Our master bath reno begins!!!! Two competing design inspirations

Our master bath reno begins!!!! Two competing design inspirations

• 5.19.2017

After our successful smaller bathroom renos last month, we've been feeling energized to tackle our master bathroom reno this month! It will be a bigger project, and there are a lot more design decisions to make. We spent 5-6 hours over the past week and weekend (Jason spent about 3, bless him) looking over design inspirations and products, after considering our vanity and plumbing options prior. We are torn but think we have a direction! We put a lot of time into some mood boards that were very helpful, and I've shared them with you below!

We'll be removing a wall in our bathroom between the toilet and vanity, and will have space for a 72" vanity. I'd love to have a lot of counter space and only one sink, but there are almost no one-sink vanities that size on the market. So I've been planning to need something custom. Oh, by the way, here's the "before."

YUCK. Definitely one of the ickier spaces of our home! (See the "before" video tour here and before photos here.)

I'm working with Progressive on our master bathroom reno, one of their “fresh start” stories. Progressive is sharing the message that they understand the needs and the unique life stage of new homeowners like myself and lots of people I know, buying first or second houses and going through big life changes. Renovating a master bathroom is a big project and big improvement to our home's value!

For starters design-wise... this is my all-time favorite bathroom. It's from this remodel by Amber Interiors. I love it.

Originally I wanted a vanity like that, and found a small place on Craiglist that could make a similar one. I found a couple local marble/granite places that could do a 72" slab for the top, and even mount the sinks. But, turns out the guy doesn't paint the vanities, so I would have to, and the timing and lack of return policy/buyer protection (and lack of clear image of what we would be getting) were discouraging.

Also, we considered doing a mosaic tile instead of the Mexican terra cotta tiles like in the above, so this bathroom started to fade. There are lots of other bathrooms I love, too, so I broadened my mind to other ideas.

We had such a good experience with the IKEA vanity we did in our guest bath that we looked back at IKEA for vanities we could combine to make an approximately 72" wide one. We decided we could combine three 23" walnut look vanities, order a custom marble slab, and do a vessel sink or inlaid sink. We loved the bold black and white floor look of some of the inspirations, and could do it with mosaic tile. I put together this mood board with some products we considered, and our key inspirations.

(Still hadn't decided on black vs. chrome light fixtures.)

For about a week we were really excited about the new, sleek, modern wood look vanity! It's obviously a very different look from what we'd originally envisioned, but we liked it, too.

But then things got complicated with the marble vendor, and we didn't like the sound of ordering pieces from different places (sink, cabinets, placement??, marble...) and the price of the vanity was the same or slightly more than a store-bought one-piece vanity.

Of course, those all have two sinks. But, two sinks could be a selling point for other people--like future buyers of our house. And, it would be so nice to have it come all put together, with counter and backsplash and sinks definitely the right size and lined up.

We went back to our original inspiration and came up with this.

I think that's the look we're going to go with.

I spent a lot of time second-guessing myself and flipping through my bathrooms pinboard again to look for inspirations about a specific element (mixing metals of faucets vs. handles, specific lighting types, etc.). But it's time to start ordering things, so I've had to choose a style and stick with it!

Thanks to Progressive for supporting our master bathroom reno project!