RenovationsStone Cottage Bathroom Design Plans August 21, 2017Well, y’all, it’s been an insane few weeks over here at The Buffalo Stone Cottage. Having a new baby, renovating a house, moving, and suddenly having a toddler home five days a week for summer with no break has taken its’ toil. We’re thankful for so many things during this season, but I’ve got to admit, we’re ready for some routine to come back. Rosie starts school again in three weeks…she just goes two mornings a week, but that provides so much structure to our week and gives me designated time to work, which is helpful for everyone. But her going back to school and the routine of fall coming has me ready to get us settled here and start working to finish spaces! I’m ready to finish making this the special home for our family that I envision. One of the big challenges with this house and our downsizing adventure was going to one bathroom. The kids are so little, so they don’t use it that much right now (though I realize that’ll change soon), but it’s all of our toiletries in one place, all sharing the same shower, etc. And it’s small. So my goal as I started to think about designing it was to make it as functional as possible. But I also wanted it to have serious style. To me, bathrooms are the hardest rooms to design. Y’all know I’m not a minimalist. I love textures, colors, accessories all layered on and that can be hard in a functional room like the bath. First, let’s go back to where this room started. While we were able to keep a lot in this house overall, this room was a total gut job. It doesn’t look as bad in photos as it did in person, but in an old house like this that’s been a rental and hasn’t been kept up, you never know what’s lurking in the walls. We learned early on that baths often need to be gutted because it’s likely there could be water damage behind the walls and floor. In the last guest bath and now this bath, the floor had so much water damage, the sub-floor rotted through and you could see into the crawl space! But we couldn’t see that until we removed the current linoleum floor. I shared some progress for this room as it was gutted. We gutted the entire thing other than the tub. It’s cast iron, so we knew we could have it glazed white. We rebuilt the floor and moved plumbing and electrical. Then, we removed the existing window. Several of you asked if it was real stained glass and it definitely wasn’t! It was a peel and stick window sheet that was coming off. We were able to enlarge the window some, providing more natural light for this space, which was so helpful! Okay, now for the fun part! Let’s talk about where this space is headed! I nailed down my vision for this house design plan first and after really understanding and embracing my vision for this house as a whole, designing the bath was surprisingly easy. And y’all, it’s shaping up to be my favorite bath we’ve ever done. The smallest, but the most packed with style! I’ve loved this bath from Country Living for awhile now and it really fit in with the overall house design I’d pictured. I looooved the layered patterns in different scales, the colored beadboard ceiling, the farmhouse and wood elements, it was just so good. I’m so excited to be partnering with Lowe’s on this bathroom reno! I partnered with them on our shed turned screened porch project from the last house and it’s still one of my favorite projects and partnerships we’ve ever done. I started sourcing finishes and LOVED what I’ve found for this space and I love how it flows with what we’re using in the rest of the house (see the whole house design plan here and the paint plan here). The plan is to do colored shiplap 3/4 of the way up the wall and I immediately pictured it in a similar blue/gray to the fireplace. I wanted to do floral wallpaper above that, but one that wasn’t too overwhelming. I came across this cream and tan floral and fell in love. The tan/gray is the exact same shade as our doors, which I was hoping to tie with since you’ll see that door color in the space. I wanted tile that felt like it could be original, so I went with a White and Gray Honeycomb for the floors. I love it so much. It feels classic, but also the tan/gray diamonds give it a bit of a different and fresh feel. For the shower surround, I knew I wanted subway, but wanted something that felt a little unique. I chose an oversized subway and we’ll use light gray grout on the floor and shower. I knew I wanted a wood vanity and space was a real concern in here. We wanted some storage in the vanity since this is our only bath, but realized it couldn’t be very deep at all. We were ideally hoping for shallow, but a little wide with storage below. We came across a vintage washstand at one of our favorite local sources (Route 276 for locals) and it was the perfect dimensions! I’ll share more on it in a progress post tomorrow, but it brings a great vintage wood quality to the room. I wanted to bring in some country charm with the lighting and faucet. I went with these oversize lanterns on either side of the oval mirror. The water pump style faucet is so nostalgic and special for us! It’s what we used in our very first master bath nearly seven years ago, the first room we ever renovated together! Chris has always loved it and wanted to use it again, so that felt like a “right” addition to this space. And lastly, the rug. Y’all know that nearly every space I design gets a colorful vintage Persian and this room was no different. I started looking for a show-stopper that would work with this space and how it was coming together in my mind and found this beauty on eBay (you can read my tips on buying vintage rugs on eBay here). Usually baths are so hard for me to design like I said above (compared to other spaces), but this one came together in a day, y’all. It blew my mind. I knew what I wanted, found sources quickly, and was in love with the vision for this space! The base of this room took shape rather quickly with it being our only bath and we needed to move in, but the details have lingered. I’ll be sharing some progress tomorrow! And a reveal of this one will be coming soon! Since we only have one bath, we want to get it pretty and functional quickly, so we’re working away on finishing up the details. It feels so good to be settled enough with the functional pieces of our reno and move that we can really start finishing and sharing spaces! There’s so much goodness to come… This room is designed in partnership with Lowe’s. All design ideas and opinions are 100% my own.
Rachel Winchester says August 21, 2017 at 2:16 pm How fun! I feel the same way about bathrooms – they are more difficult to design. But you have me inspired! I look forward to seeing it come together! Reply
Lindsay says August 26, 2017 at 1:10 pm They are so much more difficult!!! But this is my favorite one we’ve ever done! It’s packed with way more design details than any in the past. Can’t wait to reveal it! Reply
Diego Lopes says August 22, 2017 at 10:45 am I love your inspiration! I also wish my bathroom to look like this. Thank you for sharing your ideas, I’m super curious to see the results!! Reply
Diego Lopes says August 28, 2017 at 2:38 pm WOW, what a renovation! It surpasses the old room by miles, I’m glad it worked out! Reply