Sharing our main bathroom design plans- a modern classic design with black and white tile and warm details to soften it up! Linking all pieces we’ve ordered and sharing the before photos.
We’ve been itching to makeover this bathroom (and our other one, really) since we moved into this house in 2018, but between time and budget, you know us DIYers have to prioritize! We’ve taken on so much in this house and were slowing down, planning to leave bathrooms for next year when… our kiddo flooded the thing. It’s been a wild few months figuring out how to get contractors and supplies and where to go while they’re in our home while the world has been half shut down and designing a bathroom in a hurry when we couldn’t visit showrooms and learning do as many of the processes I would usually do in person- online. But it’s coming together and I’m so excited to share it with you!
We wanted to modernize the space a bit and love, love black and white tile. But that feels so cold when it’s with all cool tones. So we’re working on warming it up a bit with plants and warm greys (no blue tones this time!). But before I get into that… want to be reminded of the space we’re working with? Let’s check out the before!
You can see that it was kind of dark and all… tan. It was also dated. The previous owners had updated cosmetic features like the tap and mirror but the tap was broken when we moved in and the towel bars fell down shortly after… and then the toilet paper holder broke. It was like so many things in this house that just started falling apart with any use. I remember the first week we lived here one of the kitchen fake door fronts just falling off in the night. This room also had original fixtures from the 80s. The almond colored enamel tub and molded sink, the plywood vanity and then that tile was just stick on tile overtop of older tile. It needed the work.
So the flood damaged the subfloor. The restoration company ripped up the floor and insurance would cover new tile. We decided there’s no point in tiling around a tub and vanity we wanted to replace in a year, so started to hustle to get it all together before flooring was laid. Here’s what we’ve pulled together!
Isn’t she pretty?! Okay, let’s talk about the tile.
Tile selection
I knew I wanted a black floor. I’m obsessed with black tile and had originally dreamed of a black herringbone floor but the tile of my dreams was just that… a dream. I called my favourite flooring store in town when we flooded, I sent them some inspiration images and asked them to send me photos of all the tile they thought I might like. She included this tiny hex in a matte black and I just couldn’t look at any other option. It’s even prettier in person guys. The walls of the shower and halfway up the room are a stacked white tile. We went for a similar look to what we did in the kitchen but in a larger size. The larger size was mostly just for affordability, it’s a lot more space to cover than the kitchen backsplash! If you’re local to me… Complete Floors is amazing, I totally recommend them! Their website is also pretty darn lovely and yes, I’m patting myself on my back for the first branding photography I was hired out for- ha!
The feeling of the space
Okay so we loved the tile but follow my thought process with me (Shane thinks I’m crazy, but I’m sure you’ll understand). We installed the bathtub and painted the walls white before tile was installed. Then, tile went in. And the tile is all freaking beautiful but you walk into the room and it just feels cold. Not to the touch, but the tones. Our whole house feels warm and comfortable with the tones we’ve chosen. Even though the walls are white, it feels warm. I didn’t want the whole feel of this one tiny room to be that crazy different. So I knew I needed to find a way to warm it up.
the vanity
The vanity, ohhhh the vanity was a headache, friends. If you’re reading this a year or two later, you might not remember what this past few months has been like- but trust me when I say the world practically shut down. Like the tile I’d dreamed of, I’d dreamed of a wood vanity. But when I got to pricing those out along with all the other things that we would need to budget for after the flood (surprise!), it wasn’t going to fit in the budget. They were $3000+. On top of that… I don’t think I even found one I could get my hands on. All warehouses were prioritizing emergency supplies (please know, I think that’s great… the timing of our flood was just super inconvenient!) so Wayfair and Amazon were out of the question- all out of stock! We couldn’t cross the border to get one from the states like we normally would have- the border is closed. We couldn’t even go to Homesense or ReStore to try find an old dresser or hutch to turn into a vanity, because they were closed too. So Home Depot was our only option with the timeline we had (this is our main bathroom, we only have a 3 pc ensuite that’s really cramped and we have a family of 6… although this has dragged out months and our toddler still screams every time we try to shower him- ha! Can’t wait to give that kid a bath again!).
Okay, so Home Depot- we finally found one we liked on Home Depot. It is a cold gray which I wasn’t crazy about for this space, but the price was reasonable. But like most things it wasn’t available online or locally. I won’t get into the details, but we had to get a store transfer, which then got lost. Then our local store closed due to structural issues. Then when they finally opened, they ordered us a new vanity online. Which never came. Then our local store finally got another one so this factor of ‘timeline’ was laughable in the end. LOL But we have a vanity and she’s pretty and all is good. This is the one we have.
But we got it home and I just couldn’t get on board with the cool grey colour. I told Shane I was going to paint this brand new vanity and he just couldn’t understand why I would want to, but he’s so gracious and told me to go for it. So I used my paint sprayer and gave it a warmer gray color. IT’S SO GOOD. I’m so glad I did! It really, really works against the tile.
The vanity came with both brushed stainless and black handles. We switched to the black!
fixtures
We knew we wanted to carry the black fixtures we’d chosen in the rest of the house through to our bathroom. We’ve partnered with Delta and are using these gorgeous fixtures. The TRINSIC® Two Handle Widespread Bathroom Faucet is not only beautiful in a matte black finish but also uses 20% less water than industry standard and is shown to last longer without leaking. But really, you know I’m into the design. By ordering a vanity that already had three holes drilled into a countertop, the widespread design allows me to have no cover plate on the bottom of a faucet- so many are just made for one hole!
In the tub/shower, we’ve ordered the PIVOTAL Shower Kit that comes with a rain head and a hand shower which is HUGE for us having little kids that get covered in mud or who knows what else- ha! We need a full bathtub as this is our only bathroom large enough to have one, so we’re pairing this shower kit with a diverter faucet to make it all work nicely. I’m so excited to get those fixtures in!
Lighting + Mirror
We chose to go with pendants! I have been reading that lighting from above (traditional vanity lighting) isn’t as great for lighting faces if you’ll be doing makeup in here (which I probably wont) but also they’re just so pretty! They also allowed me to do an arched mirror which I love the look of. I am partnering with Mitzi for these Riley pendants. We have Mitzi products in our entryway and I love the modern design of them. They’re truly beautiful and I can’t wait to have them in another space in our home!
As I was looking for pendants, I was looking for a black finish (these are oil rubbed bronze, but since we have that finish in our entryway I know that they pass as black unless you look suuuuper close) with clear glass. I didn’t want them to feel too heavy, but wanted them to almost layer over the mirror.
The mirror was another piece that was really hard to find what I wanted. I fell in love with this one from CB2 but it was out of the budget this time around. I can’t wait to share what we came up with! It cost under $100 and it’s a trick I know we’ll be using again. I’ll share it in the reveal!
Decor
Last but not least… I didn’t put much in this design board, but I’m planning some design details that bring warm taupes into the space. Maybe even some tan. Which after seeing the ‘before’ of this bathroom again and all the tan in there, it has me wondering if I’ve already forgotten that space- ha! I also am bringing in a few plants, because plants warm any space up! We’ll also have some super high end details like a stool for kids to wash their hands ;)
I can’t wait to show you the progress we’re making! We’re getting closer but are still waiting on some backordered parts. It’s been 4 months now since we were able to bath our kids at our house. Thank goodness we have a shower, but if you have a toddler that hates showers, you’ll understand how much we are excited for this bathtub!
“Silly Goose” Double Letters Practice Sheet (brush lettering)
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