Bathroom Makeover!

Thank goodness I was able to finish 99% of the work that went into remodeling our master bath while Baby Sophie was still in utero. I never would've been able to handle it now. I know the befores aren't too terribly bad but they were super bland. Standard builder-grade white tile & cheapo fixtures. Zero personality. When we had some water damage back in May I was actually grateful because it meant we finally had a good reason to tear it all up & start over!

Sooo, here's my big reveeeeal, I'm SO excited!!!

BEFORE:AFTER:*Tip* You can find great ceramic tiles that still give the same effect as glass ones. The little blue mosaic tiles I used in the shower & the back wall behind the vanity were $4.99 sq ft. I had originally wanted glass mosaic until I priced them out at $17.99 sq ft! YOWCH! Now that it's done though I absolutely love it & am so glad I didn't splurge on glass. Also shop around for tile, I went to several tile stores & brought home different samples to place around the room until I found the perfect combo. Many stores will let you return the samples & refund your money too.

BEFORE:AFTER:*Tip* Do your homework. I really wanted to have two showerheads in our shower, one normal one & one that we could bathe the kids with. The thing is I wanted to be able to run them both at the same time so no one would get cold. Some stores told me I couldn't do that unless I bought a pricey wall showering unit with all the different nozzles. Sorry, but that just wasn't in the budget. I kept digging and found out you can use a type of "t-valve" in the plumbing so the water can run to different outlets. The extra showerhead was the only cost! And let me tell you, the two showerheads are my FAVORITE part of this bathroom. Not only can Samster & I shower together without one of us shivering in the corner but when I don't want to get my hair wet I simply shower with only the lower placed showerhead on. It's right at shoulder level so the hair stays dry! LOVE. IT.

BEFORE:AFTER:*Tip* Do be afraid to rip some stuff up! You can see in the before shot that we had a drop in tub with a pretty wide tile tub deck around it. If our bathroom was huge then yeah, a tub deck could be useful but our bathroom is actually pretty small. Two people have to wiggle past eachother between the tub & the vanity. That's why I went out on a limb & decided to ditch the tub deck completely & replace it with a stand alone one. A note on the tub- although it looks like a cast-iron vintage clawfoot tub it's actually a light-weight acrylic replica. Much cheaper & no reinforced floor necessary for the weight! I ordered mine from vintagetub.com & had a really good experience.

*Tip* Decorate with unexpected objects. I really wanted to keep the bathroom clean & simple but still wanted a pop of color here & there. One way I found was to buy a whole bunch of pretty colored soaps & store them in a glass jar. (P is having a hard time understanding what "just for pretty" means & why he can't use soap that's in a bathroom...but that's another story) I found these at the Whole Foods, they have so many scents which was good for me because that meant a big color selection. Also a note about the glass jars, I had originally wanted the ones below from Pottery Barn but they're super overpriced. I was thrilled when I found mine at Target for about $6 each, and you'll never guess where...in the kitchen storage aisle! I know, go figure. Honestly, they look like the same darn glass jars to me.The walls are painted in Martha's "Chinchilla" color from Home Depot. Which brings me to my last tip, after many hissy fits from spending hours painting a room & hating the color I now always, ALWAYS, buy a handful of sample cans & put them all on the walls. (try all the walls so you can see the paint in different lights) I put 6 different shades of gray on the walls to get the right one & let me tell you, those darns paint chips looked nothing like the what they did on the wall. The one I chose wasn't even one of my favorites & the one I loved ended up looking like concrete. Which, I suppose is my point exactly.On a different note...

We did in fact get out last Thursday! (see last post) We didn't make it to Target but that's only because we ended up joining 7 other kids for a massive park & lunch outing. It was so much fun & even though that many kids was utter chaos it was wonderful to get to be around other moms. Also their kids were even crazier than mine which made me feel better. (;

Samster perfecting her pout. She's become quite the thespian.