Gradeschool Crush

I have a crush on these gradeschool-reminiscent trough sinks that are popping up all over the place. If I were working with someone redoing a shared, sibling bathroom, I'd be all over it like white on rice. Ditto for envisioning a bath for my own girls.

Turns out that its pedigree isn't all that lofty - it's a Kohler model, the Brockway, offered by Home Depot. The arched, showerhead-looking faucet is the Cannock. The three-faucet model, plus faucets and accessories like the soapdish will set you back nearly 2Gs - bummer - but I'd argue the classic and whimsical style is worth the heavier price tag.

Obviously, you can take the style all-out Cottage...

...but, I tend to like where this vintage-with-a-twist look is going.

Clearly a no-brainer for kids who need as much area to catch splashes as they can get.

Mom and Dad could use a sleeker, more Victorian version...

Wonder who gets to use the mirror?

Potty Time

Please tell me I'm not the only person who takes pictures of interesting public restrooms...

Brazilians tend to be very imaginative and detail-oriented when it comes to restrooms - especially with basins, and I dig that about them! (I also dig that said restrooms are typically spotless, and there's nearly always a pint-sized version for kiddos)

Speaking of kiddos - we're hosting Isla's 1st birthday festa this weekend. She actually turns one next week *sniff, sniff*, but we're extending the celebration a bit. Undoubtedly, there will be pics next week.
Potty on, Stalkers!

Short and Sweet

Taking the Columbus day holiday to hang with the Fam, but had to share my latest love: Mirrors in front of Windows - where feasible, it's WONDEY-full!

via Coastal Living

Ya lookin' for me?

I'll be hiding out here. Taking a long soak, then lounging on that flokati with my bestest read. Shhhh....

B&A Ecstacy!

A little over a year ago, my good friend Carrie said they were ready to take on the redo of their master bath. A pic I'd seen in Coastal Living struck me as something they might like, and sure enough, it served as a stepping off point for the bath remodel.

Over the course of the year, Carrie and her hubster, Scott, added a third son to their family, studied for work promotions, and nursed another kiddo's broken leg ALL while Scott gutted the bathroom. As Carrie has proudly said, this project has taken Scott well-beyond simple "handyman" status as he did all the work himself.

I know you all like a good B&A, so here ya go - feast your eyes on this transformation!

Standard, 80's builder-grade vanity and garden tub

Replaced with a rustic Craigslist console-turned-vanity, vessel sinks, and modern cultured marble counter that does a stunning job of mimicking Carrara.

Oh, and gorgeous wall-mounted gooseneck faucets!

The most challenging aspect of the project was Scott's plan to reverse the shower stall and tub placement, to take advantage of unused space in the tub's window seat.

Where the old shower stood, there's now an inviting claw-foot tub.

Would you believe it's fiberglass?


Eye candy for a fixture junkie like me!

And, where the garden tub made inefficient use of space, there's now a multi-spray shower with plenty of room for a built-in seat. I can't say what I love more: the river stone floor, or the showerhead combo!

Crazy gorgeous, my friends! (Um, can I use your bath next time we visit? ;)

Oh so duuuurty!

I don't know about you, but great design before and afters are like my porn... Especially when we're talkin' carrara marble subway and hex tiles. Polished Nickel hardware and (original) claw foot tubs...

Here's the (fairly grotesque) before shot.

Images borrowed (without permission -tsk tsk) from A Brooklyn Limestone - where I can't get enough of her (I'm living vicariously) reno.

DD Update: My work here is done

So, you waited, and waited...patiently while I teased - a shot of tile here, a casual paint reference there, a glimpse of a fixture to tempt your thoughts...AND you're still with me?! You, dear MLHP readers, are without a doubt, THE BEST!

...And, to reward you....Laaaaa (you know, angel choir sound?) {tsk}

***Disclaimer: Author has unnerving "anti" attitude towards camera flash, hence, photos of unbelievably lovely new bathroom read more yellow than it truly appears in "real life." Arrgghhh!***

...In case you don't remember the Before:

Now, wanna hear the redo story? OK, good.

First: The Paint
Remember how my original, inspiration was to do a soft, petal/blush color on the walls? With this in mind, we picked Valspar's Pink Kiss. After testing a sample, and putting the paint chip next to the tile, my gut just said NO! (MLHP words of wisdom: always listen to your gut!)
So, I tossed out the idea of doing a soft, spa-mint green to my aunt, and showed her a paint swatch next to the tile sample - clearly, it worked much better. We went with Valspar's Neon Mint.

Can I just take a moment to say how truly lovely it was to work with my Aunt Betty on her bath redo? She was so flexible, eager, and willing to let me take this little project down what she sometimes may have thought were crazy paths - all because she loves and (apparently) trusts me as her "designer." If all clients could be so kind...

Anywaaaay...The paint - I suppose a seasoned interior designer would have been tipped off by the word NEON in the paint name....but, it just looked so nice on the swatch {sigh}
The first roll of color went across the newly-textured wall, and, let's just say it was a lot more Eeek than Aaahhh....

Obviously, ran back to Lowe's (shouldn't I be on their payroll, already?) Told the paint guru my problem - NEED TO TONE IT DOWN - he added a drop of red, and voila - neon turned spa! So, I can probably get you the numbers if you really want them - but for general purposes, the CUSTOM paint color is: Valspar's Neon Mint - with a drop of Red.

Once I finished painting the walls, cabinets and trim, we were able to address what I like to call....

The Jewelry

You were all very excited after I gave you this sneak peek at the chandelier... Unfortunately, as lovely as it was...it was only set up to be hung via swag (from an outlet/no hardwiring) AND it only had one bulb socket. We got a great deal on it at the hobby store, so, in retrospect, it's rather obvious it is meant to be merely decorative. We needed function as well as form. Note: Cute chandelier will hang in soon-to-be-born cousin Chloe's room!

I saw this rather lovely mini-chandelier on this fellow Texan blogger's post, and thought it might be the perfect replacement. It was.

in fairness, this is a better representation of the finish...

Next, I scoped out the lamp at HomeGoods. (Isn't this shot of the reflection off the tile Gorg?!)

The artwork is a photograph I took of my grandmother's pearls...

My aunt loved this, and I'm rather proud of it, myself!

...The sisal rug is from Marshalls

...And the Fab hardware my aunt picked out is from Lowe's

Some more close-ups of The Jewelry

Vanity light from the "mix 'n match" selections at Lowe's

Oh, wait! I haven't even had the chance to tell you about the circus involving the Shower Curtain!
In my original DD design, I suggested this waffle-weave extra-long curtain. We didn't really want to order a curtain, and this one didn't get the best customer reviews. But since there was nothing inspiring in our small town, I suggested I could attempt to sew one. You all know I'm not a seamstress, right? (I'm trying, I want to be!)

We bought some lovely white, sateen sheeting...and I got as far as this

Well...my Mom got as far as that...I more or less got in the way. We had it all pinned when I asked my aunt to make a S.O.S. call to her seamstress friend. Luckily, the woman is a kind soul - she took the curtain out of our hands, and sewed it beautifully in an incredibly short amount of time.

So, there ya have it: the nuts and bolts of a summer bathroom re-do.

For the Bean Counters out there: My aunt tallied up all her receipts - the total came to just over $1500. Unfortunately, we had to contract-out some of the bigger work, and that ate a lot of the budget.
In addition to everything I listed in this post:

• We contracted for sheetrock and texture (remember, there was wallpaper and old paneling before)
• Tile (parts and labor)
• Aunt is replacing the shower stall plumbing fixtures

I'm just delighted with the results, even more so because my Aunt Betty loves it!

I'm buggin' out, ya'll - heading back to Brazil to enjoy having my precious little family unit back together, and some much-anticipated cooler weather! See ya in a few days! :)

Design Dilemma: A Bath with Bling

Betcha thought I was bailing out on this week's DD, again?! ;) Just runnin' a little late on the post...

I have to state right off the bat, I kind of cheated on this Design Dilemma. You see, I wasn't really asked to do a DD on this bathroom. My sister and I went on a pseudo-stealth mission to work a little MLHP magic for this much-deserving client.

I heard my Aunt Betty was planning a bathroom remodel, and yes, had to insert my nosy little self into her design plans! My sister teamed up by snagging these "before" pics with her iphone...
I'd call the overall look traditional-cottage.

Before I show you my ideas for the update, you need to know a little bit about my Aunt. First, we share birthdays, so that makes her extra-special to me. Second, my Granny used to call my aunt, "Sparkles" because of her devotion to all things being or resembling diamonds - a true Leo all the way! Coincidentally, Aunt Betty is also trying to teach Avery to say, "Daddy, diamonds!" Yeah, Ben is just lovin' that! (One woman in the house loving diamonds is enough for Casa Giese...in his eyes!)

So, you can see how I can't imagine a design that didn't feature some sort of bling. I don't think a big-budget makeover is planned, but the fact that this is the restroom guests use makes me want to jazz it up a bit - make it a mini-showplace!

When I first saw the pic of this rosy and warm bathroom, I immediately thought of Aunt Betty's redo. The room is similarly arranged, in that it's a galley shape, ending in the bathtub, with a longish vanity area. I love the extra girlie touches: Molding around the mirror, Victorian gooseneck faucet, and crystal lamps. In fact, I love the idea of lamps on the vanity - it makes it more like a "dressing area" than a bathroom countertop, ya know?

But then I spied this bathroom and all its iridescent glass tile mosaic. Look at all that shimma, Shimma!!

I wonder if we could marry those two concepts: Warm, rosy (read: flattering) tones with a touch of that iridescence....Maybe something like these!

I would keep my Aunt's shoulder-height wainscoting, but replace the wallpaper with this amazing blush series of glass tile. These are made by Hakatai, and are about 50% recycled glass - cool, huh? The tile isn't cheap, and apparently, is best left installed by someone well versed in glass tile know-how, but how unbelievably mesmerizing would it be? I think you would feel surrounded by pearls, and that would NOT be a bad thing for my aunt!

The vanity counter is in good condition - no need to waste money replacing it, and the cabinetry might do just fine with a fresh coat of glossy, white paint. Hardware, however, is another place you can have fun - and get a good amount of bang for the buck.
I'd switch out her hardware to these...

Restoration Hardware's Rosette knob and pull in polished nickel.

There's only one window in the bathroom, and it's in the bath/shower enclosure To maximize the amount of light, thus getting the most effect of the pearlescent tile, I'd replace the fuschia shower curtain with this simple, white waffle weave one from Target. It comes in an extra-long length, to allow you to hang the rod near the ceiling. You've all heard me say it before - with curtains of all type - GO HIGH - it extends the eye, and makes the ceiling appear taller.
You might be thinking that hanging the curtain high would be counterintuitive to my note about allowing in more natural light vis-a-vis the shower window....

...But not when we replace the standard light fixture in the toilet area with this divine mini -chandelier!

The white curtain will provide a perfect "canvas" to which this fancy little sparkler will stand out - making a fun, "blingy" statement very befitting of Aunt "Sparkles!"

OK...so, I tried to work some of the images to give you a visual (Polyvore was showing me NO LOVE with these files!) This is what happens when you try to apply Photoshop ideas without the benefit of the software...or the skills... Will Work for Photoshop Skills!

Whatever... it took me forever to paste all those pics of the tiles, so please do me a favor: close your eyes, and visualize how truly lovely it would look (as opposed to this terribly rudimentary image!)

As I said, my Aunt didn't exactly contract with me, so any update or "after" pics I might get most likely won't be representative of this DD. I'm sure her new bath will be a fresh change; I can't wait to see it!