Friday, August 16, 2013

The Hall Bath

I'm going to ask you all the brace yourselves for the following "before" photo.  It's bad.  Like after you see it, you won't be able to un-see it.  Small children and people with delicate decorating constitutions should use caution.  This WAS the hall bath:


This bathroom had everything the early 70's had to offer: faux marble laminate vanity top, chipped sink, cheap replacement fixtures, multicolored speckle tile and wet-bed floor.  As a bonus, all of the blue fixtures had faded over the years at different rates so none of them were the same color.  This is the bathroom that had the great tub-overflow, so the good news was that the wet bed floor tiles were easy to pull up.  They actually popped up like popcorn.  Unfortunately for our budget, this room was pulled back to the studs since we were replacing everything, we just tore the whole thing out--it was easier.

Since this was to be the only bathtub in the house, we decided it should be good and ordered a slightly over sized jetted tub.  It was a more complicated endeavor than I thought it would be since it involved having the reinforce the floor and electrical wiring to the motor.  It was worth it.


We chose a vintage design for the tub, a nice neutral marble floor that was an off the shelf product at Lowe's and Kohler fixtures.  The stained wood trim around the floor molding was an LAM creation after something he saw in a Four Season's hotel we stayed at in Hawaii.  When he told me about the idea, it seemed simple enough, but installing it was really difficult, so we probably wouldn't do it again, but we think it looks neat.


We chose a basic white subway tile for the wall (I love, love, love subway tile--clean and classic) and some other decorative pieces I played around with until I got a pattern that I liked.  It's surprising what you can put together with off the shelf pieces from a big box store.


This is the finished product.  We did the same moldings around the window and I re-used the seafoam trim color--it looks great with white walls and the same low flush toilet as the other bathroom (it matches the tub).  When we chose the vanity, we ended up with a compromise because the plumbing comes straight up out of the floor and we didn't want to have to move it, so the pedestal sink that I wanted was out.  This was the next best thing and does provide some storage--the drawer on the bottom actually functions and is a great place to stash extra rolls of toilet paper, etc.  All in all, we're super happy with the way this one turned out and the blue mess is a distant memory!

~ESM

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