Susan is hosting her 65th Metamorphasis Monday on her blog, Between Naps on the Portch, and I'm participating for the 1st time...woo hoo!
For the past two weeks we have been real busy around here at the Love Shack tiling the back-splashes in our bathroom and kitchen. Today I'm going to show you the bathroom first and I'm saving the reveal of the kitchen for next week...because there are so many pictures...lol
Previously, I have posted about our bathroom here at the Love Shack...about how we performed magic by changing the mirrors and adding new medicine cabinets and then, finally, we put up new towel bars. Today, I am going to show you how adding tile to the back-splash has made this bathroom really shine...
Above is a "peak" into the bathroom from the foyer...can you tell that I like red...it's only fitting I feel for the Love Shack! Here you can also see how I re-purposed an antique, batenburg lace panel (it use to be on my vanity) as a curtain for this tiny window. What I really like about this lace panel it is that we can leave the mini-blinds open in the bathroom window and still have plenty of light and privacy...where as previously, we had to make sure we shut the mini-blinds every single time we used the bathroom...real pain :{ I simply sewed a channel of fabric (seam-binding) at the top of the square panel to slide the towel rod through...really simple and effective!
Here is a bigger and brighter shot...you can see the white sub-way tile with the black pencil edge tiles that we had installed as an accent for the back-splash...love how clean this makes the bathroom look.
I removed the IKEA silver towel bar that I had originally installed under the medicine cabinet...
You know...sometimes you have to "live it" before you can actually know what will work for you...and in this case the $3.00/$4.00 towel bar just had to go. Not that I didn't like how it functioned here and all, but it wasn't worth having the tile installers hand-cutting the tiles to go around the towel bar. Or the alternative, which was to drill holes through the tiles of the completed back-splash to put this towel bar back underneath the medicine chest...NOT!
Plus, I really like the "clean" look of the tile and looking at the complete length of it as it runs along the back-splash and the counter next to the sink. The installers did such a great job...there was no way that I was going to mess it up by drilling holes to put up an inexpensive towel bar. Funny thing is my installer, Anthony, actually suggested that I move the towel bar over under the window...now how cool is that...THANKS ANTHONY :D
Above is an old photo of the bathroom before the back-splash was tiled {sorry it's fuzzy :}
We had the installers place the tile all the way to the edge of the counter...just love it...the black pencil tiled edge looks like black ribbon...don't you think? I pulled out my large black "knifebox" or "toolbox" and placed all my apothecary jars inside of it...I love having all my items gathered on trays or boxes so that when you have to clean...it is easier to pick up one thing in lieu of a dozen smaller items to clean the counters or dresser tops. The rose in the antique glass vase is from my grandmother's funeral casket wreath, red roses were her favorite...when I got home, I placed it in this vase and it dried there...perfectly...so I have a wonderful memory of my Grammie Pickard.
Just wanted to point out what the mirrors are reflecting here...remember previously I had mentioned that mirrors are great for making rooms look larger, but that you do have to be careful about "what" they are reflecting...
...as shown above in the previous photo above...these cabinet mirrors were reflecting the shower curtain, which is pretty in itself, but they were also catching the images of the blank wall above the shower and the curtain pole...not very "magical" if you ask me...so...
I hung some cool pictures above the shower wall...these are two of my favorite French Chefs...the one on the left is soakng in the tub and the one on the right is sitting on the toilet...and BOTH have a glass of red wine...yeah! Don't worry these prints are adhered to wood and coated with varnish and can withstand the water splashes and humidity in the bathroom.
So what happens when you start one project in a room...you all know what I'm talkin' about...
It leads to more projects...as shown here in these photos...we replaced the light fixture (which we wanted to do anyhow)...and I did mention that here. Finally...is a close-up photo of the beautiful fixture that we found at our local Lowe's home improvement store.
So beautiful...and hard to believe that it was under $70.00! It uses halogen bulbs (which were included...another bonus) and puts out so much more light than the old fixture...we feel like we have to wear sun-glasses...lol I just love the way it updates the bathroom and that it is modern yet classic and elegant...but more imporantly...the lights face the ceiling in lieu of down in your face...which would not work well with this because of the medicine chest. AND with the small size of this bathroom, finding a fixture that stuck out far enough away from the wall to clear the medicine chest...was almost impossible. Most of the lights we looked at had large, individual shades that took over the entire wall...just not suitable for this gem of a bathroom :D
Hope you all enjoyed my bathroom transformation and next week I'll give you all the details on the kitchen updates...in the meantime...this week I'm preparing for the yardsale that our neighborhood is hosting this weekend. It is our goal to raise a lot of money for this wonderful cause:
BH2O+ 2010 from Nuru International on Vimeo.
I really love your blog - your bathroom looks so cute and everything has it's place! You have given me some really great ideas for trying to get my own house organized.
Posted by: Daphne | April 13, 2010 at 12:11 PM
Roberta...your bathroom is fabulous! I love, love, love your backsplash! The little black accent tile is perfect! I so badly need to update all mine...some day. Getting great inspiration from yours!
Posted by: Susan | April 12, 2010 at 11:14 PM