DECOR

JACK AND JILL BATHROOM REMODEL

Ah, the teenage girls’ bathroom.  Do you have teenage daughters that share a bathroom?  If so, I bet you can definitely relate to this photo.  Makeup on towels, products everywhere, hair everywhere.  10 empty shampoo bottles in the shower.  It cracks me up staring at this photo.  My favorite thing about this photo is actually the fork.  Stare long enough and you’ll find it.  Their bathroom really frustrated me.  Of course I would nag them to clean it up but honesty there wasn’t much room to organize all their zillion beauty products, and I can’t really blame them for that. When it comes to hoarding beauty products I’m the same way, plus a lot of these products are hand-me-downs from me.


Next to their shower they do have a cabinet, but its not convenient to walk back and forth getting stuff and putting it away plus its full of other things.  Storing items you use often under the counter is also a hassle.  Countertop storage was just not working for us either so I browsed the Container Store to see what I could come up with.  This Elfa door organizer, while it isn’t beautiful to look at, did the trick.  I was amazed all the stuff I was able to cram in there.  Luckily the door is open most of the time so the door rack is usually out of view.

Not bad huh?  I could finally walk in their bathroom without having a panic attack.  We went over the “new” rule: It must go back to the door shelves or it gets thrown away the next day.  I said this in an extremely non-cheerful tone so they knew I meant business.  There was a door separating the vanity area from the toilet and shower area originally.  Three doors in such a tiny congested area was a mistake, so we removed the door and tried out a privacy curtain for a while. So that was that.  Their bathroom had plenty of other issues, but I was content.


Meanwhile we were in the middle of our kitchen remodel.  If you read that post I was having so much trouble picking out kitchen floor tile. If you haven’t read this you can read Part 1 and Part 2. One day at The Tile Shop, I made the mistake wandering away from the floor tiles and I bonded instantly with the Snow Stria with glass stone mosaic tile.  I thought I must have this.  Where can I put it?  It was so sparkly and gorgeous, just looking at it made me so happy.  I instantly thought of the girls bathroom.  They had done a good job lately keeping it clean.  I had convinced myself that my girls needed this tile in their bathroom and like NOW.  A lot of our projects start out like this by accident.

I love this beautiful mix of crackled glass and marble.  I could envision it with delicate soft pink walls to compliment the gray tones.  I decided to do a mosaic wall with the mirror and add sconce lighting.  I love sconce lighting so much!  Luckily, adding the wiring for sconce lighting was an easy fix.  When I decorate and remodel, I’ve learned the hard way that I must do it slowly or I screw it all up.  So I ordered my gorgeous mosaic tile early, and it sat in the garage while I planned out the rest of the remodel.  I took a sample to my countertop place.  I wanted to make sure the tones would be right.  I had to replace the countertop because of the sea shell bathroom sink.  Every time I would see the sea shell sink the theme song to Sponge Bob Square Pants would run through my head.  It was getting annoying.

After researching countertops that could survive teenage girls I decided on a quartz.  Quartz in Hausys Minuet to be exact.  I wanted the look of marble, but marble being so delicate I knew it wouldn’t have a chance.  I love this undercounter sink!  No more Sponge Bob.

Yes more subway tile.  How can I not?  It’s like a crisp white shirt that goes with everything and never goes out of style.  Plus its easy on the wallet, that mosaic tile wasn’t cheap.

I did choose the larger 4×6 subway tile this time, and we had a band of the mosaic tile around the shower and in the soap niche.  These recessed niches are pretty convent and eliminate the awkward ceramic soap tray that sticks out.  Here we are with tile nearly done, but no grout.  I decided to have the stub wall removed and open up the bathroom a little bit.  For one the curtain looked tacky, and in most Jack and Jill bathrooms you just lock both doors anyway, and the girls seemed fine with it.  Still some drywall and texture work to be done.  To make the walls easier to clean we decided on a half wall of tile in the shower and toilet area only.  The floor is also from the Tile Shop, it’s called Stark Grigio but unfortunately I think it’s being discontinued.

We had found a local cabinet place nearby during our kitchen remodel.  We had converted some false panels into drawers and they were great.  I really wanted some fresh modern cabinet doors.  I really don’t like cathedral style cabinet doors at all, yet I’ve been blessed with them all over my home.  So I brought them all my old cabinet doors and drawers and they measured and ordered everything for me.  The doors arrived unfinished so I painted them White Dove in semi-gloss by Benjamin Moore.  The cost was pretty low, but it made a huge impact.  I might eventually do this in our kitchen, but not for a while.  The thought of painting 23 cabinet doors and 11 drawers AGAIN makes me want to cry.  I think all the new cabinet doors and drawers (including the cabinets by the shower) were under $100 for this bathroom.  I recommend this route for sure!

Wow, these new cabinets and drawers make a huge difference!   I choose the Aubrey knob in chrome from Restoration Hardware.

Here we are with the grout.  The bathroom looks so clean and girly.

I decided on going with hooks for the towels.  Odds go up kids will hang up their towels if they don’t need to fold them over a rack.  Originally these hooks went directly into the wall, I preferred that look, but it wasn’t long before they were lose and wobbling out of the sheetrock.  So I found a decorative wooden board at a craft store.  It’s now screwed into the studs, so it and the hooks are not going anywhere.

These are the Traditional Clear Glass Hooks in chrome from Restoration Hardware.  I love the jeweled glass, it’s the perfect touch for a girly bathroom.  The sconce lighting is beautiful, but didn’t give off enough light.  So a simple light was added to the ceiling.

Previously we had a moisture problem in the shower area. We did upgrade the bathroom fan vent but also opening up this wall has made a big difference in air flow and moisture reduction.

The original tile went to the top of the window, creating an unnecessary strip of wall above it.  Bringing the tile up to the ceiling is a much cleaner look.  With the subway tile being higher you can also get a taller shower curtain.  Instead of the usual 72-inch long shower curtain I found an 84-inch long shower curtain from Restoration Hardware.  This is the Italian Hotel Satin Stitch Shower Curtain in white.

The bathroom floor tile looks amazing!  It has beautiful tones of gray that compliment the mosaic tile and the countertop.  If you’ve never been to a Tile Shop and you have one nearby you must go! It’s a lot of fun, but be warned going to the Tile Shop will probably want to make you remodel and tile every surface of your home.

Here is a photo of everything put together, complete with a complimentary pic of my arm.  It’s hard photographing a small bathroom!


So there’s our girls Jack and Jill bathroom makeover story.  The girls of course are thrilled with the results.  Thanks for reading!

 

 

Laura

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