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!

Sampler Platter

The work in the house is almost done.  So close, so close.  Below are some samples of what's going on and going in.

Here's the floor stain.  It wasn't what I would have picked but the finish that I've seen and liked is a multi-step process (or so I hear).  Coffee Brown is what I chose one day when I walked in the house and saw two stain samples on the floor.  It was right before I was heading out of town for work for a week and I thought the stain color decision should be made quickly. Of the two colors this is the one I preferred.  I like dark brown floors although you see them everywhere.  So the choice wasn't very original but it's secretly what I've really wanted all along.

The true color is near the bottom of the picture where the sun isn't casting a glare.  I like the amount of grain that shows through, it gives the floors a lot of life.

This is the marble for the upstairs bathroom.  The trip to the fabricator went well yesterday, she taped off parts of the stones that I liked.  The bottom part of this slab will be the front of the tub.  Above the tape is the portion that will be used for the tub deck. There will be lots of leftovers from this piece of marble, I'm having a cheese board made.  Anything too large will be super heavy and there's not tons of storage in the kitchen so I passed on getting a cutting / pastry board.

Here's the slab for the kitchen island.  This particular stone has lots of variations.  There was a piece from a different lot that had a bunch of speckles in it.  The stone I originally saw in the stone store didn't have as much vertical white veining.  But this is what I ended up with and I hope I'll like it.

Here's a different piece that will be used for the kitchen counter.  

And here's the tile design for the downstairs bathroom.  The layout is almost the same as the upstairs bath with just minor height and design differences. The floors in the downstairs bath are hardwood.  Now that they've been stained I think the tile guy can hop back to it and tile the downstairs bathroom and finish tiling in the upstairs bath. Countertops, fireplace and bathroom stones go in at the end of the week.  Sinks, faucets and toilets need to be installed.  Gates and fencing and...that's about it.  So close.