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.

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.

Liv’s First Birthday Party

We had such a wonderful time celebrating Liv’s first birthday. You only get to do a first birthday once (and I suspect future birthdays will be dictated by the little one) so I took advantage and had a lot fun planning out and preparing for a big day.

I’m not sure how the theme initially came about, but a striped, circus-y party slowly developed as we planned. (Okay… get ready for way too many pictures.)

We’ve had record breaking warm weather (think low 80′s) here this January so we planned for a beautiful day at the park (that and our house has a bit of open construction going on right now). Oh we were biting our nails though… 5 days till the party and the weatherman promised 10% chance of rain, 2 days until the big day and my iPhone notified me we were up to a 60% chance of rain! and that morning we woke to a forecast of 20% chance of precipitation. Thankfully we had a quick sprinkle when setting up but other than that a dry – albeit a bit chilly – day. But no matter, we had a great time anyway.

After deciding on the carnival/circus theme, I came across this party and was immediately inspired to create a similar tablecloth for our food/dessert table. I purchased 10 yards of Ikea striped fabric and used Stitch Witchery to hem a skirt and a top piece. I included elastic in the top hem of the skirt to create the ruching effect and kept the skirt and top pieces separate so that if I ever wanted to cover a different sized table it would be easy to adjust (these two 6′ foot banquet tables are covered on three sides, but my skirt would easily wrap around an entire 8′ table, for example). I think I may go back and sew my hems into place now that the rush of getting ready for the party is over…

We dined on Kevin’s smoked pulled pork sandwiches and potato salad, and washed it all down with homemade pink lavender lemonade (Kev’s new recipe that he coaxed out of one of our favorite local restaurants).

Friends and family helped pull the little dessert bar together (my Grandma made her famous wedding cookies, peanut butter cookies and adorable iced ’1′ cookies) and a big thanks to friends Liz and Stephanie for adding cookies and the awesome cake pops to the mix!

I made Liv’s first birthday cake from a box mix and covered it whipped cream icing and handmade pink fondant polka dots.

There were just a few yards of fabric leftover from the tablecloth and so I covered a few pillows from the house for the picnic area. All of these red fleece blankets were scooped up on sale at Ikea for $2.50 a piece – much cheaper than renting chairs!

On the other side of our little space of park, we strung up the super-easy-to-make fabric bunting from this party in the trees above the present table:

And added a string of matted black and white photos from Liv’s first year.

Luckily I had family in town for the weekend so that our little army could assemble the entire party Sunday morning (Mom, you are the best!). I was so nervous that our spot at the park would be taken (it was a holiday weekend, after all) that I asked my dad and all of the brothers to take shifts ‘guarding’ it from 7:30am on. But in the end we were the only party on this cloudy day!

Liv was quite unsure about her birthday cake. It could have been the 30ish people standing around and watching her but she was verrry hesitant before finally tasting and diving right in. I did attempt to light the candles but the breeze wasn’t having it .

We offered forks to any other kids that wanted to help her with her birthday cake – I feared a sore tummy was inevitable!

Finally, we played and played. I found pink bouncy balls at Toy’s R Us for $1.99 and  bought a dozen animal beach balls as prizes for the little relay we set up.

One of Liv’s birthday presents was an adorable peach tutu from her buddy Gigi. That inspired some serious running with balloons during clean up after everyone had left.

Yes, that is her dress awkwardly tucked into her tutu.

You know how I’m always talking about all of those uncles? Here’s a visual.

Too bad this one is just a little out of focus… but it’s adorable! Dad and Grandpa are in the mix too, but she has seven of these wonderful guys (two are missing) as uncles looking out for her!

And there it is, Liv’s first birthday celebration .