One Room Challenge Reveal!

I have so much to say about this bathroom. There are so many details that I love, from the oversized mirror to the micro sconces to all the ways we customized this space using a mix of big box products with smaller shop details. But most of all it boils down to a feeling of complete awe that we made this room all by ourselves. (Wait! Have you seen the befores? Check them out here first and then read on).

The design part was easy. I've been designing this bathroom and redesigning this bathroom, in my head for the last 4+ years (ever since I laid eyes on it when we first came to see this house and mentally cringed).

The execution part was something else. Over the years Andrew has built many things for our family, including parts of our major renovations that we did on our kitchen before we moved in. But he's never tiled a thing, did any major plumbing, or drywalled anything. In our last home we used to jokingly refer to our rear next door neighbour as DIY because he was always building hideous blatant diy projects in his backyard. Andrew is not that man. An engineer by trade, he takes the words detail oriented to a whole new level. So yeah, everything in this room is perfect. 

Our neutral family bathroom



I finally feel that our bathroom is on par with our kitchen (which says a lot because I still love every detail of our kitchen four + years later). Gone is the brown, brown with more brown colour scheme and instead, it's light and soft and so so pretty.

Let's start with the terrazzo floors (because I still hear myself chant so so pretty every time I step on them. These floors are the only area where we enlisted the help of our contractor. We did this because they are very large at 24 x 24 and we had no extra tile to speak of (so zero room for errors). 

The oversized round Umbra mirror from Wayfair was one of the first pieces that I picked out. We knew we wanted a double vanity but realized it would have to be a small double so I loved the idea of one giant round mirror instead of two smaller ones. 

The Ikea Godmorgon double vanity was the obvious choice because I install these vanities in client bathrooms often and know how much storage a well designed Ikea drawer can fit. I did however want to try something different for the drawer fronts and have long admired Semihandmade doors for Ikea cabinets. When they suggested the Impression line for our bathroom I instantly fell for the Tahoe. We have a lot of white and black in our home and I was really craving some warmth for a change.


The texture of these doors is amazing, not at all your basic veneer drawer front. They describe them as a textured melamine door with the look of real wood. 

Now we went back and forth with hardware so much (it's always the final details that get tricky). For a while we were leaning towards black but I am so happy we went with brass instead. The pulls are from CB2 and match the brass of our Hudson Valley Baird wall sconces perfectly (in case you missed the IG story, I had some major brass mismatching fears). They give the look of an edge pull without actually being one.

Can we talk about that vertical slightly bricked tile pattern up there? While I was initially drawn to the vertical stacked look it felt a tad too modern for our taste. This was a great compromise and Andrew carried it through the shower and shower nook too.

The light fixture that we had in this bathroom previously could have won an award for world's ugliest light (I even put it up on FB marketplace to see if someone would buy it - but alas there were no takers). The micro wall sconces from Hudson Valley are so perfect in here. They are small and mighty and are just the right scale next to the mirror. I can't wait to dim these lights nice and low and take a bath in here.



This nook was the best surprise. There used to be a linen closet here and it took up so much space and had a door that swung out towards our old vanity. Andrew suggested getting rid of it (which meant so much more work for him) but it really paid off. Andrew's brother Steve happens to be excellent at woodworking and generously made these shelves for us. I love how the shelves feel like they are meant to be in this space with the boxed in drywall details.

Initially I was worried about going from a linen closet with a door that we could close (to hide all of the things that five people need in a bathroom) but the vanity is such a storage beast that we can get away with using these shelves as both a display area and towel storage.

There was some basket drama at Homesense that I wrote about (perhaps too often) in my IG stories but I now believe it was all meant to be this way. The lack of matchy baskets is more in line with how I like things anyways and I love the funky leaning ones I ended up finding.

In case you're curious about those giant fluffy towels I will let you in on a discovery of mine. I originally worked with Sol Organics late last year on a bedroom refresh (their bedding is amazing), but they also sent me two of their organic bath sheets. These towels are a game changer. Our twin daughters kept trying to steal them (because I was hiding them) - they're that good. So when Sol Organics agreed to send us six more for our new bathroom, we all got very excited.


Can we talk about a boring yet pretty detail for a second? These Aria Vents were first brought to my attention by my friend Heather of @interiorgroupie . They work by applying grout or mortar to the inside of that rectangular interior piece and then adding a piece of your matching floor tile on top. Since we didn't want to move the floor vent, this was a wonderful solution to make the vent just blend in with the rest of the decor. 


The Delta Trinsic wall mounted faucets were something that I was nervous to tell my husband about. As a first time plumber it seemed (from my googling) that installing wall mount faucets might be testing his abilities (and likely our marriage) but after a few youtube videos, Andrew said he was fairly confident he could swing them. Wayfair generously sent them to us. I worried about how difficult these would be for our children, especially Ben who is just under two, to operate but they are very easy and don't cause any splashing. We went with the chrome finish for two reasons. First because we are on well water and despite our water filtration systems, it still seems like our water can do a number of nice finishes. Secondly, I wanted to make long lasting design decisions for the parts of the bathroom that can't easily be changed. So chrome it is.


We worked with Delta Canada to complete our shower with the Delta H2Okinetic In2ition 4-Setting Two-in-One Shower, the MultiChoice Universal Tub / Shower Rough - Universal Inlets / Outlets, and the Delta Trinsic Monitor 14 Series Tub & Shower Trim. I love the clean lines of these fixtures and how solid they feel to the touch.


The sinks are from Ikea and the countertop is a quartz remanent with really subtle warm marble like details.

Sourcing List:


Lucia Hand Cream, Candle, Jade Facial Roller, Bath Salts, Nail Brush, Kaia Naturals Deordorant gifted from Terra20
Towel Bar, Toilet Roll Holder, Hand Towel, Amber Glass Bottles, ceramic beaker from June Home Supply
Umbra Hub Mirror, Delta Trinsic Wall Mounted Faucets gifted from Wayfair
Baird Wall Sconces gifted from Hudson Valley Lighting
Wall Tile, Terrazzo Floor Tile from Ceragres
Black 2 Arm Hook, Brass Bin Pulls From CB2
Glass Vanity Tray from Crate and Barrel
Painting by Katelyn Morse of Birch Bliss
Delta H2Okinetic In2ition 4-Setting Two-in-One Shower, the MultiChoice Universal Tub / Shower Rough - Universal Inlets / Outlets, and the Delta Trinsic Monitor 14 Series Tub & Shower Trim gifted from Delta Canada
Impression line drawer fronts in Tahoe Semihandmade doors for Ikea cabinets
Ikea Godmorgon Vanity
Aria Lite Floor Vent gifted by Aria Vent
Toilet by American Standard from Lowes Canada
Shower Curtain, Baskets from Homesense

A before shot (because even I need to be reminded of how far we've come):







In case you missed it, here is our One Room Challenge design plan from week 1, along with week 2, week 3, week 4 and week 5.



Comments

  1. Well done! It looks so much bigger and way more open. This is giving me ideas for our bathroom we are building in our basement. You did such a great job. Congrats!

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  2. I LOVE what you've done - especially that photo of the mirror with the hooks in the reflection. Gorgeous!

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