Ensuite Bathroom Reveal

I mentioned in my previous post about a few things in the pipeline, well I really want to forge ahead with those commercial projects, but realised that in the interests of preserving our marriage I'd better have the house decorating as complete as I can for now, before I can focus on the next thing. I was going to buy a few items that were needed to finish off the living room/library/hallway, but then I remembered about Pottery Barn and West Elm are opening early next year, and thought I would be mad to rush out and buy some pieces I kinda like, when I only have to wait a few more months to get something I will really love.

So for now, the house is just about done. Am just waiting on a curtain rod to hang my curtains, a rug I ordered to replace the fading blue and white one and a few cushions. I had a lot of prettying and styling to do too. Then I will sit tight and save up until the Williams-Sonoma stores open and I can go crazy!

Now for another reveal. Our ensuite has pretty much been done for a while, but I was waiting on our new DSLR camera which arrived a few months ago and I haven't had time to figure out how to use it. I still don't, but thought that unless I take the photos and do this post, this renovation journey will never end. Here was my first post on our dream bathroom here.

So here's my very amateurish shots taken on my new camera fresh out of the box without even looking at the instruction manual. 

You can find some of my other inspiration posts for our bathroom here, here, here and here. 

BEFORE

It was the smallest bathroom of all time, shared between four bedrooms.You could hardly fit two people in it at the same time.

Everything was ripped out and replaced including relining the walls and ceiling. You can see some good progress photos in these renovation posts here, here and here.

The hallway you see to the right was incorporated into the bathroom and became the shower recess to try to give us a little more space.

AFTER

You'll remember all my agonising over which mirrors to buy and whether to do one or two in this post here, so here's what I ended up with.

I toyed with the idea of a dark vanity here, but settled on the white which you can read out here, because it's such a small space. I love the vanity which is from Schots in Melbourne, because it's almost an exact copy of the Pottery Barn and Restoration Hardware shaker vanity I love. It was shipped from Melbourne because we couldn't justify the expense of a custom-made vanity. We had to push the wall out about 150mm to fit it into the space. The vanity came with the marble top, basins, knobs and the splashback.

I opted for a semi-frameless shower screen over a frameless one because of the both the cost and the look. For a traditional bathroom like this, I thought the semi-frameless suited it better and from a functional perspective it was more practical for the space.

The taps were bought on US website Overstock. You can read about my issues with importing taps here.

This is the first gardenia from our garden this spring. The smell in the bathroom is heavenly.

I adore my shell cross. I bought it a few years ago at Caravan Interiors in Bondi, one of my favourite interiors shops. I weighs a tonne but it's such a work of art.

This is the tissue box I covered in the same fabric as the bedhead and the lampshades on the sconces. It's a Martyn Lawrence Bullard for Schumacher fabric called Sinala. You can read the tutorial here.

We were very tight on space, so there was only one place for the towel rails and I could only fit the small 600mm length on the wall, so had to put in two. It works ok.

I had a whole collection of loose shells so framed them in these shadow boxes. You can read the tutorial here.

This may seem a funny shot to include, but I often get asked what our dado rails, cornices, wainscoting and skirting boards look like, and for other such details, so am including them here for those who are interested.

The builder was very reluctant to put in wainscoting in the bathroom and wouldn't guarantee it against movement, warping, rot etc. Why couldn't I just tile the walls like everybody else? He said. I've done this in four out of five bathrooms I've renovated and each time come up with resistance from the builder. Madness when you consider every second bathroom in the US has this on the walls. Then when I said I wanted timber skirtings they nearly quit the job! So we ended up putting in cedar which is supposed to be more resistant to moisture but was more expensive. I have since heard that there is a marine grade material that can be used that is even better. 

The sconces were bought from Shades of Light in the US. The shade was a rather plain parchment, and did nothing for the room, so I covered it in some remnant fabric to match the bedhead. I had the lights converted here for about $100.

All images by Melinda Hartwright for Georgica Pond Interiors Blog

The basketweave floor tiles were a great find, particularly as I stumbled across them in Brookvale, while looking for paving tiles for our pool. The tile importer had just bought them in from Turkey and didn't even know what to call them, or if anyone would buy them. I have since sent so many people his way, he should have sold out by now!

If you are not keen on buying items from the US or other overseas websites, but want to achieve this look, I did a post on how to source all these things in Australia here.

Sources

Wall Colour - Dulux Roland

Ceiling - Dulux Vivid White

Woodwork - Dulux Vivid White

Basketweave Tiles - My Stone

Wainscoting, skirting, dado - through builder

Sconces - Shades of Light

Mirrors - Georgica Pond Interiors

Vanity - Schots Melbourne

Taps - Overstock

Showerscreen - Betta Showerscreens

Bath Mat - Dash and Albert

Silver Tray - Bed Bath n Table