Ok, so in the spirit of home renovation (our first floor renovation officially started today!), here is our first official project in our new house, the first floor powder room! Joe and his dad actually did this whole thing themselves and from start (demo) to finish (including all the finishing touches) I’d say it took around 3 months. They had to rework some of the plumbing and with the holidays and only being able to work nights and weekends, it took longer than expected BUT I’m so happy with the finished product! They really did a great job!
BEFORE: You might be thinking, “This doesn’t look too bad.” But trust me, it was. That is yellowed linoleum flooring that no matter how may times I bleached it just didn’t look or feel clean. The sink was in ok shape but it was a little too big for the size of this room so we opted for a smaller size and we love it!
The first thing I decided on when starting this bathroom was the floor. I knew I wanted cement tile and I was obsessed with these ones from The Builder Depot for a while. They’re very “old world” (they appeared in Spain in the 1850s and in France around 1870), environmentally friendly, low maintenance, and can last forever. I love how they lend a vintage feel to a room, particularly these black & white and floral printed tiles, and they feel a little French, which I like because our house also has a mansard roof so I wanted to keep true to that vibe. TIP: Joe did not seal this before starting to grout because he didn’t know but you MUST seal it PRIOR to grouting or it will stain the tile (not sure if you can see it here but thankfully we decided on a bone grout because it did stain the black a little but black grout would have been way worse!)! He ended up stopping halfway through after looking it up and sealed the tiles before finishing the grout.
This is the half sink we went with. I was a little worried about it being too small but I’m so happy we decided on this one- it fits the space perfectly and there’s more room than you would think. Amelia and I can both wash our hands together relatively comfortably! AND there’s room to put soap on the side, which was important to me. We were lucky that Pfister was generous enough to send us this faucet, towel ring, and tissue holder and they are even more beautiful in person! The faucet is called Aliante and I love that it also feels very old world and adds to the vintage charm of the room. The towel ring and tissue holder are both their Northcott style and I chose them for their simplistic yet elegant design. The modern chrome finishes provide a nice contrast to all the vintage vibes in this room!
I love the contrast of the chrome with the gold. It gives the room a more eclectic and collected look which I tend to gravitate towards and it also adds some character. Mixing metals can be tough but if you stick to 2-3 metals and choose one to be your base or dominant metal, it’s easier than you think to pull a room together! In this case, chrome is our dominant metal and gold is our accent. If the room were bigger, I would add a third but since it’s so small, I mostly stuck to two (if you don’t count the brushed nickel light).
The light fixture was a last minute find from The Home Depot and we went with brushed nickel. It’s close enough to the chrome that I don’t think it counts as another metal finish but when the lights are off, I think it just lends a little charm to the room and isn’t so shiny so it gives your eye a break, too.
I also knew I wanted this Clare Elsaesser print. I’ve had my eye on this one for a while and I want a few more of her prints for our home! I love her use of color and she has some beautiful floral prints I’d love for either our master or Amelia’s room. Side note: one of the major holdups in finishing this project was finding the right mirror. I had a vision in my head of what I wanted but just couldn’t find it in the right size anywhere. We literally stumbled upon this mirror one day around Christmas when we were out with the kids and I wasn’t sure about it but it was gold (which I wanted) and looked like it could be the right size so we bought it. I LOVE it!
Another before photo
sink: Wayfair, cement tile: The Builder Depot, shiplap: The Home Depot, light fixture: The Home Depot, faucet: Pfister c/o, tissue holder: Pfister c/o, towel ring: Pfister c/o, towel: Pesh c/o, basket: Ikea, frame: Michael’s, print: Clare Elsaesser, mirror: Target
I hope you all had a great Friday! We’re supposed to get a little snow this weekend (nothing big) but if you’re getting any kind of winter weather, stay safe! If you haven’t already, sign up for my email list here! I finally created my “welcome email” and I’m pretty excited about it! If you get it, let me know what you think, please!! And don’t forget to follow along with our renovation journey on Instagram!
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