the bathroom. I had originally intended to paint all of the trim on the second floor white (I’ve already done the library and our bedroom). Would the bathroom look funny if I paint the trim and the door white, but paint the sink and cabinet dark brown? Do they need to match in such a small space?

    My plan is to paint the walls, add a shelf, switch to the new shower curtain, and then figure it out from there.

  • Bathroom Redo (Renderings)

    Bathroom Redo (Renderings)

    Thank you everyone for your feedback! I’ve narrowed the choices down to just two: the Zinnia Shower Curtain and the Graphic Fabric Shower Curtain.

    I’ve made some mock-ups in Photoshop, and you can view larger versions of everything on flickr. Oh, and it may be hard to tell – that’s dark brown (not black) in the first few options.

    bathroom redo choices

    What do you think?

  • It’s Curtains for You (Shower)!

    It’s Curtains for You (Shower)!

    I’m still trying to figure out what to do with our turquoise bathroom. The tub, toilet, tiles, and sink/countertop are staying. The mirror/medicine cabinet and vanity are staying too, but those will be painted (along with the walls, of course).

    I already have a few bathroom accessories to work in. I had a gift certificate for Bed Bath & Beyond that I used to buy a wastebasket, tissue holder, and soap dish. They’re all by Jonathan Adler, and they’re all in a lovely shade of blue that will work well with the turquoise fixtures.

    Jonathan Adler Signature Blue Bath Ensemble by Croscill

    So what’s next for the bathroom? I don’t know! I’m most perplexed by the lack of white. Actually, no… I’m most perplexed by the lack of a decent neutral color. Our “neutrals” are an orangey/rusty/brown color and a mottled ochre/tan color. DO NOT WANT.

    I’m trying to find a good shower curtain first and then base my colors around it.

    Here’s what I have now:
    bathroom

    And here are some other options:

    Prairie View Shower Curtain from Anthropologie

    		 Graphic Fabric Shower Curtain from Bed Bath & Beyond
    Himmeli Shower Curtain from Crate & Barrel

    		 Zinnia Shower Curtain from Garnet Hill
    Waves Shower Curtain by west elm

    		 Samovaari Shower Curtain from Crate & Barrel

    Please do let me know if you’ve seen any other good shower curtains! I’m off to finish tiling the kitchen now…

  • Make it Work

    Make it Work

    OK. It’s time to tackle the turquoise bathroom. It looks like this (brace yourselves):

    The 2nd floor bathroom
    jealous?

    The turquoise tub and toilet aren’t that bad, I suppose. In combination with the rusty brown and cream 70s tile though? Plus the crappy wood? Yuck. Who thought that was a good look? I think they got everything on sale (dirt cheap? free?) and didn’t care. It’s the only explanation I can come up with.

    Eventually, Brandon and I would like to redo the bathroom. We want to knock down a wall between the toilet and the closet next to it, move the toilet over and then put in a bigger sink/vanity. Or maybe a more drastic layout change? That wouldn’t be for a few years (at least) though.

    2nd floor bathroom
    layout

    The lighting? So nice. The ceiling light needs to be replaced, but do you think the vanity light is salvageable (with a fresh coat of paint)? I think it could look so-so, but still not very nice.

    Glamorous lighting, no?

    So this will be the next project. I think I’d like to do it for a couple hundred dollars, maybe a little more if we change the lighting fixtures. Wish us luck!