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.

Building a Bathroom: Tiling & the Best $70 Bathroom Upgrade… Ever

**Quick Update: I’ve recently been contacted by someone who has installed the same recycled ‘moonlight’ mosaic tile as us (the tile that’s in our shower nook) and is just TWO sheets short of finishing her backsplash! The tile is now discontinued, so if you happen to know of someone with extra – it’s a long shot – but it would be awesome to help her out . Email me at: morgan at pepperdesignblog dot com.**

We’re on to flooring over here in the new bathroom. Most of the floors throughout the house are the original wood floors, one room is carpeted (read why here) and the kitchen is tiled because it was previously a bedroom and closet (before it was a den) making for some unusual wood flour patterns. Man I love the look of original wood floors! But since that’s generally a no-no for a bathroom, we checked out plenty of different tiling options.

But that $70 bathroom update that is the BEST EVER? It’s this little guy:

Such a great price for a tootsie toaster that is under the tile in the entire bathroom. This radiant floor mat is installed under the tile and our layer of subfloor and when turned on heats up your toes after getting out of the shower or in the cold early mornings. I’ve seen this in newer construction and have always oooed and ahhhed at the feature while secretly thinking it must have cost a fortune, but really it’s totally attainable for anyone who’s remodeling their bathroom. I cannot wait to test it out. Who knows, during the winter I might move my office and make myself comfortable on the floor of the bathroom.

But back to the tile.

It’s important to us that this 1930s home isn’t crazily remade into a modern should-have-been-built-in-the-year-2012 home. We love the original architecture found throughout the space and we’ve always had the goal in mind of paying homage to the year it was built while updating it to meet modern needs. We tried to do the same for the kitchen by using warm woods, oil rubbed bronze details and subway tiles (albeit modern glass ones). So when it came to tiling the bath my first choice was a beautiful older hexagon floor tile like this. How stunning! and that look and feel has and will survive the decades. Option two for me was to bring some continuity to our flooring situation (by not adding a fourth style of flooring into the house) by using the same dark slate tile as the kitchen.

Kevin loved the kitchen floor tiles and the dark grey grout (talk about easy to clean – white grout on the floor is a wee bit trickier) so we went with it. To break it up a bit though, and to create a newly defined space, we ordered tiles in 12×12″ squares rather than the 12×24″ panels that are in the kitchen.

You can see the break here (despite some of the missing grout and a tile that’s waiting for its cut):

The grey tiles below represent that dark slate that we were debating on with our initial color plan for the whole bath:

We were still debating option 1 & 2 at that point, but liked that the kitchen tiles worked well with the color palette. Now that the flooring is more modern, I’ll really have to work hard at finding other ways to incorporate those older, original-to-the-home accents.

The first step in tiling the new floor was establishing a pattern.

You can tell from one of the previous pictures above that we chose the second option or the square pattern (the real name is Jack on Jack pattern – who remembers that?). That diamond or ‘point’ pattern would have been great, you couldn’t have gone wrong, but I was leaning towards the latter. (Side note: we also tried the square version in the brick pattern (Running Bond pattern) we used in the kitchen but that was the first option to go). I wanted to keep it simple, simple, simple.

And so the tiling began (here are a few tips from the pros over at Lowe’s to reference too).

On top of the original wood floors a layer of hardibacker subflooring was drilled in (if you’re remodeling a bathroom it’s essential that you remove all original tile and really take care to focus on the subfloor – a tiled bathroom is only as good as your original floor and could create for later issues or an unlevel surface). Next our amazing electrical toe warmer was unrolled and installed. (Very sad I don’t have pictures of this but that’s how quickly it took Kev and his two buddies to install. Minutes.) The one picture I do have is of the electrical to the new radiant heating mats, our electrician tied it into the circuit when he installed all wiring.

On top of that went the tile.

The tiles were installed from the center out in this fashion: adhesive, notch end of trowel to create divets, add tile. Using the first tile as a guide, the rest of the tiles were lined up directly off of it.

Spacers can really help to create perfectly even grout lines.

If you’re working on a tile project at home and use spacers, be sure to remove those puppies before the adhesive you’re using (check tile directions) sets, usually between 20-30 minutes. That’s your time period for cleaning up adhesive that has smooshed it’s way out between or on top of the tiles too. Remember that this is just the adhesive step and not the grout.

It’s a bit repetitive but soon you’re well on your way to having installed all full tile pieces.

For those trickier edge pieces, we used a wet saw (a tile saw that helps to smoothly cut tiles by keeping a steady stream of water pouring over the tile while it’s under the blade). Kev and a friend went in on the cost of a tile saw years back and this puppy has seen plenty of use.

Definitely a smart investment for us.

I’m seriously breaking the blogging cardinal rule on this one for not having a proper ‘after’ photo but my after pictures of the newly tiled bathroom are too dark (I blame it on the midnight tiling and me forgetting to take photos in the morning ) but you’ll be able to see that finished floor soon after our tiled subway walls are complete!

More building a bathroom posts: 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.