#ugliestbathroomreno Reveal!

You guys!! It's #ugliestbathroomreno reveal day! I feel so badly for having made you wait so long. (I've gotten a few emails:) To be honest, it's really not even completely done but I'm sharing it anyway. More on that another day but for today, let's celebrate a "pretty much finished" bathroom renovation! So exciting!

 

We are enjoying it so much that we've almost forgotten what it used to be like. Well almost. The life without a toilet and showering at our parent's houses for weeks is still quite fresh in my mind. If you've forgotten, here's a little reminder.

It was bad. I've had some friends and readers swear that their bathroom is worse and I'll take your word for it. However, we personally like to believe that we held the title of tiniest, ugliest and least functional, all rolled into one little ball of bathroom horror.

So first of all, the footprint. If you recall, the bathtub was to your immediate left as you came into the room with the toilet and pedestal sink adjacent to it. The space was tiny, which meant that when you sat on the toilet, your knees were knocking on the tub. Not ideal. After tearing out the whole bathroom (walls, ceiling and even floor joists!) and discovering it was a possibility, we decided to flip the sink and tub.

This decision meant that we had room for a full vanity instead of a pedestal sink. Thank goodness because we had some serious storage issues. We ended up going with the Ikea Godmorgon/Bravikan combination and hung it floating on the wall instead of using the legs. This makes it super easy to clean underneath and adds to that feeling of spaciousness that we were after. It's amazing how much storage the two full drawers offer, which means no clutter in the bathroom (ie. happy Jane).

In an effort to make the bathroom appear as large as possible, I ordered a custom cut mirror with a polished edge that goes from the counter to the ceiling. Two simple chrome wall sconces flank either side. I love having the flattering light of the sconces compared to the long florescent bulb that used to run along the top of our old mirror. I swear, we got a whole lot better looking with the change!

Flipping the sink and bathtub also meant that we now have a window in the shower. We know this is not exactly ideal but it didn't hinder our decision because we knew the footprint change made so much more sense. In fact, everyone who sees the new space assumes we borrowed space from another room. Nope same ole' tiny little bathroom!

Can I just tell you though, how much I love having a window in the shower? I rarely need to turn on the light to shower. We do, however, leave the shower curtain open all the time to let the light flood in and that means there is no hiding a dirty shower. We added a custom cut privacy film to the lower part of the window so the neighbors don't get a little show:)

We did most of the work on the bathroom ourselves (that means Steph) but did leave the tiling to a professional. We went with a simple white subway tile with white grout on the walls and a hexagon marble tile with platinum grout on the floor. I think the floor is my favorite thing the room, especially since we put in-floor heat. Such a luxury!

 

Our tiler put a niche for our shampoo bottles in the wall that is hidden by the shower curtain. This means there are no bottles littering the side of the tub, which can look messy and is a pain with you are soaking in the tub.

He also put two marble sills. One in the niche and one as the window sill. Both are angled slightly to allow water run-off. These were his suggestion and one I am incredibly grateful for. They really tie the floor and wall tiles together.

I chose a relatively simple, low profile shower system and matching sink faucet. The shower system has a rain head and a detachable shower head, with is great for cleaning and rinsing conditioner out of your hair. An absolute necessity that had to be explained to Steph, but he now enjoys.

The toilet was a bit of a splurge but its lean profile fits so perfectly in the space. The pedestal base is a dream to clean, compared to what we once had. Plus, it's a pretty cool looking toilet if you ask me. Worth it.

I hung the custom shower curtain almost to the ceiling and it fall to just an inch from the floor. Once again, the goal was to create the illusion of space. It's actually hard to believe that the ceilings are only standard height. The shower curtain combined with the mirror and the crisp white walls make everything appear much larger and higher than they are.

So there you have it! I, for one, am thrilled with the end result. I mean, seriously, you saw the before, right? Who wouldn't. It was a lot of work though and I learned an awful lot about how disruptive a renovation can be to your home and life. If we were to do it again, I'd do some things differently, regarding the process. Live and learn, I guess. I don't think I would change anything about the finished product.

There is still no overhead light, the curtain rod is a cheapo, the trim and door have yet to be painted, the towel rod and hooks aren't hung and I'd like a shelf over the toilet to put a small vase and an art print. That's quite a list! But right now we are on to other things... Oops:) Always the way!

Sources:

sink and vanity - Ikea

shower system and faucet -Mr Plumber

floor and wall tiles - Home Depot

wall sconces - Kent Building Supplies

toilet and tub - Mr Plumber

customized shower curtain - Ikea / Long Liner - Amazon.ca

mirror - City Glass

Hand towel - West Elm

Bath Mat - Target

bathroom accessories (soap dispenser/tray) - Target

Paint - Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace