Bright and Coastal Bathroom Update

Our wedding was, as it is for most, a year-long DIY project full of stress and tasks and things to do.  When that was all over and done with, I thought it would be nice to relax and not have any big project to work on.  Wrong!  I got super restless and learned that I have to have some project going on, small or large, I can’t sit idle for too long.

So, I set my sights on our dated guest bathroom.  Our house was built in 1996, however, the previous owners updated the master bathroom (more on that later), back porch, and the kitchen (minus the cabinets).  We even found blueprints in a closet for a second story add-on which I WISH had been done already :/  They never got to the guest bathroom and it was still in full 90s-builder-grade glory with teardrop faucets, cultured marble countertop and sink, the cheapest light fixture I’ve ever seen, a builder’s mirror, and pickled oak cabinets (like in the kitchen). Barf.

My goal was a light, neutral, clean space using mostly white and beige (inspiration here and here).  I started by taking down the mirror (luckily it wasn’t glued on), the over-john cabinet, and the stupid light fixture so I could paint.

I chose Sherwin-Williams’ Popular Gray for the paint and it only took right at one quart to do two coats of the whole space.  The color was lighter and more beige than I thought it would be but I still love it, it’s very clean and neutral.  I replaced the light fixture and mirror (coupons aplenty) and started shopping for a quartz countertop.

I started with Lowe’s but the bathroom department quoted me about $800 for a 48″ off-center sink quartz counter (no backsplash) and their kitchen department charges a minimum of 25 square feet, even if you’re under that (mine was 8).  So off to Home Depot, where I was quoted $360 total (that’s WITH installation) for a Silestone “Blanco City” countertop  AND 10% off (they often run this special on installed countertops).  This was in their kitchen department which has no minimum size.  Pshht, ordered!  The guys were super quick on both the template visit (easy enough I guess though) and on the installation visit.  I couldn’t wait to get that dang cultured marble out of there and just hovered around them watching all the fun.  It’s amazing how transformative changing a countertop can be!  I adore the quartz, we will be using quartz again in the master bath ‘fo ‘sho!

After the countertop was in, I plopped the sink and faucet in.  You wouldn’t believe what I got this faucet for; it was mislabeled at our Ferguson’s showroom for $174 when it was supposed to be $404, and they honored it!  I love Ferguson’s, like, alot and love them even more now for honoring that.  I could, and may, live in their showroom forever.

I also decided to splurge on a Moen trim kit for the shower faucet which also had the dreaded teardrop handle. I figure since I was in here working already, I should go ahead and do everything I can.   I didn’t even know these trim kits were made until this and, while installation was less than smooth due to a shallow valve, and it was a splurge, it made our shower look totally refreshed. Moen has awesome customer service too, we got pretty close through this process :)

The cabinetry needed updating too so I painted it in SW’s Extra White.  I do wish I would have gone a shade or two down because it’s pretty dang white, although anything is better than pickled oak and it looks good enough, I am NOT repainting it anytime soon :)  (PS: Those are our initial tile ponderings on the countertop)

The last task was a backsplash, something I’ve never done before.  I went back and forth between travertine, mother-of-pearl mosaic, and subway tile but am sooo happy I went with the plain white subway in the end.  This was our first tiling experience and was the most intimidating DIY for me yet, but once I/we (Matt was the cutter, he didn’t want anything to do with the rest of it) started, it was actually kind of fun.  We used a scorer and nippers for the normal tiles but the trim pieces required a wet saw borrowed from a friend, luckily it was just that one corner we had to get through this time.  We grouted with non-sanded white grout. 

I wanted the tile to go down all the way behind the toilet so initially we tried doing it without taking the toilet tank off, but that was NOT going to happen so off it came.  If you’re tiling the same sort of space, just do this, it makes your life much easier.  And don’t tape off the edges, they will get set in and its a pain in the ass, trust me, there’s still some tape by the shower :/

Finishing touches were a floating shelf, jars and towels, and some DIY shadow boxes with treasures from our honeymoon in Antigua.

I am in love with this bathroom, Matt calls it my happy place.  It is so bright and clean and I am jealous of our guests who get to use it :)  We will do something more masculine and contemporary in our master bath so this is my pretty girl bathroom.

UPDATE:  I re-purposed a cool old door washed up on the beach into the perfect towel holder for the guest bathroom, check it out here!!!

tub trim kit

shower curtain

Silestone countertop

sink

lighting

faucet

mirror

apothecary jars