Today I have a favourite room to share with you – our main bathroom.
When we purchased our house at Beaumont Drive, the bathroom looked like this: (Apologies for the poor quality of these photos)
Honestly, these pictures don’t really do justice to the hideousness. It had a dark smoked-glass shower screen with peach trim, and a matching peach coloured spa bath and vanity. The tiles were a very 80’s marbled-grey gloss. Apart from being ugly, they were also slippery underfoot. Gloss tiles + wet area + small kids = recipe for disaster.
My biggest issue, though, was the lack of storage. The tiny vanity was crammed in between the bath and the door, with only one cupboard underneath, no drawers. This was, at the time, a one-bathroom house. There was no way we were going to fit all the kids’ bath paraphernalia plus our stuff in that one teensy little cabinet.
I started drawing up plans. No surprise – it involved knocking out a wall. By combining the bathroom with the adjoining toilet, we gained heaps of extra floor space and were able to keep the separate bath and shower, and still add in a large vanity. Plus, we stole a bit of bathroom floor area to add a much-needed broom cupboard to the hallway.
Here are the results:
In the picture below, you can see the laundry chute we added behind the bath. The lid opens and washing drops directly on top of the washing machine below.
Here’s the view of where the wall used to be – pretty much right where the end of the bath is. The shower and toilet are both outside the boundary of where the bathroom once ended. Combining the toilet and bathroom gave us so much more floor space. It now feels like such a spacious room.
The vanity was custom-made in Laminex “Blackened Linewood”. I ummed and aaahed about that finish – the bold pinstripe is a hot trend in laminate at the moment, but it was a bit more “out there” than something I’d usually pick. As soon as I saw the finished product, though, I was SO glad I took the risk. I love the classic masculine feel it gives, almost like a pinstripe suit. It echoes the more subtle wood-grain striations in the floor tiles, as well.
We had the vanity wall-hung, one of my favourite tricks to create an illusion of more space, as the tiles continue underneath, instead of the floor being truncated well out from the wall. It’s also a great place to stash bathroom scales and a step for the kids… it’s even concealed a potty for us at one stage.
This detail shot shows a few of my favourite features – the gorgeous gilt mirror, purchased from Sweet ‘n Shabby in Rockhampton; the tumbled marble splashback tiles (splurge! It adds a bit of a luxe feel to the bathroom, and was pretty affordable because we used it on such a small area) and the square recessed handles of the vanity.
The paint colour used for the feature wall behind the vanity is Dulux “Raku”.
I’ll leave you with one last before and after shot to compare.
I hope you enjoyed this bathroom reveal! Don’t miss the rest of the house tour – if you want to stay in the loop, why not like my page on Facebook or subscribe by email! More before-and-after goodness coming up this week. Stay tuned!
Linking up at Get Your DIY On: Room Revamps!