A Working Wardrobe

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Guest Bathroom Renovation

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Floor & Decor . All opinions are 100% mine.

Today I am excited to share with you our renovated guest hall bathroom. Isn’t it beautiful? Kevin did such an amazing tile job. I think it is his best yet!

The paint color is Benjamin Moore White Diamond which is a white with blue undertones.

This hall bath served as our master bathroom for 2 years (a miserable situation) before we created our dream master bedroom suite last year.  

This is the before.

I am sure she was beautiful in the 1920s but it’s almost a century later and she needs a full face lift.

Horrifying isn’t it? This bathroom was so gross that when we first toured the house with our realtor,  I told Kev I would never bathe in that bathroom in the state it was in. Well, never say never because we used it for 2 years.

Surprisingly, there are a few things we liked about our original bathroom. The tile work, while dirty, old and cracked, was superb.  We loved how high the subway tile went up the wall and the classic floor tile. Our goal was to update the bathroom but still maintain some classic vintage elements, like the subway tile.

Excuse the picture quality for these and subsequent pictures. Most were taken with my cell phone.

Many people think subway tile is boring (Many people is my husband. He hates subway tile). But I often say boring and classic are often two-sides of the same coin. We chose this blue subway tile in a larger format so we had less grout lines. It was also economical at less than $1 a piece.

I am a big fan of interesting patterned flooring. The floor gives you drama and visual interest and the field tile plays a supporting role. I typically pick my floor tile first but in this case we actually picked our wall tile first because we had eyed several blue tiles from Floor and Decor months before and knew that was one direction we wanted to explore.

Inspiration Station

You can see the floor tiles we considered that also work with our chosen color palette. We debated between the Blue Flower Marble Tile, the Clover Marble Tile, and the Basketweave Tile (not pictured). TIP:before you choose your tile make sure the manufacturer makes the appropriate finishing edge pieces. I’ve made that mistake in the past and it’s almost impossible to correct.

We then picked a contrasting marble subway tile for the shower nook with subtle blue undertones to compliment the floor and shower subway tile.

Hand selecting the tiles for the shower nook.

This project was considerably more complicated than we imagined. Did you know that people used to set tile in concrete instead of thin-set mortar? We had to demo to the studs. Everyone reading should know that I am using ‘we’ in the grandest sense here, like the royal ‘we.’ I did none of this work but I am a great supervisor and manager :)

My favorite piece in this room is this vintage dry sink from Craiglist. I didn’t want a regular vanity for this space. I wanted something truly one-of-a-kind. The wood add so much warmth and character to this previously bland guest bathroom. It was someone’s family heirloom and the seller was so happy to know we were going to re-purpose and re-use it.

Also, my husband had the genius idea to recess the radiator into the wall to save space. We tiled it like it was a hearth and it’s like a faux fireplace.

BEFORE:

This cover, while functional, took up a lot of space.

This was underneath that rad cover! We had to clean and spray paint it since it will now be exposed.

AFTER:

This 'fireplace' was a bit tricky and we actually installed an accent antique tile at first. That was a disaster , we decided to remove it, and we decided to keep it simple by continuing the floor tile and adding the marble border and the marble pencil tile.

Also pictured is our marble base moulding. We didn't use Floor & Decor for this because of time constraints BUT we were inspired to do this when we went in store.  I used the base moulding to add some dimension to the room. If you go to Floor & Decor for this there is a four week lead time so plan accordingly. I decided to add this at the last minute and at that point we had been living with dust for so long and we needed to finish. The Floor & Decor options here, here, and here are stunning and a worthy splurge.


We finished it off with chrome bathroom accessories from Floor & Decor’s Studio Design Collection. This collection is new and we were really excited to find that we didn't need to go elsewhere to find stylish bath accessories. These accessories come in a variety of finishes (like brass) and styles from traditional to modern. We went with the traditional style for this space.

Don’t be afraid to mix finishes.



This bathroom is so nice our guests may never leave!