Southern Comfort: March 2012

So it's been quite a while since the master bath reveal post, and it's high time I got around to updating you all on the details.

Now, let me back up a little bit. This house was built in 1988. And in that time period, large bathrooms weren't a builder focus the way they are now. We were ok with smaller bathrooms in our first home. We knew when we bought this property it wasn't going to be our forever home, and we're ok with that. We've never had plans to rip out walls, make things bigger or gigantic. It's not where we wanted to put our money. Looking at the real estate in our neighborhood, we likely would never see that money when we do sell, so we never made it an option. That being said, because things are a bit smaller, we knew we needed this room to work hard for us.

When I left you last, the bathroom looked like this:

And not much has changed. We added some shoe moulding around the room which really makes the room looked finished. See?

Now, about the fixtures. We chose to keep the existing plumbing fixtures for now. We're on the hunt for a nice solid surface countertop and once we replace it and get a new sink, we will replace all the fixtures at one time. We weren't in a hurry for this step, and honestly, we would rather wait and find the perfect piece than make a rash decision we would regret later. Besides, fixtures are costly and we liked keeping the budget pretty tight for this little upgrade.

But the old ratty, plastic/brass-y toilet paper holder and towel rod had.to.go. What a nightmare they were. So we purchased a new set along with the glass shelf and light fixture. They really help pull the room together. But you hear over and over how the fixtures are the jewelry of the room. So true.

Now, for storage. We removed the horrible brown medicine cabinet (see previous post) and replaced our mirror with a true medicine cabinet. One day we will recess it, probably when we replace the counter, but for now it's fine. And it does solve some of our storage issue. But like a lot of things, it's a work in progress. I would like to add a shelf in the vanity cabinet to utilize some more vertical space for bottles, etc. Ah, the to-do list continues.

But we've been living with the room now for about 5 months and we love it. Over time we've added a little art. I found some fabric that I really liked, so I bought a yard, cut out the parts I like and stapled it around a couple pieces of canvas. Simple and effective.

Now for the floor. We hemmed and hawed about this for a while before we made a decision. We thought about trying to tile, but we really couldn't decide on a pattern we liked. Add that along with having to rent a tile saw, buy all the grout, sealer and mastik, we decided to look at other options. We had put in peel-and-stick tile in our bathroom upstairs and love it. We've had zero problems with water at bath time, our guests have no complaints and it's a very affordable option. So we carried ourselves to the store and found the perfect pattern.

It makes our "off white" tub actually look purposeful instead of like we're trying to cover it up. That was a huge issue for both of us. We knew we couldn't replace the tub, so whatever floor we went with had to be able to pull the room together. Luckily, for us. This is perfect. And for around $8 to do the whole room, SOLD! And, we're happy to report, after 5 months and 2+ showers everyday it still looks brand new. Love.