And we’re back! It’s been a little over three months since we ripped out our small, builder-grade primary bathroom and our daughter’s bathrooms for a much-needed update. I’m so happy to finally share that the bathrooms are complete!
Last time you heard from me, we had just demo’d, and I shared our rough design plans for both spaces. Something I failed to mention in my previous post–I’m an interior design school dropout. I was *so *close to going to Savannah College of Art and Design. Loved the city, loved the school, but as a small-town girl from Oregon, it was much too far from home for me. I settled on Oregon State University. However, by my second term and starting the Kitchen and Bathroom Planning course, I h…
And we’re back! It’s been a little over three months since we ripped out our small, builder-grade primary bathroom and our daughter’s bathrooms for a much-needed update. I’m so happy to finally share that the bathrooms are complete!
Last time you heard from me, we had just demo’d, and I shared our rough design plans for both spaces. Something I failed to mention in my previous post–I’m an interior design school dropout. I was *so *close to going to Savannah College of Art and Design. Loved the city, loved the school, but as a small-town girl from Oregon, it was much too far from home for me. I settled on Oregon State University. However, by my second term and starting the Kitchen and Bathroom Planning course, I hated it. Seriously–way too many numbers for me! AutoCAD–woof! After barely making my way through that, I got into the photography department, and the rest is history. It’s quite comical and full circle that I now photograph interiors after an 11-year run as a wedding photographer. All of this to say, I mostly just enjoy design–being a designer is not a goal of mine. But, it sure was fun to play one in my own home for a couple of months! (I still hate numbers. Thank you, Emily & Gretchen, for all your mathing during this process, especially with the tile order!)
Back to it.. As a refresher, here is where we started.
The bathroom was boring, dark, bland, and just so, so sad.
Medicine Cabinet | Vanity | Tile | Checkered Towels | Striped Towels
And here is the mood board we created for the space.
I photographed The Carly back in the spring and had the pleasure of joining the EHD team on their retreat there. I’m so inspired by all the design choices that Max Humphrey and Curtis, the owner, made throughout the property—especially in the bathrooms. Each one had its own personality with paneling and pretty tile.
While our home’s style (and budget!) is definitely different from The Carly, it was fun to pull a bit of that inspiration into our own bathroom with paneling and a bolder tile choice. Also, ever since we paneled our basement, I’m pretty hooked on the look—I now want to either panel or wallpaper every room in the house. It just adds so much warmth and texture compared to painted drywall.
from: kaitlin’s basement reveal
For our basement, we used Metrie’s individual planks, but this time around, since space was tight and every inch mattered, we went with panel sheets instead. It was a pretty affordable way to get the look we wanted. All in, we were able to panel both our bathroom and the girls’ for about $750 in materials.
The Demo
As I mentioned in my last post, we didn’t have the budget—or the space, honestly—to expand the overall footprint of the bathroom. But we were able to enlarge the shower area, which felt like a huge win. There were a lot of exciting moments throughout the remodel, but seeing that header come down and the wall open up was easily one of my favorites. The shower is now nearly twice the size, and it completely transforms how open and spacious the whole room feels.
demo day–hi, ken! And pre-tile install–hi, ellis & mara!
Tile & Grout
Once the demo and rough plumbing were complete and paneling was up, it was time for tile. Fireclay was so incredibly kind to gift us the most beautiful blue square tile. It’s exactly what I’d been searching for. We went with 2×2 tile on the floor and 4×4 tile on the shower walls. I was leaning toward a warm, neutral gray grout that would complement the paint color we’d chosen, but after bringing the grout deck over to the River House one afternoon and getting Emily and Gretchen’s input, we ended up choosing Alabaster. I had a lot of creative freedom on this project, but I’m so grateful for Em’s perspective on this one—once the white grout went in, the tiles totally popped in a way I hadn’t expected. Yes, it’s white grout, and yes, as a bit of a clean freak, I’m nervous about keeping it pristine. But honestly, that doesn’t outweigh how much I love the look. I’ll just have to be diligent about scrubbing the grout and never wearing shoes in the bathroom, like, ever.
Ok, ok, enough chatter. I think it’s time for the final reveal!
The Reveal!
Wall Color | Tile | Shower Fixtures | Shower Doors | Striped Towel | Toliet | Vanity | Baskets | White Towels
Art (vintage) | Frames | Planter | Shower Fixtures
Tile | Bath Mat | Baskets | White Towels
The Medicine Cabinet & Vanity
I absolutely love this vanity. I was very impressed right when it arrived, and we opened it up—the quality is incredible and honestly feels custom. I don’t usually gravitate toward black countertops, but when I saw this one on AllModern, I knew it would be perfect for our space. The veining adds just the right amount of personality and gives it that luxe, designer feel. I hadn’t been specifically looking for a double-sink vanity—especially since our space is small and I didn’t want to lose valuable counter space—but I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how roomy it still feels, and how much I enjoy having our own little zones.
Faucet | Striped Hand Towel | Toothbrush Holder (unavailable)
One of the few things I actually liked about our bathroom before the renovation was the medicine cabinet storage—I knew I didn’t want to lose that. When we found this cabinet, it felt like the perfect match for the new vanity. They’re not from the same line at AllModern, but the white oak finish is an identical match, which makes them look completely cohesive.
Vanity Light | Medicine Cabinet | Vanity | Faucets
Technically, the cabinet is designed to be wall-mounted, but because of our layout and the overhead lighting we chose, our contractor recessed it slightly into the wall. I love the subtle black trim around the edge and the little wooden shelf below.
The Skylight
As you know, Em is a big skylight girly—and so are we. We already have a large one in our kitchen and another at the top of our stairs, and we’re so grateful the previous owners installed them. When we started the remodel, skylights weren’t at the top of the list, but we were definitely hoping to add them to the bathrooms, knowing they’d make a huge impact—especially in the girls’ bathroom, which we’ll be revealing next week. The installation ended up being a bit out of order because of installer availability—summer in Oregon is a busy time for skylights, as you can imagine. By the time they went in, the bathrooms were nearly complete. Since we didn’t want to make any major structural changes, we opted for a smaller skylight over the vanity area. Even with just a small skylight and our existing window, the difference was dramatic. Huge thanks to Velux!
The Light Fixture
If you remember from my moodboard, I originally planned to put two lights flanking the medicine cabinet. However, once all the final measurements were done (again, I’m not really a numbers person—oops!), it became clear that side-mounted lights just weren’t going to fit. So, we opted for a fixture above the mirror, and I couldn’t be happier with both the look and the light it produces. On that note, I’m a big believer that every single light switch should be on a dimmer—even in bathrooms. So yes, this one is dimmable, and I absolutely love it. Especially during these dark winter-like mornings when waking up feels so difficult.
Worth noting because I know it was a hot topic in the River House Game Room comments last week, I did Photoshop out the outlets behind our vanity. I promise, I have zero intentions of trying to deceive anyone! We didn’t really put much thought into ordering pretty outlets until it was too late. The plates we had installed are pretty darn big and white and don’t really go with the overall vibe of the space. Something we didn’t realize until things were finishing up— again, it’s my first time designing a bathroom, so some misses were definitely made. Lastly, in photos, they were in the way of some of the vanity styling that pulled your eye a bit too much. Ideally, we would have put an outlet on the wall to the right of the sinks, but due to the new pocket door placement, it wasn’t possible. All of this to say, sorry if it’s a bummer to not see them, they just weren’t very pretty!
Here’s the view from our bedroom looking into the bathroom. We definitely wanted the bathroom to feel cohesive with the Kelly Ventura wallpaper we chose for our bedroom.
from: kaitlin’s primary bedroom reveal
Here are some pretty exciting before and afters:
And that’s a wrap on our no longer builder-grade primary bathroom! A huge thank-you to AllModern for the beautiful bathroom fixtures that truly brought everything together. And a big thank-you to Emily as well—for your guidance, and for letting me take the reins on this one. And thank you for all the hard work to Ken (Em’s brother), Nick, and Ben at Afore!
Come on back next week for a fun little reveal of my daughter’s bathroom!
*Design and Photos by Kaitlin Green