Eclectic Modern Bathroom Remodel

This before and after still rocks my world a little bit. Truth be told it’s not a true after, there are still projects to be done in here. but, I mean, come on. Are these two rooms even the same?! It’s wild. The layout for this room is strange. I’m really not entirely sure what the person who laid out this space was thinking, but gutting it and rearranging just wasn’t in the budget.

We kept pretty much everything and just reworked it. The vanity is the same, but I put new slab doors on, sanded down the original vanity to its natural oak and then whitewashed it to keep the modern light look that the raw wood had (putting poly over the raw wood would have turned it back into the ugly orangey color of the original bathroom— no thanks!).

For whatever reason, the old vanity had a strange vacant cavity next to the cabinet under the counter. What went there? Who knows. Probably just cobwebs and grime. I added some open shelves there which are perfect for holding baskets with hair product (curly girls represent!), and the bottom shelf is the perfect spot for extra TP rolls.

The large linen closet storage on the left side of the vanity got a slatted upgrade, I just refinished the existing door and trim the same way I did the vanity cabinet, and then added oak slats.

This bathroom is not hurting for storage so the massive medicine cabinet mirror was absolutely not necessary. a streamlined simple brass mirror took it’s place, and the sorely dated vanity lighting got a midcentury modern upgrade.

Dingy white walls be gone! I did a textured wall treatment, giving the walls a plaster-y look to remove the dated orange peel texture, and then painted a moody blue-ish green-ish teal, Valspar’s Everglade Deck.

Obviously the showstopper of the space is the stunning cement hex tile from Riad Tile. I’ve eyed so many styles from Riad for years and this large wall behind the vanity basically begged for a statement wall. I’m absolutely obsessed with how this tile completely transforms the room.

And to replace the old formica counter, we did a poured concrete counter! This whole space was a DIY update, and we did everything we could to do budget friendly updates, use what existing elements we could, and worked around the layout so we could create the maximum update for minimum cost. I did pretty much everything myself, except the poured concrete counter and the floor tile, which my husband took on (though I did cut the floor tile, so we’ll call that one a joint effort).

If you want to see the before images, scroll down!

We’ve got some other big projects in the works so this space is basically on hold for now. It has an ugly ivory fiberglass tub/surround which desperately needs to be replaced, but it works fine and I can hide it behind a pretty shower curtain, so for the time being it stays. A pretty white tub and tiled surround will happen someday! In the meantime, I just bask in the glow of the tile wall.

tile c/o Riad Tile

Rustic Industrial Bathroom Design

Favorite client project of 2020 goes to: this bathroom! It was a small en-suite bath off their master, which had been poorly DIYed by the previous owners and just wasn’t very functional or stylish. Since the space was small we were able to make some really bold choices and elevate the space to a rustic, eclectic modern vibe.

One of my favorite elements that really gave the room a level up was doing floor to ceiling subway tile on the walls of the bathroom in addition to the shower. It’s classic and brightened up the whole space. We grounded the room with large black hex tile, and gave depth and warmth to the space with a gorgeous wood accent wall behind the vanity and toilet.

I’m obsessed with the shower door and I almost feel like that piece is one of the biggest game changers in the space. The old shower was tiled with large, dark grey tile, and then instead of a glass door, there was a shower curtain, basically turning the small 3x3ft shower stall into a claustrophobic dark cave. With the glass shower door, we can now get the natural light from the bathroom window, as well as the bathroom lighting, to illuminate the shower and help the smaller space feel much larger.

I’m super in love with the design we came up with and couldn’t be happier with how it turned out!

completed design photos by Michelle Baldwin

Exterior Before + After

This house was hands-down one of the ugliest ones in the neighborhood when we bought it. The yard was 100% lawn with huge divot paths where the previous owner’s dog ran along the fence, the exterior was the most blah color beige ever conceived, and it was so lacking in personality it was almost painful. To be fair, the before images were taken in September when the grass had turned brown from the late summer heat, and the after photos are taken in July so everything is still lush and green, so that does make things look nicer.

The front elevation needed something to make it feel cuter, so we put shingles in the gable, painted the whole house black (Behr color: Broadway), painted the trim white (Glidden color: Cappucino white), took off the ugly rusted screen door, and did a bit of landscaping.

Since the whole yard is lawn, I decided to take the entire west side of the house and turn it into a garden. I replaced the lawn with woodchips, built out some raised beds, and I’m still in the process of building out the front area with more raised bed and replacing the chain link fence with something prettier.

I’ve got some big plans for a deck off the back door where we can barbecue and have a nice big outdoor table. That’s definitely going to be a big project so I’ll probably happen next summer. In the meantime, we built a chicken coop and started a little flock of chickens this spring, which has been super fun.

It’s been a while since I looked at the before pictures and seeing them side by side with the current pics has me feeling pretty proud of what we’ve accomplished here thus far!

ORC Week 3: Shower tile installed!

We have tile!!! If I’m being honest, the tile isn’t 100% done… I still have to clean up grout haze, grout the shower niche (I think I’m going to grout that with white grout, which I didn’t have on hand), and caulk everything. Details, details. I always drag my feet on the details.

Tile was the biggest project in here, and the next biggest is to move plumbing, which I’m going to hire out. I’m moving the vanity to the wall under the mirror, so we need the sink plumbing to be there as well. Since we are in the midst of selling our other house, though, I may wait on that and try to button up some of the less daunting projects like finishing the drywall, installing shiplap on the ceiling, and re-doing the wall texture to feel more natural.

Make sure to check out all the other One Room Challenge participant projects here!

ORC Week 1: Our Master Bath Before!

Our Master bath was the one room that we really needed to gut completely and start from scratch. It had a disgusting 3x3ft shower, with a tiny linen closet next to it, an itty bitty vanity and the toilet sat smack dab in the door way. Whoever designed this space was completely insane. We didn’t have the budget to move a bunch of plumbing around, so we are working with what we’ve got for the most part (yes, including the toilet location).

Originally, this bathroom really didn’t feel at all like a “master” bath. It feels like the dingy basement bathroom from my college duplex, only less spacious. So while we couldn’t do a ton with the layout of the space, we could make it feel more like a nice bathroom that was designed in this decade.

Like, you guys, it kind of even gives me the heebie-jeebies just looking at these pictures. There are so many things about this house that made me a little stunned that humans were living here right before we bought it, but this bathroom was definitely high on that list.

We’re also removing the pocket door, and moving the doorway slightly to the left so that the toilet isn’t RIGHT in the middle of the doorway. Look, I love my husband, but I’d rather not have a direct line of sight to him taking a dump while I’m laying in bed. But that’s just me. Taking out the pocket door also allows us to beef up that wall where the pocket was for the door, so it’s sturdy enough to take the tile that we’ll be putting on the shower surround. We still really need a sliding door since our bedroom isn’t very big and a traditional door will take up too much space, so we’re putting in a sliding barn door instead. I got a vintage french door, which I’ll be rehabbing and doing a faux mercury glass treatment on the glass panes for privacy.

Next to the shower was a tiny, 3ft deep linen closet which felt minimally useful, so we decided to tear out that whole side of the room and instead put a walk-in shower. Originally I wanted to do a penny tile floor for the shower, but it ended up being a lot of work to do all that ourselves, so instead we bought a pre-made shower pan that fit the space perfectly. It’s not fancy, so I’m going to make a teak slat floor for the shower that will fit right on top of the shower pan and make things feel way more “spa” like.

The flooring will be completely replaced with large black hex tile, and we are moving the vanity to be on the wall opposite the doorway, next to the shower. Since the shower entrance will now be where the linen closet used to be, we can utilize that wall for a vanity with way more counter space. We’re putting up a gorgeous brass hexagonal mirror and two brass sconces on either side of the mirror!

I’m so excited to have a functional bathroom in our master! We have a second full bath in the house, so we haven’t “needed” it, but it’s going to be SO nice to have a space of our own.

Check out the other One Room Challenge posts!