First Light Designs

Yes, after 12 weeks, the renovation of our upstairs bathroom is all but complete! Would you like to see? Let’s start in the doorway. The first thing you see is the quartz cap on the toilet alcove:

I’m so glad we waited to find another remnant of the quartz (“Lattice” by Pental) to finish this half-wall instead of capping it with wood trim. Wood would have been very nice but this is much more elegant. To the left of the wall you can see part of the clawfoot tub. Here’s a look at the entire tub:

I love the look of the vintage bath hardware, including the telephone-style shower head.

Now for the shower, in all its tiled and glassed-in beauty:

Moving counter-clockwise, here’s the five-panel door, which used to swing into the bathroom but now slides neatly into its wall pocket:

As you can see from the right side of the photo, I’ve already hung towels on the wall to the left of the shower. I chose a deep teal blue.

Am I saving the best for last? Maybe! Here is the mirror over the vanity, with the three sconces mounted in place:

Another view from across the room:

Even prettier with the lights on:

And, for some drama, here’s a shot of two the sconces with the lights turned low:

Back where we started, here’s another shot of the toilet alcove and wall cap:

And there you have it. Am I thrilled? Absolutely!

There is more to come, however. The plantation shutters I ordered for the windows are due to arrive by the end of June. I’m going to wait until they are in place before putting pictures on the walls. In the meantime, I’ll be looking for a long narrow console table, preferably vintage, to go in this space between the end of the tub and the half-wall . . .

. . . and a bench to go in this little corner:

Once the bathroom is truly complete, which may take a few weeks, I’ll post some before-and-after photos. Until then, if you want to review the project from the outset, feel free to follow these links:

March 16: Happy Birthday, House!
March 27: The Bathroom Remodel Begins
March 31: Bathroom Reno, Week 1
April 8: Bathroom Reno, Week 2
April 15: Bathroom Reno, Week 3
April 21: Bathroom Reno, Week 4
April 28: Bathroom Reno, Week 5
May 5: Bathroom Reno, Week 6
May 12: Bathroom Reno, Week 7
May 19: Bathroom Reno, Week 8
May 27: Bathroom Reno, Week 9
June 2: Bathroom Reno, Week 10
June 9: Bathroom Reno, Week 11

Thanks for following along!

After 11 weeks, we have running water again in our upstairs bathroom! The water is flowing from these lovely faucets:

Be sure to check out the tile backsplash, which matches the tile design on the other side of the bathroom. Doesn’t it look good?

Here’s a full view of the vanity (taken from a rather odd angle):

The toilet has been installed!

And we have glass walls in the shower!

Can you tell I’m excited? I’m so ready for the bathroom to be complete.

Last week we were faced with a dilemma. We originally thought the remnant of Pental quartz chosen for the vanity was large enough for both the vanity and the top of the half-wall that forms an alcove around the toilet. The piece left over after the vanity was cut turned out to be just a few inches shy. Should we wait a bit, hoping another remnant would surface? Or cap the wall with wood trim instead? I asked my contractors to keep looking, and on Friday they found a small remnant of my quartz.

Maybe I’ll be able to show you photos of the wall cap in the next installment of our Bathroom Reno report. Thanks so much for stopping by.

Last week I was predicting that the shower glass would be installed and that the bathroom remodel might actually be completed. Alas, it was not to be. The shower glass did get delivered but two of the three panels were not beveled at the correct angle, so back they went.

Thankfully, we don’t have a pressing deadline for completion of the bathroom. The contractors predicted an eight-week job, and here we are approaching Week 11, but I don’t really mind. I think the wait will be worth it. And I do have something new to show you: the vanity!

As you can see, the countertop is on and the sinks have been installed. The countertop is Pental quartz; the color is “lattice,” a creamy white with very subtle beige-y grey markings. The knobs on the cupboards and drawers are clear glass. The drawers glide open and closed ever so smoothly. (I know this because I keep wandering into the bathroom to try them out.)

You  may be wondering why the vanity isn’t wall-to-wall. In the original plan, it was. But early in the project my contractors found a remnant of the quartz countertop I wanted which was a few inches shorter than the full space between the walls. One option they presented was making the vanity look like a piece of furniture (i.e. free-standing) in order to use the remnant. I am very pleased with the result.

Since I don’t have a lot to show you this week, I’ll end this post with a preview of a coming attraction:

Isn’t that a lovely sconce? There are going to be three of these mounted on the wall above the vanity. But before that happens, Erik (the tile guy) is coming back to install the backsplash on the vanity. I hope you’ll come back for a look.

It’s all coming together. The first thing I want to show you is how good the floor tile looks now that it’s been grouted:

Here’s a slightly different view with more of the wall tile showing:

You  may have caught a glimpse of the wall in the upper right side of the photo above but it’s a little hard to see exactly what color the wall paint is. Here’s a look across the room:

Yes, I chose a pale dove grey for the walls. Are you surprised? I confess I surprised myself. I’m a quilter, and quilters love color. I actually auditioned quite a few bright colors, ones I thought would look especially good against all that white subway tile and the beige and gray tones of the floor tile.

My color inspiration was this watercolor print, St Germain Near Tunis (Inland), 1914, by the German-Swiss painter Paul Klee (1879-1940):

There’s a shade in Klee’s painting that’s not quite pink, not quite coral — more like the inside of a watermelon. I found myself drawn to that color but also to the cornflower blue and the teal. I had paint chips in several of those colors that I taped to the wall. One by one they came down as my choices narrowed.

In the end I decided on grey, a soothing neutral, knowing that just about any color or combination of colors would look good against it. It’s actually a warm grey, with a bit of a beige undertone that picks up the beige in the floor tiles. The grey on the walls changes depending on the angle (and the time of day).

I really like the crispness of the white wood trim against the grey walls. Here’s the pocket door, painted:

The vanity is in — and it’s beautiful! — but I’m waiting till the countertop has been installed before showing it to you. In the meantime, here is a preview of coming attractions on the other side of the room:

Yes, a clawfoot tub! It’s not in its proper position yet (closer to the corner) but it was important to get it moved into the bathroom before the glass walls of the shower were brought in.

I think the shower glass is coming this week. In fact, the bathroom may well be completed by the end of the week. I hope you’ll come back to check it out.

I was dazzled last week by the subway tile wainscoting and shower tile. The tilework is even more beautiful now that the grouting has been added. Take a look:

Here’s a close-up of the product niche:

The photo above really shows off the skill of Erik, the “tile guy,” in particular the way he aligned the tile at the back of the niche with the tile on the outer wall.

Here’s a shot of the tile wainscoting:

In this photo you can see the “droplet” trim above the top row of subway tile. I was going for a classic look that will stand the test of time.

Erik actually grouted the floor tiles first but I neglected to take a photo when it was done. The next morning he covered every inch of the floor with paper to protect it while he grouted the walls, so I don’t have a photo to show you how wonderful it looks. All in good time.

Next came the painters, who covered all of the tilework as well as the windows and every other surface that is not going to be painted. An enormous amount of time goes into preparation for painting, and it looks like it will be midweek before all of the painting is done. I’m having the linen closet painted, too, and that required a lot of prep.

If you’ve been following the remodel, you can see how far we’ve come by clicking on the links below to the early weeks. New readers can start from the beginning if they wish:

March 16: Happy Birthday, House!
March 27: The Bathroom Remodel Begins
March 31: Bathroom Reno, Week 1
April 8: Bathroom Reno, Week 2
April 15: Bathroom Reno, Week 3
April 21: Bathroom Reno, Week 4
April 28: Bathroom Reno, Week 5
May 5: Bathroom Reno, Week 6
May 12: Bathroom Reno, Week 7

All of the wood trim will be white. To find out what color I chose for the walls, please stop by next week!