I recently unveiled the results of my husband's bathroom renovation, including a breakdown of what it cost. Now it's my bathroom's turn in the spotlight, although there are a few outstanding details. For example, I'd like to add a crown moulding, and have selflessly offered my bathroom as the test space for hubby John's trim installation skills. And, like every room in my house, this bathroom's look will continually evolve and change, so what you see today is merely a snapshot of one moment in time.
Over all, the renovation of this space was minimally intrusive and less expensive than John's bathroom. We kept the existing corner air-jet tub and separate shower, building the colour scheme around their unusual grey-violet hue.
We also kept the chrome tub faucet and sprayer assembly and installed a new chrome sink faucet to co-ordinate with it. We replaced the toilet with a white American Standard Town Square model and the sink with a white Kohler model, both from Home Depot.
I didn't mind that the four fixtures are in two different colours. The white sink and grey tub are next to each other, but the toilet and shower are both tucked away into their own little spaces. It just seems to work.
We removed the wall-to-wall Kelly green carpet, which also ran up the sides of the tub, and replaced the flooring with black and white ceramic tile from Home Depot — laid in a traditional pattern. John panelled the sides of the tub in bead-board planks and created access doors to the air jet motor. New baseboards were added throughout.
The rest of the transformation involved paint and the installation of "soft" and hard furnishings. A three-drawer pine dresser painted black and purchased at Cobourg's antique market became a vanity with a hole cut in the centre of the top to fit the drop-in sink.
The simplest thing to do would have been to sacrifice the entire top drawer and a part of the second drawer to the sink and its plumbing, but why give up valuable drawer space? We therefore divided the top drawer into three sections with only the larger centre section becoming fixed, allowing for the creation of two narrower drawers on either side.
With the second drawer from the top, John carved out a piece of its centre portion toward the back of the drawer so that, when closed, it would accommodate the sink's drain pipe.
He added new interior drawer "walls" around the drain-pipe opening to keep items contained inside the drawer. New black ceramic and pewter drawer pulls and scented pink and white lining paper completed the vanity.
A tall, black storage tower, also from Cobourg's antique market, was set cater-corner beside the vanity. It has separate top and bottom units and is fitted with antique windows salvaged from a century home in Toronto.
John drilled a discrete hole in the back of the top unit through which I've run the electrical cords for my hairdryer, clock radio and so on. I love that I can have all my necessities in a convenient location while cords and outlets are out of sight.
A black medium-density fibreboard, wall-mounted medicine cabinet with mirror from Home Depot co-ordinates well with the black furniture, as does a small mirrored chest positioned opposite the vanity — this is a generous-sized room so the furniture doesn't feel crowded at all.
A pair of pewter and crystal wall sconces with two lights each, by Progress Lighting, plus existing recessed pot lights, all on dimmers and separately switched, give me maximum light control.
For "soft" furnishings, I added white linen-look drapes on a black rod with black and white finials — all from Home Depot — to one window, and made a sheer side-swept drape from a remnant for the second window in the toilet enclosure.
I upholstered a chair found at Cobourg's Beyond the Blue Box in a black and ivory fabric (I still have to paint its wood bits black) and removed its arms. Having removed the unappealing glass shower door, I made a matching shower curtain out of what was left of my fabric. Now I no longer bang my elbows on the shower door while trying to scrub my back!
WHAT IT COST
Toilet: $419
Sink and faucet: $250
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Vaniety and storage tower: $650
Mirrored chest: $140
Medicine cabinet: $149
Chair: $7.50
Floor tile and installation: $1,575
Lighting: $300
Fabric: $200
Draperies and hardware: $60
Bead board and paint: $200
Plumbing and electrical work: $400
Accessories and artwork: $100
Total: $4,450.50
