When we were a couple of weeks away from move-in, the
bathroom that had been gutted needed to get finished. Thanks to Pinterest and the afore mentioned
Excel spreadsheet and a lot of online and in-store price shopping, this
bathroom—the only bathroom—has been the very picture of budget consciousness.
I wanted the bathroom to have a classic look that stayed
consistent with the age of the home. I
don’t want it to look like it is still the 1930s, but I want things to look
like they might have been here in the ‘30s.
The heart of the design actually began with a piece we bought at Round
Top last year that we had intended to use as a vanity for our girls’ bathroom at
our old house. It’s a charming 1920s
china hutch that is perfectly sized for this bathroom. The gentleman from whom we purchased it had
refinished it already, so all we needed to do was add a sink and faucet. The faucet I found on eBay for $40. The sink was a clearance steal at Lowes for
$20—down from $70. (I’ve made it a habit
to go through both local Lowes stores after dropping the kids off at school to
see what treasures lie waiting in the clearance aisle. I scored a $300 bathtub for $105 there as
well. It will go in my son’s bathroom.)
Obviously, a china hutch isn’t intended to be a vanity, so
some work had to be done to it. We cut a
hole in the top for the sink and removed the drawers from the center. I cut the whole drawer off of the top drawer
front to make room for the sink and with the help of a table saw and a jig saw,
reworked the bottom drawer to fit around the plumbing pipes. In doing that work, I made a fun
discovery. Whoever originally crafted this
piece signed and dated it on the bottom of one of the drawers (“H Holmes 3-8-26”). I hope H Holmes would approve of my reworking
of his craftsmanship or at least appreciate that his piece is still very much
being put to use.
From there, I started brainstorming and laying out a design
plan and started checking our usual spots for good deals. Floor’n’Décor Outlets
has become my favorite place for all flooring and tile projects. They have a fabulous selection and great
prices. I knew I wanted to stay
relatively neutral with my tile since the vanity is an antique yellow. In browsing their site, I found exactly what I
wanted for the floor as well as for the shower surround and walls—a variegated grey
penny-round tile for the floor to which I would add a band of white
penny-rounds for interest and grey and white subway tile for the shower and
bathroom walls. Both groups of tiles
were listed online at a great price ($3/square foot or less), so my budget was happy. HOWEVER… When I was a week away from being
ready to buy the tile (and waiting on a check to make the purchase possible), I
went to the store to check their inventory and they had none. No one knew when it would be in either. I had my heart set on that tile, so I just
hoped and prayed it would come in. We
were on a deadline simply because it is the only bathroom and we were getting
ready to move in. 5 people need tile in
the bathroom.
A week later—the day I had to have tile in hand—I went back in and still no tile on the shelves. Then Jorge came to my rescue. Unlike some of the other “workers” there (they get "" because they weren't working very hard), he was willing to go comb through the backroom for my tile. While my husband and I waited and searched for a viable alternative (one that matched both style and price of my first choice), Jorge searched the back. He came out with a flatbed full of my penny-round tiles! I realize it’s just tile, but it was the only tile I LOVED, so I was thrilled. Next to find the wall tile, which now appeared to be on close-out and in very short supply. Jorge to the rescue again. He crawled on the floor under the shelves to pull out exactly as much as we needed plus some extra, just in case. Our flatbed was full and we were right on budget. Next, up… Lay the tiles.
My husband and I have tiled plenty of rooms in our 15 year marriage. We have remodeled a 300+ square foot kitchen and a large master bathroom, both with lots of tile involved. Penny-rounds were something new though. Subway tiles were a first as well. And I don’t think I quite realized just how big my only bathroom was. It is about an 8’x10’ space with 9.5’ ceilings. Suffice it to say that besides the time it took my husband and father-in-law to replace and repair subflooring, repair and replace plumbing, install the bathtub, etc., it took me well over 40 hours to tile, grout and seal all of the tile. Up to that point, a welcome side-effect of staying home this year was great nails. This project ended that. I think it’s going to take a few more manicures to get them back into shape. In the meantime, however, I will lie back in my nice clean bathtub and admire the floor to ceiling subway tiles gleaming in my shower. (I will also take time to enjoy the other amazing deals I got for this space:
- $38 for the $99 ceiling fixture I had wanted all along (Thank you, Home Depot Clearance aisle!)
- $25 for the antique wall cabinet that now houses our piggy bank
- $25 for the marble top side table for bath essentials
- $45 for 6 yards of yellow cotton Oxford stripe fabric from Fabric.com for an extra-long shower curtain to complement the height of the room (Unfortunately, in the move, this fabric went MIA for a while, so we had only a clear shower curtain liner making any bathroom overlap unlikely. With the shower curtain in place now, one person can brush their teeth or use the toilet while someone else is in the shower.)
- $20 for a mirror I bought on a whim at a local antique store a couple of years ago
- $5 for a wall-mounted magnifying mirror from IKEA (I had prepared to spend $40 at Bed Bath and Beyond.)
- 30% off paint at what previously had been my local Sherwin Williams because they were sad I was moving
I failed to mention that because of a myriad of factors, the bathroom was not entirely complete come move-in day. The sink and toilet were fully functional, but the shower needed grout and sealing so we spent several nights showering at the Rectangle (my in-laws’ place)—inconvenient but definitely a blessing for the interim.
I am super proud of this bathroom! Our family of five has learned to share the
space very well, and I still like to go in there just to look at how pretty it
is.
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| dual-flush system--press the left button for #1, right for #2 |
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