I know nothing about bathroom tiles
As I wrote about in the last post, we gutted much of our upstairs in order to do an almost complete overhaul of the layout, thanks to a whirlpool tub that the former owners had inside their bedroom.
Major Project #1 and Major Project #2 on our calendar are, in this order: the secondary bathroom (my son’s bathroom), and the master bathroom.
We went to Lowe’s to look at tiles and faucets and tubs and bathroom vanities—there was definitely sticker shock around how much it costs to tile a bathroom.
Here are my considerations for choosing the big fixtures for the bathroom: must be reasonably priced for the quality, easy to clean (as I will be doing much of the cleaning), and something basic enough that I won’t be bored of it in two or three years (paint color is easy to switch up, but fixtures aren’t).
Here’s what we ended up choosing for my son’s bathroom:
The rundown of choices:
Not throwing away what works — We are keeping the following from the previous owners’ build: (1) the bath tub, (2) the toilet, (3) the mirror and vanity lights. They’re your basic, run-of-the-mill white and wood, and while I want to update them to a more modern aesthetic, there’s really no use throwing away completely functional fixtures. It will save us money and keep some waste away from the landfill.
Very basic tile and fixtures for the bathroom — Kids’ needs and preferences change very quickly as they grow, so I wanted to keep the big furnishings extremely basic (subway tile, stone-look floor, matte black hardware, wood vanity, white paint) and then change up the accessories as we experiment with different styles.
Cobalt as the main accent color — Design and color principles are basically the same, whether you’re painting, designing a poster, or in this case, putting together a bathroom. Having the same color in different levels help move the eye around the room, so in this case, blue will be high up on the shower curtain, a bit on the bath mat, the artwork, and hopefully we can DIY a blue skateboard shelf as well (an ode to Don’s first love).
The DIY list:
Stain the mirror and lighting base to match the vanity — I think this will be an easy DIY. The vanity is a darker walnut color, while the previous owners’ fixtures are a lighter and more orange wood.
Paint the interior of the linen closet — He has a linen closet right by the door, and I’m thinking of painting the inside of it in cobalt blue, kind of like the following image:
Source: Bateaumagne
Do We Love It? The Scoreboard
Do I love the current design? 6/10. I feel lukewarm about the floor tiles, but we chose it because it was affordable and would save us labor costs. I’m not thrilled about those vanity lights and want to replace them with these astronaut sconces as the statement piece of the room, but that would need electrical rewiring, which would mean expensive labor costs.
Will I love it long-term? 5/10. Again, as I mentioned earlier, I think that basic subway tile, matte black hardware, and white paint can feel blah and cookie cutter—but the hypothesis is that it will be a long-term blank canvas for us to play with accessories as my son grows and changes favorite colors and objects. We will just have to see.
Are the materials high-quality and will last a long time? TBD. This is our first ever room we’re renovating, so I honestly have no clue if I picked out durable materials. I tried to read reviews as much as I can, but it’s truly hard to know until you live with it yourself. So. TBD.
That’s it for the (over)thinking and decision-making today. What other considerations/factors do you think I should include in the Do We Love It Scoreboard? Feel free to let me know.
