Oh poo

Come on in and see the cutest little washroom in the world. You may have already read about my curtains on the blogosphere. And by that I mean my last post. They're red and made out of material. Read all about them here (really? you need to be linked to that? just scroll down. use your finger.)

Interesting note about the picture above. It was taken at 4:14.

I have two bats. One for me and one for you. Come on over.  

     I'm still loving the upstairs bath. The skylight keeps it light and bright and all that white marble and tile are looking sharp, clean and classic. It's pretty great.So those are the bathrooms. One more fun fact, they're pretty soundproof. So if you want to record an album I've got the perfect place for you. 

Bathroom Humor

Without the humor. Below are pictures of the bathrooms. Keep in mind that they still need the mirrors installed. Lately it seems like every post says the house is completely done and then goes on to list all the work that still needs to be finished. So sue me.  

This is the cute little downstairs half bath. It took its inspiration from that super cool bathroom in New Jersey. The amount of room in this room doesn't allow for half the grooviness of New Jersey but the detail of the dark grout and the tile baseboard is super sharp and makes the room feel like it's wearing a well-tailored suit.

The walls are Anchor Gray but even though they're dark it doesn't make the room feel small. The tall, narrow window lets in tons of light which reflects off the bright white wall tiles.

And the acorn light, a super generous gift from my friend Malina, is the perfect finishing touch. It's a very cozy and very functional room. I deem it a success.

And here's a look at the upstairs bath in its more finished state. The marble on the shower tread and half wall is in and the floor and wall tiles have been grouted. The fabricator picked a great section of the slab to use for the threshold, I love that it's so dramatic and pretty.

And I also love the edge detail that you can just glimpse on the wall ledge.

The awesome shampoo nooks are done but almost better than those and probably the most practically brilliant part of the shower design can be seen right here. You can turn on the water while standing over at the shower entrance -- which is at a safe, non-water-drenching distance from the shower head.

So no worrying about getting blasted with cold water. Thanks Bill, God is in the details.

And over here, opposite the shower, is the genius little soaking tub. Calgon, take me away. The tub marble looks a little monolithic from this angle but it's less heavy-handed when you see it in person. (I hope.) When Bill first drew up the plans for this room there was just a shower, no bathtub. When I said I'd also really like to have a tub he looked through the catalog in his robot brain and suggested this tub from Kohler that's short enough to fit in the room and deep enough to soak away all your troubles. Can't wait to give it a try. I can not wait to move in!

More Inspiration

Below are pictures of a super groovy bathroom in New Jersey. Mark, who has served as my remote design advisor/sounding board, found this article on House Beautiful.com back in the early Huron planning stages. I like this bathroom a lot and once the tile is in downstairs you'll see how much was stolen from this room.  Right down to the charcoal gray grout on the subway tiles and the very very dark walls.

Also stolen, but installed in the upstairs bath, are the tiled cutout niches in the walls.

These tile nooks are tastefully staged, filled with fluffy white towels and decorative sundries.

Whereas mine are built to hold extra rolls of toilet paper.  Super classy.

Here's a really fun unexpected surprise in the New Jersey bathroom, there's a half wall that separates it from a giant dressing room.  These guys know how to live.

Hop on the Subway Train

Ok, people love white subway tile.  Just look at any page on Remodelista and you'll see it everywhere.  But I don't care how ubiquitous it's become, I'm still crazy for it.  A couple reference pictures were straight up inspiration for the bath and the half bath at Huron.  First is a still from a movie I really liked.  If you didn't like it you didn't see it twice, like I did, and spend time really appreciating the layers and metaphors and how pretty Jennifer Aniston's hair is.  That movie was "The Switch" and there's a pivotal scene that takes place in someone's bathroom. And that bathroom became the template for the tile layout upstairs.  Here's Jason Bateman who's about to make a very serious, alcohol-fueled, life changing decision:

And here's how that wall tile translated to Huron's upstairs bathroom:

Storage space is tight so there's a shelf nook in the corner to hold towels and whatnots.  The tub decking, which you can kind of see, will be covered with marble - just a taste around the edges and on the front of the tub wall.

I really like how the chair rail runs through the middle of the shower wall.  That was Bill's design and the way it gives your eye a break on that expanse of tile feels really nice.  The floors are a Carrera marble, or maybe Calcutta, I don't remember.  It's polished, white hexagonal marble tile and I got it for a decent price over at Tile Outlet Center on Fullerton. My friend Sharon has a theory about who's running the operation over at the Tile Outlet that, in one fell swoop, explains their extremely competitive prices, why there are cops hanging out behind the counter and why a tile store would be open til midnight.  On a Tuesday.  Each on its own is slightly unusual, taken all together things smell distinctly fishy.  I totally agree with her Al Capone speculations, it is Chicago after all.

(Did this floor tile fall off the back of a truck? Sharon thinks the chances are pretty good that it did.)

The ledge on the half wall and curb into the shower will be covered in the same marble as the tub deck.

And here's a fun little extra that just makes me so happy.  These little niches are the perfect size to hold a couple rolls of toilet paper.  The inspiration for these came from pictures of another bathroom.  More on those pictures and the downstairs bath next time.

Yummer Plumber

I had no idea that finding a kitchen faucet would make me so happy.  I had spent a lot of time online looking at plumbing fixtures and filling up virtual shopping carts.   Here's a sample of one list

I put together 3 or 4 more of those.  My search was for interesting fixtures with classic lines, anything that had a little character. Then I'd send the lists off to the contractor but somehow they'd synthesize my order, remold it into what they said I really needed and recommend something like

this.  They just weren't seeing my vision.

For as long as I can remember I've wanted to live in an industrial space.  When I was a kid I wanted to live in my elementary school.  I just loved the oversized windows in the halls, the high ceilings and dark, echoing stairwells. I'd still like to live in a school building or a warehouse or an old fire station. And so would lots of people which means that those cool old buildings are hard to come by and expensive when you do find them.  But there are little ways to introduce that industrial aesthetic into the Huron house and one of them is with plumbing fixtures.  The trick was finding something I could afford that had an interesting design style. Things weren't looking up until I stumbled upon a place called the Chicago Faucet Shoppe (chicagofaucetshoppe.com). These guys know their business and they're a treat to spend time with. The first day I was in their tiny store on Elston the floor was covered in cleaned up, previously owned sinks and toilets. Somebody was rehabbing a house that must have been fairly large because they had a couple truck loads of porcelain that they were recycling through the store. It resulted in a very casual, come-as-you-are ambience and if you like that sort of thing and appreciate a small, independently owned business where they remember your name and seem to really care about what they do then you should check 'em out. And if you need to repair, replace, clean or buy something Adam's your man. I wish I had more stuff to get because he is delightful. He recommend these

and they were exactly what I was looking for. Each piece is heavy and really sturdy feeling. Adam swears they're well made and will hold up and I really like the classic shapes. In less than 20 minutes he had sorted out what I'd spent about 2 months muddling through on my own.  And you know what, just looking at the pictures still makes me happy. Imagine what it'll be like when they're finally installed.