Kitchen & Bath – Style At Home Blog

{ Archive for the ‘Kitchen & Bath’ Category }

bathroom renovation: it’s all in the details

by Natalie DiScala
Jun 10, 2011
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It took just two weeks to transform my bathroom from a tired old space into one that’s fresh, clean and so much more modern. Not bad, eh? While most people will tell you that a renovation of any kind can be an enormous headache, complete with missed deadlines and unforeseen problems, mine, I’m lucky to say, moved along smoothly and quickly. The installation team from Home Depot was amazing and the quality of their work is visible even to the most untrained eye. I’m so thrilled with the results and am excited to start using my new bathroom. Here are some more photos:

If you’ve been following along with my story of this bathroom renovation, then you know that the marble for the shower ledge was the only real hold-up I encountered. But once the custom cut marble arrived and was installed, it was the perfect finishing touch. We installed the ledge because the standard size of new tubs is shorter than my original tub. But it’s a nice feature and provides storage for accessories, shampoo bottles, etc. The 3-inch by 6-inch subway tile from Home Depot is one of the most inexpensive tile options you can find and I love the clean, modern look.

These apothecary accessories (stoneware with silver-plated trim) from Canadian Tire are the perfect match for my bathroom. At $12.99 apiece, they’re also the perfect price!

Accessories like this mirror (HomeSense, $23) and painting (Home Outfitters, $39.99 were inexpensive finds. I opted for a glass vessel sink from Home Depot ($69). The paint colour (Elusive Blue, Olympic Paints) adds a soft, restful and feminine touch to the space.

I chose a simple white shower curtain with grosgrain ribbon detailing from the Gluckstein Home collection (Home Outfitters, $39.99) and the small medicine cabinet (Home Depot, $89) provides hidden and much-needed storage in my small bathroom.

Instead of boring old shower curtain rings, I chose brushed stainless steel rings (Home Outfitters, $22.99) that look like oversized buttons. It’s a small detail that adds some visual interest to the shower curtain. I also opted for a curved shower curtain rod that makes my tub feel three times larger than it is. It’s nice not to have my shower curtain pawing at me when I’m taking a shower and I highly recommend trying one in your bathroom!

Click here to check out the before pictures. What do you think of the transformation?

bathroom renovation: choosing accessories

by Natalie DiScala
Jun 6, 2011
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I finally got the call today: The missing piece of marble for the ledge in my shower is being installed as we speak! It’s only been two weeks since my bathroom renovation began (though it feels longer) and once that final piece is in, the renovation itself will be complete. Which means … I get to start choosing accessories to dress up my space!

To start, I’ve chosen these stoneware accessories with silver-plated trim from Canadian Tire.

Apothecary Tumbler, $12.99, canadiantire.ca

Apothecary soap dish, $12.99, canadiantire.ca

There’s a full line of matching products from this pretty Paris-inspired line, including a waste basket, toothbrush holder and lotion pump. I love the vintage hotel-chic flavour of these pieces and love the price points!”

What do you think? Good start?

bathroom renovation: the vessel sink

by Natalie DiScala
Jun 3, 2011
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Well, I was hoping to have more of an update on the state of my bathroom renovation but alas, the missing piece of marble is holding things up. But, I have made a decision on the sink situation.

Despite advice from readers like you, I opted for the glass vessel sink. And despite the fact that, as many of you pointed out, it’ll be trickier to keep this sink clean (versus the white porcelain option I’d been considering), I like it better and do hereby promise to keep it clean at all times!

I like the simplicity of it and its trueness to the origin of the vessel sink, which dates centuries back to China, when basins like this were used before indoor plumbing. This 16-inch vessel sink from Home Depot was just $69 and fits perfectly on the vanity in my small space. I can’t wait to show you all the final photos but it all depends on the custom cut piece of marble that’s needed for the shower ledge.

Until the marble arrives, I’m going to busy myself with shopping for the decorative accents!

bathroom renovation: day five

by Natalie DiScala
May 31, 2011
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As one would expect of any renovation, there are sure to be hiccups along the way. My bathroom renovation is no different, but thankfully, the issues have been small and easy to fix. Today’s hold-up: The vessel sink.

When I selected the vanity for my bathroom, I didn’t realize that it had a pre-cut hole in the middle to accommodate a particular kind of sink. Aaaand – the sink that I chose doesn’t fit. Fortunately, Tony (the project manager overseeing my renovation) is a star and he went to Home Depot for me and snapped a photo of a suitable replacement. It’s an entirely different look but I like this sink, too! Number one is the sink I’d originally selected – square vessel lavatory; number two is the replacement – round clear glass vessel sink. What do you think?

bathroom renovation: day four

by Natalie DiScala
May 30, 2011
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When I stopped by my condo to check on the progress of my bathroom renovation on Friday, I was very pleasantly surprised! Things are moving quickly and the work should be done soon. Unfortunately, the marble for the ledge in the shower is still a big ol’ question mark. I haven’t heard an update yet as to when they’ll be able to find the piece they need. I hope it’s not two weeks as I was originally told. I can’t go two weeks without a working shower!

So, here’s how things are looking:

The ledge has been tiled and looks great! Now, just to find that piece of marble for the top. I wondered why we couldn’t just continue the subway tile along the top but once it was explained to me, it made perfect sense. If you tile and grout the top and water sits on that ledge, it will eat away at the grout. So a solid piece of marble to match the floor is a much better solution. Ah! Makes perfect sense.

At this point in the renovation, this is the picture that thrills me most! Here you can see the new tub, tile and polished marble flooring, all from Home Depot. My old bathroom had tile baseboards (ew!) but the new baseboards and painted walls look fantastic. Out of hundreds of paint colours to choose from, I settled on Elusive Blue (D51-1) from Olympic Paints and I’m thrilled with the results. It looks a bit bluer here than it does in person. It’s actually a bit lighter and really picks up on the grey in the floor tile.

Today, the toilet, vanity, medicine cabinet and mirror should be going into place. I’ll provide an update tomorrow!

bathroom renovation: day three

by Natalie DiScala
May 27, 2011
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The shower enclosure is tiled! And the ledge is in place, too! Here’s what the bathroom looks like today:

Love the subway tile! I chose the 3-inch by 6-inch subway tile from Home Depot. Love how it looks now that it’s in place.

And here’s the ledge. The guys pushed the wall back to its original place and created this ledge, which will be a handy spot to, you know, put stuff. But … (isn’t there always a but?) … they don’t have the right size of marble to put across the top of the ledge. I was told that it might take two weeks to special order the piece that they need – yikes! I won’t be able to use the shower until the marble across the top is put in place, so I’m hoping that they can come up with a solution. Soon. Tony, the project manager says not to sweat it so I’m not going to! Stay tuned …

bathroom renovation: day two

by Natalie DiScala
May 26, 2011
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So, things are trucking along on my bathroom renovation. Here’s a look at how things are going:

bathroom renovation day2 2 bathroom renovation: day two
The mess in my condo has multiplied by, oh, I don’t know … three? Understandably. There’s a lot of stuff that needs to go in the bathroom and not a lot of space. But again, these guys are as neat as they can be and considerate. I can tell that they’ve been taking good care not to damage my floor, especially.

One of the guys from the Home Depot installation crew. So far, so good!

We’ve only run into one small issue. While researching everything I needed for this bathroom renovation, I learned that standard tubs are now smaller than tubs from 20 years ago. My original tub was 64″ while the newer tubs are only 60″. (You can order a custom tub if you really want.) To make up for that difference in space, we decided to create a tiled ledge, which would not only solve the problem but give me some space for shampoo bottles and the like. When I got back to my condo yesterday, I saw that instead of a ledge, the guys had built out the wall. Looks fine but since this is already a small space, why make it even smaller? I talked to Tony, the project manager, and he says it’s not a problem to put the ledge in as originally discussed. Pictured above is how it looks with the wall that was built to meet the tub. We’ll see shortly what it looks like with the ledge. I think the ledge is a better solution. Do you agree?

bathroom renovation: can you guess which paint colour I chose?

by Natalie DiScala
May 26, 2011
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After choosing all of the fixtures for my bathroom renovation – the tub, toilet, vanity, mirror, lighting, shower tiles and flooring – the final element was the paint colour. But with SO MANY COLOURS to choose from, how do I narrow it down to just one? This is what I’ve been sifting through:

I have finally made my selection and you can actually see the chip I chose in this photo. Any guesses? You’re going to have to wait for the final reveal to find out, but I will tell you that I chose a colour from Olympic Paints’ Colours of Inspiration line. I liked that all 1,200 shades of the Colours of Inspiration palette are available in zero-VOC and low odour. After much debate and looking at chips in this light and that light, I love the shade I FINALLY settled on. Now I just need to see it on the walls!

bathroom renovation: day one

by Natalie DiScala
May 25, 2011
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Welcome to day one of my bathroom renovation! The demolition began yesterday and I returned home to find everything … GONE! Here’s what my bathroom looks like today:

Yikes!

The wall-to-wall mirror is gone, as are the sink and vanity. Can’t say I’m sad to see ‘em go.

Adios, bathtub!

I found this drawing behind the tile on the shower wall. I’ve heard tons of stories about the things people have found behind walls and underneath floors when doing a renovation. Have you ever found anything interesting? A friend of mine found well preserved newspapers from the 1920s when she renovated her house.

I have to hand it to the installation crew from Home Depot. I’m so pleased with the way they’ve been treating my home. They put up plastic coverings in all the right places and have kept the mess contained to the bathroom. We’ve all heard horror stories about renovations gone wrong, so it was nice to start things off on the right foot. Thanks, guys! I really appreciate it.

ready to start a bathroom renovation

by Natalie DiScala
May 23, 2011
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The long weekend is coming to a close but there are no fireworks for me. Instead, I’m home preparing for a bathroom renovation that’s scheduled to begin in the morning!

Needless to say, I’m tres excited to get this ball rolling. My bathroom, as you’ll see from the photos below, could use some work. I live in a condo building that was constructed in 1988. All the fixtures are original and I suppose when you take that into account, they’ve weathered the past 23 years pretty well. But now everything, from the vanity and the tub to the flooring and mirrored wall needs to go! It’s time for a fresh, new, modern look and it wasn’t hard to find everything I was looking for at Home Depot. I just needed one afternoon of one-stop shopping and now I can’t wait to get started! I’m going to share the whole process with you and I’d love your feedback along the way.

OK – here are the photos of my bathroom. Be nice!

The shower. I can’t WAIT to get rid of that grey tub.

And I can’t wait to get rid of the matching grey sink and toilet. Ugh.

When I moved in, the bathroom was covered in a pink, white and purple floral wallpaper. Not so much. After painstakingly removing the paper, I opted for a charcoal grey paint. This time ’round, I’m ready to lighten things up. I haven’t decided on my colour yet. The new fixtures will be black and white. Suggestions for the paint colour?