Monday, February 24, 2014

Bathroom Renovation Inspiration

Following on from yesterday, when I showed you why bathroom is a dirty word around here at the moment (literally), I bring you a series of slightly less horrifying photos.

Before I start though, I'm going to show you the bathroom we actually use, before anyone misunderstands the situation and calls child services on me. This is the bathroom at Little House, although it's had a shower screen fitted since I took these photos hours after the renovation finished.



Phew. 

Ok, there's a few factors at play when it comes to deciding what the Big House bathroom will look like. Firstly, the main features of the room will be the windows and bathtub, because we already have them and they both demand attention.

The bathtub is an old clawfoot tub we unearthed from the garden on arrival here and plan to clean up. This is what it looks like. 


Mmmm, nothing says let's get clean more than a tub full of weeds, does it?

I have been contemplating what colour we'll paint the base of the tub and saw this matt black finish on Pinterest. I love the fact that it looks aged and quite achievable. Dan will be painting the tub himself, so achievable is good. Rustic is good.



Photo from here

Although, you know what other colour I'm strangely desiring? Can you guess? Apple green. That colour is infectious.


Photo from here.

The windows we'll use are these ones from Gumtree, which I've featured before.


This is what they look like when the sun shines through them, which will be often as they will face west. 


Have you noticed how bright they are? Because they are in your face bright. I love them, but I know everything else has to be pretty subtle to get away with them. These are feature windows if ever I saw them.

The windows will sit over the tub and be set up so you can slide them both open and look out at the view, which will look a bit like this. 


In terms of colour scheme, well, I'm thinking white wall and charcoal floor tiles much like the ones we used above in Little House. It's practical and durable and those big tiles are easy for my novice-tiler husband to install. 

I think we might follow the pack and go with the very-trendy subway tile with grey grout combo. Because dark grout hides a multitude of sins, in my opinion. Less time spent scrubbing grout can only be a good thing.



Photo from here.

Vanity-wise, we used a fairly contemporary one in Little House but I'd like to go a bit more classic in Big House. Something unassuming with clean lines, like this one from Ikea:


So that's where we're at, bathroom ideas wise. Loads of ideas and loads of work to do to implement them. 

This post was sponsored by Monier. To see their range of terracotta tiles and other roofing products, please follow the links!

29 comments:

  1. The charcoal and white will be a nice combo with those beautiful windows shining! I hope a few pops of apple green appear too. :-)

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  2. You have some lovely ideas here. I dream of having a claw foot bathtub one day. And your windows and view.....beautiful. xxoo

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  3. will you have a separate shower? mum has it over the clawfoot tub...and its a pain in the butt stepping in and out of the shower (and she admits, as she isn't getting any younger, it wasn't a good idea). I think the windows are gorgeous, and that you should let them be the star of the show. Love your plans of white and grey (hides grubby marks on the floor?!) and also the charcoal tub base. You can bring in the colour - whatever colour you like taken from the beautiful glass windows! - in your accessories. Keep it simple and it will be stunning!!!!

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    1. Yes, definitely want a separate shower! Those claw foot tubs can be a nightmare to climb in and out of all the time.

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  4. Won't the tub rather disappear against the floor if they're both charcoal colored? I think I'd use a lighter grey on one of the two - like the floor in the subway tile photo above. Your kitchen backsplash tile would be fabulous! (Although, secretly I'm hoping you'll use green on the tub, to match the window. . . .)

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    1. I think I can live with them being the same colour. It'll be dark floor (and tub), light walls and BRIGHT windows...

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  5. They are such pretty windows and will be the star of the bathroon. We have some smaller ones, they must have been like a feature window (if only they could talk!) that I hope to use as a wall of windows on our deck when it gets built. We also have a claw foot bath that was used for a horse trough. It came up lovelly. We also did up a old wash stand with a granite bench top and had a round basin installed on the top of the granite, I was hoping it would look like the old fashioned wash bowl (without the matching jug), it did and looks great. You have such beautiful taste I am sure it will be wonderful. I really enjoy your blog we are nearly finished doing up an old home and it is so interesting finding things and wondering what previous owners were thinking of when they did things in the name of remodelling and wonder if the same thing will happen it another 80 years when someone is redoing what we have done. Louise

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    1. Your renovations sound gorgeous Louise, I am half motivated to get you to come and project manage mine!! Agree - discovering the little historical details is the best bit of these projects. And just the other day I joked to Dan about what the next people to paint the house would say about our colour choices!

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    2. Oh no my reno days are nearly over (fingers crossed) lol. We have been married 26 years and this is the fourth house we have done. Other houses were mainly painting, updating kitchens and bathrooms. This involved walls down putting walls up, re-wiring, replumbing and removing lots of grime and we finally have the couple of acres we want so there is lots to do outside. I've told him our next move is to a nursing home LOL. Plus I'm sure you and your husband wouldn't like me changing my mind halfway through a job because my husband wasn't displaying very good vibes about what I thought would now look better but he eventually came around!!! Louise

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  6. Edwina that is your bathroom VIEW?? Oh my god I am jealous. Love your colour scheme, and I love apple green! And a clawfoot tub in the garden - sounds like a winner, weeds and all! My interior designer Nelly used that IKEA vanity in her last bathroom makeover and it looked fab.

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    1. Thanks Maya - I really love that view too. It feels like a tsunami of green coming down over you. This view will be shared by the small private verandah we're planning to build off the master bedroom, I can't wait to have a little table and chairs here to sit and enjoy!

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  7. Personally I'm partial to the matte black BUT with your windows the apple green would be super tempting!

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  8. All great photo inspirations Edwina! I'm loving those windows.
    I'm very partial to the plain colour scheme too. I wish we had gone for darker grout, in fact it seems to be going darker of its own accord lol. Grout is the enemy.

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  9. I love the bath - weeds and all!!! After seeing your tiles for the kitchen I found something similar for my floors in the ensuite from Southern Cross Tiles Artisan range. I hope to pick them up this weekend - Yay! I am planning subway tiles for my walls too. I used them in the kitchen for my splashback - the ones with the bevelled edge - and I love them.
    Enjoy the bathroom dreaming - I've been waiting 3.5 years for mine and it is slowly starting to come together and I can't wait!!!! Karen

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  10. oh yes, the green tub would be divine! I too worried that the subway tiles were a bit 'trendy' as I didn't want our house to have too much of an 'age' associated with it - but when you think about it, those tiles have been around for years and years at tube stations and the like, but most recently in our homes. So I figured they were pretty safe!
    I considered the dark grout as well, but went all white due to our bathroom being so small, I think it worked well.... http://www.walkamongthehomes.com.au/renovation-retrospective-bathroom

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  11. What lovely pics for inspiration, River 949FM has a comp going where they will pay for a $10.000 bathroom reno, maybe you could check it out on their website......good luck

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  12. Your salvaged bathtub looks AMAZING. Feeling very inspired to revamp an old, gardened up bathtub of a friend.

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  13. This bathroom is looking beautiful. I am too planning to renovate my house and for that purpose I was searching this type of image for reference.


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  14. My wife and I are in the process of renovating our bathroom. I came across your page because we've installed some pressed tin as a feature wall over the existing painted red brick, and I was looking for some painting tips. Hand painting a few panels of pressed tin once it's already hung is not a lot of fun.
    We've gone with 100x200mm white subway tiles with gunmetal grey grout and it does look good. We also have the Henmes vanity that you are considering. My advice with that is make sure you get some 90 degree attachments for the tap hoses. Our tap was installed with the water outlets behind the top drawer and I've had to gaffa the hoses to the vanity train so we can shut the drawer. We also went with the Henmes mirror from Ikea too and it looks cool. The wife wasn't sold on it when we were at Ikea, but she trusted me on that decision. It really went with the look of the bathroom.

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  15. This are really great bathroom design. Adding a shower screen could surely enhance this bathroom beauty!

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  16. I think we might follow the pack and go with the very-trendy subway tile with grey grout combo. Because dark grout hides a multitude of sins, in my opinion. Less time spent scrubbing grout can only be a good thing.Thanks for sharing all that great information..

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  17. I think those are great ideas. I am already excited as to how all of these will turn out. I also think that the bathtub does look like it’s going to take a lot of work to clean up, much less repainting it. I am also worried that it would have punctures or holes in it. I’m still hoping for all the best though.
    Arthur Bryant

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  19. Great renovation. AND THAT VIEW, oh my god it is amazing! I am a sucker for vanities, I switched a couple in our bathroom before we actually nail the right one. I had to go through the process myself so I picked the easiest way which was IKEA, didn't bother with the assembly. Just went picked it up and use a company to assemble my piece. These are the guys, did the job in no time.

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