Monday, June 14, 2010

operation bathroom

y'all. our bathroom. is atrocious.

like, i won't even post actual before pictures of it on this blog until we are living in the "after," so that you don't stop being friends with me and refuse to ever come to my house. some of you have experienced it in person. and for that, i am truly sorry.

just imagine, if you will...

pink tile. with sparkly flecks.


painted over. yes, PAINTED. THE TILE. i know. painted over in a shade of army green:


to coordinate with the "stone-look" linoleum tiles that were applied to the floors:

and wait! it gets better! because the other accent color in the linoleum tiles? besides army green and a bluish-gray? is pumpkin orange. which they used for the walls, like so:


are you so jealous of me right now? do you wish you lived at my house? hold on, because i'm not EVEN done yet.

know what happens when you paint over tile? especially tile that will be exposed to moisture? this:

let's talk about how awesome the pink sparkly tile looks peeking through the army green flaking paint all over creation. or not.

that is what the bathroom looked like when i first started dating captain fantastic. and i still married him, if you can believe. (disclaimer: the previous owners were responsible for the atrocity) my first order of business, practically on the day his roommates moved out a few years ago, was to hang a decent shower curtain and paint over the pumpkin orange with a creamy white. and the toilet and pedestal sink are actually lovely white porcelain. so at least there's that. but the tile situation remains.

why have we not just ripped out the tile, you ask? because it will be a project of young house love proportions (click the link to see their diy-reno of the same type of bathroom that took four full weekends to accomplish) and it is the ONLY bathroom in our house. and while i could handle driving to my parents' to take a shower, WHERE am i supposed to PEE in the meantime? hmm?

yikes.

did i totally burn your retinas with that virtual tour? let me make it up to you by sharing what i hope the bathroom will look like very soon, after i either convince captain fantastic to hire someone to do it real quick-like or move in with my parents for a month while he does it himself (because HE can pee in the back yard).

inspiration photos:

alisberg parker architects via decorpad

lori tippins' bathroom via decorpad

erika of urban grace via decorpad
main components:

white subway tile for the tub/shower - this is fairly certain.


walls will either be tiled with white subway tile or covered with a bead board wainscot. thoughts?


carrera marble for the floor - either hex or basketweave - this will be period-appropriate for the house, but with an updated and luxe edge, methinks. youthinks?

ooooh the irony that something similar was probably either ripped up or is ruined under the linoleum.

i'm still in love with the light gray-blue large-scale paisley shower curtain i got from pottery barn several years ago, so i plan to reuse it. i'd like to do a simple roman shade with ribbon trim for the bathroom's single window like so (these walls are about the shade of the shower curtain):


sconces like these (in silver):

flanking either a rectangular mirror, or something a little funky, like this:


reglazing the bathtub. keeping the potty and pedestal sink. despite the lack of under-sink storage, i think the pedestal works well in the small space. and we do have a large linen closet in the bathroom for our storage needs.

what do you think? beadboard or subway tile? diy or splurge for a professional? can i come stay at your house?

please?

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

C'mon you can do it! We had our bathtub reglazed in our main bath and it was $$ well spent. It was like having a brand new tub!!

I love all of your design ideas, {the roman shade with ribbon border, sconces, subway tile, and floor tiles especially}.

Loft32 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Loft32 said...

I recently finished a bathroom remodel too. We went from 1962 to 2010 in 2 months (took us a while!)I love all of your inspiration photos. I would say to DIY, however, if you need it done asap, because it's your only bath, then I would opt for a pro because something always happens to make things go longer than you expected. I vote for subway tiles, especially if you have an older home to go with the era of the home. I'm sure you will do a great job! Check out my bathroom remodel photos on my blog...it might give you some encouragement :) Lots of luck! Can't wait to see it when you're done!
www.loft32.blogspot.com or click on my photo.

maribeth said...

opinions: subway tile, splurge, and, sure, as long as you like living in piles of boxes and being woken up at 6 am by 3 very loud children!

your inspiration pictures sound like mine. love subway tile! and i agree with keeping it period appropriate. after living with my rents to just clean and paint and what not, i would totally recommend coughing up the cash. it will be beautiful regardless!

Elise A said...

thought you might at least appreciate a glance at this website, which is all about pink bathrooms...

http://savethepinkbathrooms.com/

and you should probably ditch the subway tile and go for a mural of an episcopal shield. just a thought.

lauren @ gathering moss said...

thanks for the encouragement and opinions, y'all!

abby & loft32 - LOVE both of your bathroom redos and definitely feel inspired.

maribeth - free babysitting! i'll show up on your front porch with my bags soon ;)

elise - GENIUS. episcoPOTTY all the way!

Kasey at Thrifty Little Blog said...

Painted tile = yuck!

I love the material choices that you've made! I'm sorta leaning towards the subway tile around the room. One option you guys could take is to hire an expert that will work with you. He can teach you the basics as he works and do all of the tricky corners then you can do the easier straight parts.

Jennifer said...

Can I just say to avoid the refinishing of the tub? We had that done in our then-house (now our rental), and while it looked AWESOME when it was done, it started flaking up about a year later. Of course, ymmv, but just wanted to throw that out there.

And check out this website for the prettiest mirror, specically this one...don't buy it up, though, because I have big plans to use it in our current bathroom reno.

http://www.ballarddesigns.com/Wall-Decor/Mirrors/All-Mirrors/Audrey-Mirror/p/10136?path=1,2,1468,1541,2513&iProductID=10136

SallyB said...

I am planning on redoing my bathroom -- and I feel like you stole my entire plan!!!

My only problem is that my house is not a beautiful century old home....its a trailer....but I can pretend its a beautiful old home.

Good luck to you!!

Lindsay said...

Yikes! It sounds like you have a lot of work on your hands! I'm a huge fan of subway tile so that would be my vote. Good luck if you decide to go the DIY route! xx

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