It’s been over one month since we announced we would be renovating our little powder bath and today it’s officially done. It honestly took longer than expected, simply because of shipping delays (the theme of 2021). However, we put up the finishing details yesterday and are crossing the finish line. Here’s a little before photo to jog your memory.
Before
Dark with and an overwhelming amount of a textured burnt cinnamon color. And here’s the after.
After
My heart is so happy. I just want to say that I fully realize this isn’t everybody’s personal preference. I get that and I love that we can celebrate and rally each other for having different taste and style. For me, designing this water closet was all about pushing myself out of my comfort zone. The small space gave me a little bit more freedom to get playful and have fun with it. And I just love the way it feels modern with an ode to the traditional past, too.
Before
After
Before we moved into this house we decided to rip out all the red cherry floors and replace them with stain-in-place white oak. Read all about the floors here. The cherry floors carried into this powder bath and the contractors ripped out the seashell pedestal sink and toilet along with the floors. Consequently, we’ve been without a functioning powder bath since before moving in.
Of course our primary bathroom is functioning, however, having guests over made us realize we didn’t have an operating, accessible bathroom on the main floor. Bumping up the powder bath to the top of the list was the obvious solution.
Just like any room in our house, I really wanted this room to feel like a mix of historic and traditional, with some modern touches. I shared all of my initial thoughts here as well as a moodboard. In some ways, this bathroom reminds me fondly of our travels to New Orleans two years ago!
Two things changed from the original mood board–the art and the toilet. We had the fox art and I love the way it picks up the mahogany and gold in the wallpaper. At first I worried it was too small, but I actually love the way it feels like punctuation on the wall. When our toilet arrived shattered, we picked this one up from the hardware store and I love the traditional lines so much.
My Instagram stories have been full of progress updates and sneak peaks of the bathroom, so if you follow along you’ve seen so much already, starting with the penny tile floors. Laying penny tile floors with a custom design was a must-have and we even shared how you can DIY your own penny tile floor in this post here. It was surprisingly easy and honestly a great place to start if you’re a tiling beginner.
The white floors with black accents really brightened the room and added a ton of interest. We could have easily carried the wood floors in here, but I think these penny tiles make the room.
Before even starting on the tile however, the wallpaper was selected and ordered. This was actually where the design of the powder bath started. With organic wallpaper chosen for down the hall, I wanted more of a geometric, graphic wallpaper–something to show off the height of the room (10ft tall ceilings anyone?) so stripes were the obvious way to go for me. A little disclaimer: the color photographed is more true in photos than what is shown on their website. A little accident that I’m actually happy with.
I could sense Chris’s skepticism when I told him I wanted the baseboards and trim, and crown moulding, and ceiling to be painted a glossy black. But we all agree it was the perfect modern detail to tie everything together.
Adding the pedestal sink, the toilet, switching out the seat for the wooden one, adding the lights, hanging the perfect vintage mirror I found each carry so much weight in a small space. I wanted the patterns and finishes to speak for themselves, so for styling, I added some fox art above the toilet, brought in my favorite soap, and hung a simple hand towel.
I love starting and finishing a small space first in our home because it really sets the tone. This powder bathroom gets me so excited to stretch my creativity in the other spaces in our house. Have more fun! Make each space feel special and collected and…surprising. Sharing all the sources below!
Sources
Wallpaper
Tile
Toilet
Toilet Seat
Fox Art
Toilet Paper Holder
Towel Ring
Mirror (vintage)
Sconces
Pedestal Sink
Lightwell Hand Soap in Cashmere & Fig
Hand towel
Things not pictured that will be added to the powder bath:
- Toilet paper storage. I’m envisioning a little tray or basket on top of the water tank, or a discrete holder on the floor. It’s smart to have some back-up toilet paper in there for guests.
- A wastebasket. I have a mirrored one from our last home (discontinued) but it was impossible to photograph without a reflection.
- This plunger/scrubber combination that is sleek, but doesn’t need to be photographed.
ADORE this powder room! Makes me want to rip out the wood floors in ours and lay penny tile. They sink is in my wish list-classic beauty!
With a sink that style, and without a basket or storage, where do you store extra TP, room spray, etc.? Also thoughts on rugs in powder rooms? I don’t have one in ours but so find most people do.
I like it a lot, except the wallpaper! I have a hard time with a whole small piece of wallpaper especially with a regular pattern. But I think it comes from the fact that in France, we no longer use wall paint for damp rooms. Personally, I would only have put one strip of wallpaper on one wall, for example. But I love the floor and frankly, it’s beautiful! Well done ! The sink is neat too. It is a pleasant room.
This is interesting – you definitely took a lot of risk here with scale, materials and colors. From the wallpaper to the art to the toilet seat – you’re exploring and it’s great to watch.
I see you’re going darker in this house than your last. I wonder how much of it is the concept of colonial homes and how much is the light quality? It looks sunny where you are and always said not to dark rooms light and light rooms dark, or did I confuse my basic rules?
If you do decide to redo it a wallpaper change would transform the room immediately and that’s why I like your style – you always use a lot of transitional pieces that can work across many styles!
Really like the new version. Very balanced, though active and attractive
Goth circus powder room is actually hella cool. Nice!!