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DOWNSTAIRS BATHROOM REVEAL

White subway tile in bathroom

Our downstairs bathroom is finally done and I’m ecstatic to share the reveal with you today!  Ugh… this bathroom has driven us insane over the last few months.  When we moved in this was the first room we started working on.  Not only was this space a total disaster, it seems like everything went wrong during the remodeling process.  It took us over 5 months to finish, we even started referring to this bathroom as The Bathroom From Hell.   I’m happy to say the nightmare is finally over!

Let’s first see some of those ugly before photos!  Drum roll please…

Absolutely horrific!  The dead bird in the shower and paper towel holder over the sink added a great decorative touch.  Call me old fashioned but who needs paper towels in the bathroom?

When the cabin was for sale a pipe in the ceiling froze and caused the office tile ceiling to cave in.  It was easily fixable but my main issue was the height of the ceiling.   It was really low and gave a claustrophobic feel to the room.  So our first task was to raise the ceiling.

We found out that we could raise the ceiling by a foot, a foot doesn’t sound like much but it was necessary.  This is when the Hell part starts… before we could raise the ceiling we had raise the air duct, gas line, and water lines up into the rafters.  This is out of our league, so we hired “so called” professionals who were highly recommend at the time.  They charged us a high daily rate and spent over 3 weeks tinkering around without any sort of progress.  At the end of every day Brian would walk into the bathroom to check progress and just shake his head.  He was furious when he noticed a bunch of our plumbing pipes had been installed upside down.

I’ll spare you the rest of the gritty details, long story short we ended up getting some of our money back from the rip off workers and our ever so helpful construction handy man who we call Brian2 saved the day.  Everything that had been done over the last 3 weeks had to be ripped out and started over.

I could go into much more drama and detail but I won’t… I’m just happy about our gorgeous new bathroom!  As you can see below raising the ceiling by just a foot made all the difference in the world.

Bathtub niche ideas

I wanted the bathroom to have a fresh crisp look, with also a bit of rustic charm.  I knew I wanted white subway tile, it’s just so clean and versatile…  it goes with anything and everything!  So my next task was to find a floor tile to acheive my vision and balance the room.  This Laura Ashley tile from The Tile Shop was perfect, but wouldn’t you know when I went to order it we had a problem.  It was out of stock, and I mean really out of stock.  I was told it was having production problems and it could take up to a year to receive it.   I called the Texas location where we used to shop and they were able to find enough scrap pieces from a bunch of area stores and ship it to Denver for us.  Amazing!

Bathtub shower combo with subway tile

The width of the bathroom let us go with an extra wide bathtub which is amazing.  Then I realized all standard sized shower curtains were way too short.  Etsy again saved the day and I was able to have a custom sized shower curtain made.   It was such an easy fantastic transaction, I was even able to buy a custom sized liner… and it all arrived in less than 2 weeks.

The window serves as a natural resting spot for items in the shower, but we decided to add a recessed niche lower down for those taking a bath.

Bathroom shower soap niche ideas

I love bold bathroom mirrors, but this time I felt like going with a clean minimalist look.  I think paired with the white subway tile wall it looks incredible.

wood bathroom vanity ideas

I know brass and gold metal in the bathroom is a trend that’s really taking off… and I love it to death but I can’t do it.  Bathroom and kitchen remodels are just way to expensive for me to get trendy.  I stuck with chrome and satin nickel to keep it safe.  I had a gift card reward from Neiman Marcus, and I wondered what on earth to do with it.  Luckily I stumbled upon this light, I don’t normally buy light fixtures at Neiman’s but it did work out in my favor.

bathroom remodeling ideas

When it came to the bathroom vanity I knew exactly what I wanted, I just couldn’t find it.  We ended up going with a custom built vanity from Etsy, I was able to get the perfect dimensions and all the features I wanted.  I wanted the look of a free standing vanity with drawers, no cabinets.

bathroom remodeling ideas

The top drawer is false, but the bottom drawer holds all the necessary items.  I added modern 12 inch drawer pulls to keep the vanity from looking too country.  The open bottom shelf is a great spot to add extra towels, and in the future I may add baskets to hold extra clutter.

White subway tile bathroom with wood vanity

This faucet… is it possible to love a faucet this much??  I am truly embarrassed by how much it costs but hear me out.  First of all I think every room needs one splurge item and this was it.  Second I had a lot of rewards from buying furniture so technically it was free, I paid just tax, if that.

I couldn’t find anything I truly loved at Lowe’s or Home Depot, the vintage look of this faucet won me over.  I just needed it… that is all.

bathroom remodeling ideas

Let’s get a close up, now that’s one sexy faucet!  If you look closely you can see me in my bathrobe with the camera tripod.  Haha.

bathroom remodeling ideas

The countertop is a remnant piece of quartz.  Any time we do small bathroom projects I like to go with remnant pieces, going this route can save you some serious money.

Chrome metal bathroom decor ideas

I’m not a big fan of traditional towel racks anymore.  It’s such a hassle to fold your towel and make it look nice and often times we need to fold more than 2 towels, so hooks it is!  We’re major hookers!  Sorry I couldn’t resist… but seriously we are total hookers.  Every room has multiple hooks, as well as all the back of all our doors.  Why fold when you can just hook?

hooks for towels instead of towel rack

If you have hooks in your home you know sometimes they pull out from the wall and it’s such a hassle.  We solved this problem by reinforcing the wall behind the hooks with a 2×4 before it was sheetrocked and textured.

I stumbled upon this whimsical animal wall art one day while on Etsy.  Can you tell I love Etsy?  I knew I had to have it somewhere in our house.  My first thought was in Ashley’s room but it ended up working perfectly in the bathroom.   Ashley was insistent on the Marie Antionette bunny.  There are so many cute animals to pick from at this Etsy store.

Benjamin Moore Ice Formations Paint

The original bathroom closet was huge, but awkwardly huge.  It didn’t fit the space so we rebuilt it to an appropriate size.  The air duct was raised but it does go through the tip top of the closet, as you can see how the wall to the right is at an angle.

The closet door is smaller than normal, we found a local custom door company that could make us a tiny door to match our other knotty alder doors.  I love this tiny door, it’s so cute… and it’s just fun to say tiny door.  Tiny door!

Modern cabin bathroom remodel

Such a transformation!  Bathroom from Hell is now Bathroom from Heaven!  I have all our bathroom details linked below.  Thanks for stopping by and viewing our bathroom remodel.

Walls are Ice Formations and ceiling and trim are Simply White both by Benjamin Moore.

Vanity | Floor tile | Faucet | LightTowel hooks | Towel ring | Toliet paper holder | Toliet | Towels | Bathtub | Wall art

Wall frames | Door knobs | Mirror | Shower curtain – custom sized in medium weight white linen

 

Laura

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2 thoughts on “DOWNSTAIRS BATHROOM REVEAL

  1. Wow! What a transformation! I’ve just found your blog, and it’s terrific. I look forward to reading more of your posts!