SPA BATHROOM
For those of you who have been following me on the old Love Nest Design blog, you know that we had been working on a new family bathroom. It wasn’t a planned renovation perse, but became necessary when we discovered that the drywall behind the shower tiles had disintegrated. Of course the main bathroom was on the list to get a facelift as some point, so I wasn’t too upset by having to jump on this project.
Ready for a good before and after? Here is the before:
And the after:
We do take on a lot of projects ourselves in our own home but this project was our most detailed by far. We might have left the realm of the average D.I.Y folks. Matt, my husband, has an above average amount of experience in construction and is also a plumber by trade. This project put those skills to the test with the custom wood ceiling. The space could have been called complete but I just kept thinking about how I wanted to incorporate a more spa like feel.
Matt and I escape at least once a year to Niagara on the Lake and stay a few days at the Pillar and Post. They have the most amazing spa at this hotel and the indoor pool has a gorgeous wood finish on the walls. We both get such a feeling of relaxation in that environment and I wanted to bring just a little of that into our space at home. This is the only bathroom with a place to soak (until I get an ensuite!) so I just couldn’t let the opportunity pass!
The wood was sourced from a local vendor which we cut, routed, sanded and stained ourselves. We went with a clear western red cedar to get as close to the color I was looking for, while selecting a wood species that would stand up to moisture well. It was an arduous process, I am not going to sugar coat it, but we had the right tools to finish the wood properly and install it securely. We took our time getting it right, including the custom vent cover we created so I could hide the vent as much as possible!
It took us a long time….a very long time, to finish all that wood and get it installed perfectly with the spacing in between, but it was 100% worth it. We went from “ok we need a functioning bathroom that looks ok” to “ummm lets keep going and make it really something!” When we committed to creating the ceiling, I also knew I needed to up my game a little in other areas. I already had my custom vintage vanity (see some progress of that here) which I love, but one thing was missing. I was really pining for matte black fixtures. They would be perfect with the black accent tile and I could easily let the rest of the room be white and airy and bring the wow factor in with the fixtures.
I went with Delta Faucets for all the fixtures in the space. The shape is spot on, the finish will stand up to the kids, and the function, well you just can’t go wrong with Delta. I’ll get into more details in an upcoming post about why I picked the fixtures I did for this kind of space, but honestly, I am loving how the fixtures finished this bathroom.
Now to spend the rest of the winter soaking away the bone chills from -30 degree weather!
