When we stumbled upon this house {almost a year ago!} this was the master bedroom and bath situation. Dusty brass ceiling fans, and all.
Our now-home sat on the market for some time, and we believe this is one of the reasons why: People weren’t really sure what to do with such a tiny master bath. True to its age and style at the time the house was built, {circa 1976} the size and layout caused a bit of a conundrum.
Good thing for us, we love conundrums.
We originally purchased the house with the intent to redo, and then add an addition. Ideally, this will be Emerson’s space in the future. If you’ve been following for a while, then you know that we’ve had some real issues with the local septic inspectors. Wheeeeeeee! Codes here pride themselves on being difficult and taking a really long time. We hope to elaborate on an update soon. Long story short, we may be getting super creative in the future. Stay tuned.
After we purchased the house and decided to take on the renovation, we worked and then reworked the plans, and decided that it needed a bit more space.
Funny side story: I have no idea why at first, but this bathroom had absolutely no plans of changing. We were going to live with it for a while, and didn’t think it was in our budget… Looking back, it was such a beast to demo, {See: entire house shaking when tile was removed} we are SO GLAD we went ahead with it all.
Also, mold and water damage under layers and layers of old linoleum = reason enough alone.
So we came up with a different layout to fully utilize all the square footage.
While I’m sure the basement will eventually take its place, and the hallway bath was a close second {hello, hairy walls} I have to say this was by far the most satisfying space in the entire house to redo. You think it would be the main level, and we adore it in its own way. But we love a good challenge and this space needed a lot of love.
Like, mystery-hair-on-a-bar-of-soap-left-behind-by-previous-owners, love.
So we knocked it all out. And pushed it all forward. It needed a reconfiguration to make more sense, and just a little bit of space goes a long way.
pssst – check out our bedroom overhaul, here – all of our spaces, here.
We changed the closet to extend on the entire front of the bathroom, so that it is a walk through with storage on both sides, as opposed to the old tiny hallway with useless space. We then added a pocket door on the bathroom side to help with space, and seal in moisture from the bathroom.
Barn door on the outside of the closet, still to come. {Yes, we still have more stained glass and can’t wait to use it}
True to the rest of the house, we added shiplap to the ceilings, and fresh colors.
Re shiplap: We wanted to use shiplap in a classic way, and at a minimum in our spaces. We feel that it gives just a hint of classic throughout the house, without being something we’ll quickly tire of.
I just love this angle, and how you can see the blue play in different ways- it repeats itself and bounces around: On the tile, closet walls, and bedroom ceiling via the mirror.
There was a lot of bright blue going on in the old bathroom. This one was almost the blue equivalent of the red room in terms of intensity. Usually, I’m a total fan of blue.
We were thrilled to paint over this one.
We’re also thrilled to announce it doesn’t smell like an old, musty bathroom with a hint of manly hair soap anymore.
Vanity + Hardware:
For some reason, we had the hardest time finding the right sized vanity with the look we wanted, within our budget at just the right color… for this space. It was my hangup for this bathroom. We were thrilled when we finally got our hands on one a-la “off the rack” from the local hardware store – literally off the shelves. Sometimes “off the rack” finds make the best kind when mixed with the ‘higher end’ finishes – so there was a bit of high and low pairing in this bathroom. And the rickety old vanity which had long ago boarded the struggle bus, went on to a better place. {I’m not kidding… someone took it home so it always makes us happy when pieces can be rehabbed – those doors and fronts were charming.}
It was replaced with a new piece we scored at our local Home Depot, and we topped them off with some gorgeous milk glass knobs from our favorite hardware source – D. Lawless Hardware.
Our water closet metal sign can be found here… through the handmade home studio.
And what’s a bathroom without a Union + Dixie Candle? We’re smitten.
The faucet and tile combo by far, is our favorite. We’re suckers for classic.
We created shelves with our brackets for additional storage that was desperately needed, and it will be fully utilized in the future.
Here’s a small shot of the pocket door peeping out. We love that it just goes back and out of the way, with another hint of that grey that we love.
Art: I whipped up something for our space, here. It gave it a spot of deep blue and a vintage vibe.
Paint:
We knew we wanted a classic look throughout the house. We’ve already covered a little of our paint colors in the home, but for this space, it only felt appropriate to go soft.
While most of the rooms upstairs have blue shiplap ceilings, we loved keeping it simple here with the blue tile for the accent color. You’ll find NEBULOUS WHITE {HGSW4057} on the walls, and a simple PURE WHITE {HGSW4006} on the shiplap ceilings + trim.
We desperately wanted to open up the space, so in addition to bumping back the wall as far as we could on the right side {along with existing closet behind it} we gave that shower a knee wall and some frameless glass all the way up to free up the space visually.
It’s amazing what a little change in configuration and materials can make.
Fixtures:
We adore the simple character in keeping with our old school charm we brought into the space. We went with Moen’s Weymouth Chrome Two-handle High Arc Bathroom Faucet for the sink. I adore the little lettering it has on top.
And for the shower, Moen’s Chrome Posi-Temp.
A rainshower was a must for both of us, but I considered it a compromise if I was giving up that old clawfoot in our last house. ;} We {the kids and I} call it the singing booth because of it’s amazing acoustics. Fun fact: Jamin is completely tone deaf and could care less. He likes it because it’s so warm in the winter.
I have to say, the views are much better now.
Lighter and brighter all the way.
Tile:
The bathroom tiles are what brought in so much character for us… mostly classic with a touch of that modern feel. We wanted to design something Emerson could use for a very long time after we traded off… and though initially I was a bit squeamish about committing to a color, I must say it makes the space. No regrets… it’s so pretty.
We used Byzantine in Alice Blue
Just like our hallway bathroom, we went with penny tile under foot, to keep the spaces uniform.
I adore the way it feels when you walk across it barefoot. We did the same in the shower floor, to carry it through.
And you’ll see more of these gorgeous vent covers in a simple nod to all things details in all our spaces. I love the smaller ones and their simple design. Just something else in the space that makes us smile.
Of course the new trim work and fabulous windows make a huge difference in ways you wouldn’t think… it’s brighter in here, for sure.
The turkish towels are from our fave etsy store: Fast shipping + fair prices.
We’ve used Turkish Linen Towels for years and adore their variety.
I brought in small accents for my jewelry since I’m always removing it in the bathroom anyway… and the baskets are much needed storage for all things makeup/toiletries.
Here’s another view of the way the closet backs up to the bathroom. You step right through to get dressed.
The rug is an older find from Target a-la Threshold. Don’t you love it when you move and some things actually do work out/fit nicely? That’s probably a 20:1 ratio when it does actually happen.
Mirror:
Again, designing with a future teen in mind who will hopefully take over the bathroom in the future, we adored bringing in some customized character with this bejeweled mirror from Lamps Plus. We also like that it works for us, too.
They’re one of our favorite sources for all things home, and are also our source for our hallway and closet lighting.
Light:
We brought in some pretty lighting with this chrome bathroom light and it’s so bright, it kind of makes the space in terms of all things ambiance. Yes, even tiny spaces can have ambiance. We think it’s important that they do.
{Psssstttt….. Stay tuned for a fun giveaway coming up from Lamps Plus!}
We ended up adding a light/vent combo to the shower, where we used frameless glass to seal it up, as well. This should help prevent future moisture issues in such a small space.
And that about wraps up our mini tour of the bathroom.
As always, thanks for stopping by to our little corner of the www, and if you have any questions, please let us know.
We fall more and more in love with this house, every passing day.
Have an inspired day!
Robbin says
Just stunning!!! I love it!!! I do have a question does the glass on your shower actually “tuck” into the tile, or does it just butt up against it? Have you had problems with water seeping out between the glass and the tile??
jamin says
Hey, Robyn.
Great question. The glass on the half wall butts up against the tile and then is caulked, but the door actually doesn’t touch the tile anywhere. It comes really close. We haven’t noticed any water leakage, however, I am sure if you point the water directly at it then some would leak around the door. As far as normal use, it’s spaced far enough and there hasn’t been any that was noticeable, even when the kids use it.
Let us know if you have any other questions.
Rose Lefebvre says
It is such an amazing transformation! It looks like so much work but the final results make it all worthwhile.
Bonnie says
That’s such a pretty space.
Eva Scott says
Gosh, your bathroom size looks SO MUCH like our master bath! And I’ve been stumped with what to do. We have blue tile EVERYWHERE! What is a good budget to set aside to redo the floor and shower tile? Also, can you give the actual dimensions of your bathroom? Thanks in advance for whatever you can provide!
Heather @ Sugar Dish Me says
I am IN LOVE with this bathroom! The colors, the FLOOR, the shower — it is perfect! We have a very similar situation in our master and I am gonna borrow some of these ideas for sure!
ashley @ the handmade home says
Thanks so much, Heather!
Abby says
Beautiful! Do you know where you got the blue vase? I need to style some open shelves and it would fit perfectly. Thanks!
Kim Nicasio says
Can you tell me where you found the shelf brackets for this bathroom?
Lissy says
Hi Kim! I was here to ask the same question. I LOVE those brackets and and am having shelves made for my bathroom now. Did you ever receive an answer to your question? Thought I’d check here before making another post!
Karla says
Lovely! My question is where did you get the brackets for your shelves in the bathroom?
They are so much nicer than the standard L shaped brackets.
Thank you!
ashley @ the handmade home says
Hey Karla! I found some just like them here. Hope that helps!
Karla Kadow says
Thank you!!!
Karla