You guys! It’s time! It’s here! The big day!
Have you properly prepared yourself to see more photos of my master bathroom than you could ever possibly want to see? Get ready, because it’s going to be awesome.
I’m practically shaking with excitement over getting to finally share this with you guys.
But first, let’s back up, just in case you have no idea what I’m talking about.
(And because I’m a tease.)
Corey and I just finished participating in the One Room Challenge for the first time ever – the whole idea is that bloggers and designers take one room in their house and give it a total overhaul over the course of 6 weeks. We chose to do our master bathroom because we’re ambitious and slightly insane.
Before we dive into the after photos, let’s take a walk down memory lane and remember what this bathroom used to like – I feel like I need to remind you of the before photos so you can fully appreciate how huge this transformation is. I seriously feel like I’m stepping into another world when I walk into our bathroom now. I can’t believe it’s actually mine.
Here’s what the room looked like for the first few years we lived here:
Bland, brown, and boring. Then, a few years ago we had some issues with the shower caving in on us, and so we began demo for a renovation that we ended up putting on hold for nearly 3 years. Meaning, for the past 3-ish years my bathroom has looked like this:
Super cute, right?
Well…for the last 6 weeks we have been pouring every extra second of our time and every extra ounce of our energy into completely transforming this room. I’ve documented the journey here, so if you need to catch up, go ahead and do that before you keep reading. I promise, it’ll be worth the wait.
- Week 1: Demo + Design Plan
- Week 2: Backerboard + Paint
- Week 2.5: Choosing the Tile
- Week 3: Tile Installation
- Week 4: Cedar-planked Ceiling
- Week 5: Baseboards & Finishing Touches
- Week 5.5: Shower Glass Installation
And that brings us to today. The big reveal. The after photos. The grand finale.
Are you ready?
Let’s do this.
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This week was all about finishing up a few lingering projects, getting the vanity done, and styling the room. I can’t even believe the difference the last 10% or so made in this room – it went from feeling really beautiful but a little sterile to feeling cozy, welcoming, and like the bathroom of my dreams.
I mean, can you even handle that vanity?
Let’s talk about the countertop – it’s quartz and it’s so pretty I want to cry a little bit every time I see it. This was not our original plan for this bathroom and was way out of our budget – but when a friend caught wind that we were renovating our bathroom for this challenge she reached out to let me know her husband runs a countertop company, Set in Stone Countertops, and they wanted to sponsor this project. I just about died. It was so surreal to get to go out to their stone yard and drool over all of the amazing options and actually choose one for our bathroom!
I was pinching myself the whole time.
Corey and I wanted something that had a bit of a marble feel to it – something with lots of movement that could really stand out in the room. Originally, our plan was to do a tile backsplash around the back with black penny tile, but between time crunches and a lack of energy we ended up deciding to go with a simple quartz backsplash and I’m so glad we did. It really lets this countertop be the star of the show, and the more classic look fits right in with the rest of this bathroom.
Psst – That cute little candleholder is a DIY project! I’ll share more on it later, but it’s a concrete candle holder I made thanks to some product that Buddy’s Artisan Mix sent me. I love it so much! And the candle is the most amazing-smelling candle in the entire world handmade by my sweet friend, Jessica. It will make your whole house smell like Christmas. I promise you want one. Or 10.
Oh, and can we talk about those faucets from Moen? They’re so sleek and modern and perfect and I could just sit there and stroke them lovingly all day long.
We chatted a few weeks ago about the vanity lights and what we should do – I wanted to go with a one-light fixture but worried it wouldn’t be enough light. You guys agreed with me, but I decided to dive in and go for it anyways. We found these guys for super cheap at Lowe’s and spray painted them black…and I love them! We got these really cool light bulbs to go in them, and I’m just beyond thrilled with how it all looks together. It’s definitely less light than it was before, but I kept about half of the light bulbs unscrewed in our old fixtures because it was too much light, so this is working out nicely for me so far.
Another quick project we tackled this week was the shelf on the pony wall. This used to just be a plain white piece of wood on top, but we had to remove it when we demolished the old countertop and we figured it would be fun to try something a little more unique and added some cedar on top instead. It’s a small touch but I love how it looks, and I love that it brings some of the wood tones from the ceiling down into to the rest of the room.
Oh, oh, oh…the overhead light.
Drool.
This is a DIY project – I was going to plan a separate post for it but we were throwing it together at 10:00 the night before I had to take these photos, so it just didn’t come together. If there’s enough interest, though, I’m sure I can throw something together – just let me know if you want to know how it’s done!
One of the things that I think made the biggest difference in this room is the accessories. We never really did much in the way of styling this room before (maybe because it was so dang ugly?!) but it really does make a giant impact. I mean, this giant art basically makes the room. Can you even handle it?!
That beauty is from my friend, Lisa – she has a shop where she sells everything under the sun with her gorgeous designs, and I fell hard for this piece a while ago – thankfully she loves me and agreed to send it over to me to be featured in the room. It fits so perfectly with everything else, and it makes me so happy. It really just looks like it was made to go here, doesn’t it?!
Oh, and I finally decided to give Turkish towels a shot! I’ve chatted with you guys on Facebook about it before and it seems like the general consensus among us all was that we were curious, had heard great things, but hadn’t really tried them out. So, I’ll be the guinea pig! We grabbed these from our sweet sponsor, Wayfair, and I’m interested to see how we feel about them long term! I’ve used them a couple of times so far and am not sure how I feel yet, but I’ve heard they get better over time so I’m holding off on making an official judgment until I’ve had them a little longer.
Phew. Can you even handle all of this gorgeousness?
I can’t believe this bathroom is mine.
I have to send one final MEGA “Thank you” to the sponsors for this room. We quite literally could not have done it without them, and it was so fun to take on a project this huge for the first time ever – I’m so honored that we were able to work with so many amazing brands for this renovation, and I’m hoping this will be the start of some beautiful relationships with these wonderful people! Please oh please give them some love by clicking through to their sites and giving them shout outs on social media this week – they are truly amazing and I’m so grateful for their support on this project!
Behr // Moen // Set in Stone Countertops //Floor & Decor // Shower Doors of Austin
CedarSafe // Wayfair // Buddy’s Artisan Mix // D. Lawless Hardware
And, with that, I think I’m going to go take a nap. For, like, a week.
What do you think?!?!?!! Was this bathroom worth the exhaustion over the last 6 weeks?
(My answer is a resounding, “absolutely!”)
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