You may remember the January post about my daughter’s bedroom update. When we updated her bedroom, we also did a mini-renovation to her en suite bathroom. Since every piece of a renovation has a story, I thought I’d share this one as well.
(Note: I include links to all of the sources throughout the post, but will summarize items other than plumbing and bath fixtures at the end with links if you to wait to browse until then).
The bathroom before was pretty much like the rest of the pre-reno house: outdated and not really our taste. The wall tiles were white square tiles with flowers randomly painted on them. The floor tiles were also white squares, laid diagonally, and quite a few were cracked. Despite it’s flaws, we weren’t going to update when we started the renovation process, but once you start tearing apart your house, you realize that you NEVER, EVER want to do it again, so we decided to add this room to the list.
I spent A LOT of time on Pinterest during the renovation process. I knew that my daughter’s bedroom was going to be mostly black and white, and I knew that I wanted the bathroom to have the same color scheme and a similar feel — a little boho/global, a little retro — but still something timeless so that we wouldn’t get bored of it. I did a Pinterest search of small black and white bathrooms and found this photo posted by Amelia Jones (@ameliahannah) pretty quickly:
The first thing I noticed was, obviously, that cement tile floor. I love that the pattern is big and bold but also doesn’t overwhelm such a small bathroom. I clicked on the Pinterest link to the Instagram post and found out that the tiles were purchased on Overstock, but were no longer available in this black and white color. I looked around the internet at other cement tile options, but there was nothing that I loved quite as much. Finally, I found the same tile on the Moroccan Mosaic Tile House website and ordered from them (also currently available at Wayfair). It was a pretty seamless process.
Now for the rest of the bathroom. All of the bathroom walls were tiled in their entirety in a simple, affordable white Daltile subway tiles with black grout (note that we did white grout on the floor, unlike the inspiration photo and our walls). We kept the bathtub. The vanity was super outdated, so we knew we wanted to replace. We considered doing a natural wood vanity as in the inspiration photo, but I’m in love with the black oak cabinets with white cerusing in Amy Hirsch’s design studio, and decided I would copy her. It’s one of my favorite elements in the room. We topped the vanity with a simple white quartz and rectangular undermount sink.
A black and white bathroom inevitably feels a little retro, so we decided to go with aged brass fixtures and hardware. Here, we had a little hiccup with the plumbing; we purchased all plumbing fixtures and hardware (i.e., towel hooks and towel/toilet bars) from Rejuvenation, all from the same collection (West Slope) and in the same color (aged brass), so we assumed that they would all because they were sold as a collection, but we were mistaken. The plumbing was made by a different vendor than the hardware fixtures were, and were two VERY different colors, with the former being a true aged brass and the latter being a light, polished brass. What made it very problematic was that we installed the plumbing before realizing it, and Rejuvenation didn’t have any fixtures in the color of the plumbing fixture. I may have cried a bit. However, Restoration Hardware was able to save the day, with aged brass fixtures in the Spritz Collection that were actually aged brass, and close enough in style and color to work with the plumbing. If you’re interested in a similar look to the fixtures in my bath, I’d consider the Spritz Collection, as the quality is better.
Finally, the hardware and lighting in the room are mostly in brass as well. Those gorgeous Starbust pulls on the vanity doors are by Pulp Design Studio. They’re a bit pricey at $75, but I felt they were special enough to spend a little more on and I don’t regret it. The drawer pulls on the vanity are the Bowman drawer pull from Rejuvenation in aged brass. Finally, the sconces above the vanity are the Alto Sconce by Cedar and Moss in brass. The two exceptions are the Bristol Mirror from Restoration Hardware in Aged Steel and that really cool starburst ceiling fixture, also in a similar color to the mirror frame.
The few decorative elements in the room were inexpensive. The bathmat is a black and white rag rug from Urban Outfitters. The brass and white table next to the tub was a great, inexpensive ($39.99) Homegoods find. The bath salt container is from Crate and Barrel, the faux-but-realistic aloe plant is from CB2, and the white tea hand soap is by Compagnie de Provence.
You’ll notice one major thing is missing: a shower curtain or glass enclosure. My kids still take baths, so I haven’t purchased one yet, but I envision a cool, framed steel enclosure, like this one I found on — you guessed it — Pinterest:
Below are bathroom sources, with links to shop:
Next up: the Kids’ Style Edit, coming tomorrow!
