Pepper Design Blog

Building a Bathroom: Vanity Wars

Sounds like the title of the latest reality show, right? Well we’re having a serious show down over here between several vanities that are vying for their spot in the new bathroom (at least in my head that’s how I’m imagining the fight is working out).

We bounced back and forth between a cabinet-style vanity and a pedestal sink and actually tried all four of these various models in the bathroom itself. Nothing speaks louder than a really outstanding visual!

The bummer with the pedestal (my initial favorite) right off of the bat was that because you entered into the bathroom looking at the side of the sink, the exposed plumbing was going to be more obvious than usual (such a bummer – if we had originally plumbed it with that intention it may have worked out). But alas, on to options with storage (woohoo!).  Standing in corners 2, 3 and 4 are the 25″ ish (the ideal size for the space – we learned the hard way by hauling in a 36″er) and are as follows: 2. Moravia by allen + roth, 3. Java Broadway by Estate, 4. Magick Woods by Eurostone Shaker.

Any of these vanities would have been perfect, but the perfectionist in me had a little vision in mind as to what I had hoped the ideal vanity would be: a more modern rectangular shape, a ceramic white vanity top and a little bit of storage below.

The Moravia by allen + roth had more of a potbelly feel with a rounded front and more ornate doors.

It was a little on the fancier side though it did have wood paneling sides and that was a nice touch, especially since you see the side first. The only thumbs down? The white of the top of the vanity was different white from the subway tiles and Kohler toilet. Pretty noticeable (I guess maybe especially to us since we’re up to our ears in details right now ).

The Java Broadway by Estate was the ideal shape with classic shaker-style doors. Proportion-wise it was a fit as well with a depth of about 19″ and a 25″ width. The only bummer? It has a tan top. It’s had to see in this picture, but the vanity top is on the warmer side with creamy tans and browns. We considered the top with the current blueish/green color palette for a few minutes but quickly decided that it contrasted too much with the cool tone of the tile in the shower and on the floor.

The Magick Woods by Eurostone Shaker was the most economical solution and shared similar shaker-style doors to my above favorite. The stain is significantly darker in person, more of an espresso vs coffee, and the ceramic bowl almost looks like a pedestal with a built-in cabinet. The major bummer was that it’s a short 12″ in depth and after seeing the above options it felt like it was swallowed up in the bathroom. It’s a shame because this guy would have been a great buy.

We spun circles around which decision to make -all three of the final vanity choices would have worked out great in the space! But we had to choose one that was most similar to how we imagined the final bath turning out.

The vanity that won out? Java Broadway by Estate! When we learned that it would be just a small expense more for a Kohler vanity top that matched the Kohler toilet we splurged the extra bit and upgraded to the best of both worlds.

An up close shot with one of our hardware options we’re thinking about…

And the matching Kohler option looks really great up against the ceramic tile.

Next upm installing these guys and painting! A new bathroom is on its way…

More building a bathroom posts: subway tile installation,  floor tiles and toe warmers, a quick catch-up on our work on the bathroom in 2011, tiling with recycled glass, choosing and installing a bathtub, demo time!, a peak at the layout, initial inspiration, partnering with Lowe’s

We partnered with Lowe’s on our bathroom remodel and received some product at no cost and some product at a discount. The ideas and stories shared in this post are entirely our own.

Liv’s 1st Birthday: DIY Invites & Envelope Liners

Back with a few more details from Liv’s 1st birthday. When it came to creating little invitations for her party I was a big time procrastinator. Actually, it was during my few days off between Christmas and New Years that it suddenly dawned on me that her birthday was just a few weeks away! and we needed to get something in the mail asap.

It was fairly simple to throw these guys together quickly. I used Photoshop to add some cute, bold text to two of my favorite photos of Liv (I couldn’t pick between the two! So half of the invitees received one and half the other), but you could use one of the free programs reviewed here to do the same.

I sandwiched that photo between a smaller red card (bought a set of red envelopes and matching cards at Michaels and printed the party info in fun fonts directly on to the red inserts, then cut them to size) and a piece of brown construction paper.

Inspired by this creative girl’s Christmas card and this beautiful invite from Pinterest, I tied up the bundle with Martha Stewart’s striped baking twine (found in the scrapbooking department in a pack of 6).

The other half of the fun was creating envelope liners that for me really made the entire invite. I love the peak of red and white striped paper and it tied in perfectly with the rest of the party. It was a little teaser of what was to come!

To make the envelope liners (by the way, they’ve been on the back of my mind since seeing this adorable version), I created a simple template of the inside of the envelope (trace the shape of the envelope on to thicker paper, cut out and then snip off about 1/3″ of an inch from each side) and then cut out about 25 from 12×12 striped scrapbooking sheets of paper from Michaels. I used double sided scrapbooking tape to adhere into place.

My last addition was a failed attempt. I had originally hoped to sandwich the information card and photo of Liv between a piece of paper bag brown construction paper (that was the specific color I was on the hunt for ) and a top piece of the same size but with cute, colorful bunting (a la a few images from my Pinterest board on Liv’s party).

Sewing paper is seeeeeeew difficult (see that crazy stitching above?), and after a half hour of testing, tearing, tangling and tormenting I decided to omit the addition.

But I was thrilled with the results of the invites and we got those puppies in the mail just in time to notify friends and family that there was a par-tay coming up!

Total cost was about $.25 per invite and from the time I hit ‘send’ on my online Costco photo order to the time I picked up my pics at our local Costco, all of the supplies at Michaels and assembled the invites, it took just a day or two to get them finished and in the mail.

And just for fun, here was my assembly workstation:

Wait, you don’t have a toilet in your living room? Just us?

Building a Bathroom: Plaster & Subway Tile

The bathroom has made so much progress over the last few days! We’ve gone from a framed out room to drywalled, plastered and even tiled walls.

It all started with the addition of a layer of drywall and hardibacker (for under the tile portion of the wall – making it extra waterproof) and a sealing off of all corners with corner tape (makes the meeting of two walls or ceiling and wall seamless). Then up and over that drywall layer went two thin coats of plaster that Kevin added to give the walls that traditional Spanish feel (just like the rest of the walls in the house).

And just to back track a little in case those shots of newly plastered walls are coming out of nowhere for you, this is the outline of the door we had to cover up (part of the old hallway) that led into the dining room, and why we had to basically begin from scratch on all walls:

Here’s a look at that same door coming into the new bath from the dining room:

And here’s the layout for an even better visual, the arrow marks the old door that led into this space:

Amidst all of the wall sealing up project, I walked into the room to witness this:

A close up:

Ah yes, just what every mom wants to see. Daddies sometimes have the best ideas. I guess Liv was helping – that’s always a good thing.

She is actually quite the helper. Kevin watches Liv in the mornings (before her babysitter comes over for a few hours) while I work in the office and I’m beginning to think that he might be taking advantage his side kick…

PS that is an empty coffee cup in her hand – we don’t also amp her up on caffeine but boy does she insist on carrying a cup around when mommy has one too.

We have a baby gate that separates her from the bathroom when he’s doing little jobs that she can watch, and she always wants to help so badly!

Back to tiling. We chose to add a subway tile chair rail to the bathroom as a little nod to the history of the space. Subway tile is characteristic of older baths and it’s one good example of a classic look that has stood the test of time.

Here’s the in-progress version:

Kevin used a trowel to add a thin layer of adhesive to the wall (something around the consistency of thick pancake batter is what you’re looking for), set the tile and after letting dry overnight, grouted it with a rubber grout float.

We set the tiles verrrry close together and used the smallest spacers for this project (as everyone knows white grout can be tough to keep clean and this helped to keep the grout to a minimum ).

Rather than adding a colorful border (always pretty and definitely a nice option) we opted for a solid white subway tile chair rail since the recycled 1″ tiles we used in the shower nook didn’t come in any other size. The top of the tile is a simple bullnozed set of subway tiles.

Here’s a quick reminder of the inspiration image we’re holding on to. Love that subway tile!

And here’s another really unique way to install subway tile:

On the vertical! How cool is that?

Next up is picking out a vanity, toilet and then finally painting! It’s all coming together.

More building a bathroom posts: floor tiles and toe warmers, a quick catch-up on our work on the bathroom in 2011, tiling with recycled glass, choosing and installing a bathtub, demo time!, a peak at the layout, initial inspiration, partnering with Lowe’s

We partnered with Lowe’s on our bathroom remodel and received some product at no cost and some product at a discount. The ideas and stories shared in this post are entirely our own.