Our Newly Renovated Bathroom

February 1, 2023 Nicole Cicak

Ever since we moved into our home six years ago, I’ve wanted to redo our upstairs bathroom. At first, nothing was wrong with the space, except that it was the only part of our home that hadn’t been updated in the last 20 years. It had some old school features, like a fluorescent ceiling light and that beige textured tile everyone was obsessed with in the 90’s.

Over time, we began disliking the space more and more. A few years ago, we purchased a fancy toilet and had to use an extension chord to plug it in. Not ideal. Also, the vanity was rotting, which gave the room a musty smell. For a while, it was my least favorite room in our home. An upstairs bathroom may not sound important, but it’s the main bathroom we use while we’re working. It’s right off of my studio space.

At the end of last year, we finally decided it was time to tackle the project.

Before:

I’ve been working on cultivating my own unique art style for years, so interior design feels like a piece of cake. By now, I know what I like and what I don’t. It was a little too easy for me to make decisions about patterns and colors, because it’s the same type of decisions I make in my artwork every day. And Ryan isn’t too keen on design, so he let me take the lead on this one. While I usually love neutral wall colors and furniture, I wanted to use color to bring this little space to life. I often use touches of gold paint in my work, so I knew early on that I wanted to incorporate brass fixtures.

Once I had an overall vision in mind, I made a mood board. This was helpful, because it allowed me to see how everything would look together. Here was one of my first mood boards:

My mood boards were pretty rough, but they helped me bring my vision to life. Along the way, I made a lot of changes to my design. The biggest challenge was how small the space is. I wanted it to feel bigger, so it was difficult to find a vanity that would work.

The bathroom after demolition.

Halfway through the construction.

Once I had an overall design in mind, Ryan found a great contractor online. We loved working with him. He made the renovation feel stress-free and easy. Our contractor, Andy, began work on the bathroom on December 20th, and he finished the project on January 19th. Leading up the start date, I tried to get everything pre-ordered. Luckily, most of my choices were in stock. I chose inexpensive floor and wall tile, because that’s what I liked best. We went to countless tile stores, and I kept coming back to the simple matte styles from Menards and Home Depot. I wanted the bathroom to feel classic and timeless, so I couldn’t bring myself to choose something trendy. I also chose very inexpensive medicine cabinets and fixtures for the bathroom, because that’s what I was drawn to.

Our major splurge was on brass Kohler fixtures for the sinks and tub. I’m pretty particular on shades of brass. To me, Kohler offers that perfect shade of warm brushed brass. We’ve had trouble with some of our other faucets, so Ryan was big on purchasing something high quality that would last for years to come. Luckily, we have a Kohler store pretty close to our house called Studio 41. Shoutout to Paul who helped us find in stock items! It seems I’m not the only one who’s a fan of Kohler brass fixtures.

The bright peach paint color was a last minute decision, and I love how it turned out. With the olive green vanity already in place, peach was calling my name. It felt like a really bold decision. I wondered if it was too feminine many times. However, I use this color combo all the time in my work and it makes me happy. So, I went for it. We painted the upper walls and ceiling the same color to make the space feel larger.

To finish off the space, I went antiquing with my mom to look for horizontal frames. I needed something that would fit perfectly above the subway tile wall partition. Low and behold, I found the perfect brass bamboo frame. I immediately came home and painted the Queen Mary Oceanliner to add my own personal touch to the space. I even added little gold accents to my painting to match the brass fixtures.

So far, we are loving our new bathroom. The colors make me SO happy. I like to think it feels like you’re stepping into one of my paintings when you see the space. And now for the big reveal (you can click on the thumbnails to make them larger)…

After: