Friday, February 19, 2010

#143...my bathroom remodel

When we bought our bungalow over six years ago, the bathroom looked like this 
At the time, we had so many rooms to tackle that we did a half renovation of the bath, putting in a new shower, toilet, and wallboard. We laid new floor tile, but never finished cutting or laying the perimeter pieces. We never finished the floor molding, and we repurposed the old sink (I painted it turquoise) with the intention of someday putting in something nicer. Below is the point it was at as we entered 2010.

One of my New Year's resolutions was to finish this bathroom, and with my Dad's help I did it while Tyler was out of town eariler this month
The first thing I did was to rip out the old sink and finish the long overdue tile job and floor molding. With the help of my Dad, we moved the electrical plug lower down on the wall, so that I could house plug-in items inside of a cabinet.
I purchased components from the Lillangen cabinet system from Ikea to use as my sink base, and then I cut a piece of birch plywood from Home Depot for the top.
Again with my Dad's help (and a jigsaw), I shaped the top of the sink and cut a hole in it for the plumbing to fit through. I bought the marble sink on discount over five years ago, and the faucet is from Lowe's.
I wanted my new bath to be modern and uncluttered, but I also wanted it to be spa-like and pretty. I got inspired by this page from House Beautiful, march 2010
....and here is my finished bath
other notes about the bathroom....
  • check out my window covering, spray painted mirror and door makeover
  • the wall cabinets above the toilet are modified versions of the Bjorken from Ikea
  • the cabinet fronts are painted in enamel with Boucle from Pratt and Lambert
  • the ring pulls are these
  • the square abstract painting is inspired by this artist
  • the birch sink top is finished with tung oil
  • the light fixture is here
  • the shower curtain is made from 6 yards of Calico Corners fabric (it was a splurge)
  • the crab and fish ceramic tiles in the shower were painted, fired and installed during phase1 six years ago
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20 comments:

  1. melifaifFebruary 19, 2010 at 7:53 AM

    SO fabulous!!!

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  2. VanessaFebruary 19, 2010 at 11:16 AM

    The bathroom is beautiful! You and your dad make a great team.

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  3. autumnFebruary 19, 2010 at 4:50 PM

    this is. fabulous! i love the shape of the vanity, the soft blue, the shower curtain, the ring pulls, the sink, and you treatment of the mirror. you need to submit this to design*sponge NOW.

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  4. SarahFebruary 21, 2010 at 8:08 AM

    this is SO great!
    LOVE the shape of the countertop and i cannot even tell you how excited it made me to read your idea about putting a plug inside the cabinet (i know, with me, it's the simple things that get me going!)... nothing drives me more crazy than all the cords- my husband's razor, toothbrush, etc. this is BRILLIANT and is a MUST now on my list for our soon-to-be bathroom remodel.
    thanks and GREAT work!

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  5. TrapuntoMarch 11, 2011 at 10:26 AM

    I came here from IKEA Hacker, because this was my favorite bathroom hack in all the time I've followed the site. Jaw-droppingly perfect, or at any rate, jaw-droppingly in line with my own taste. I have a couple of nasty bathrooms to remodel on a budget, but I'd really rather just have you box yours up and send it to me. Not for sale, I suppose?

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  6. bonnieMarch 12, 2011 at 11:01 AM

    how fortuitous! I am going to my old home in the west to fixup next week. the bathroom needs a new cabinet and counter top and i've thought for year that a curved-to-narrow one would be perfect...Now I can see it done already!! Going for the saw!!!!
    thank you.

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  7. AnonymousMarch 12, 2011 at 7:00 PM

    what a Great Bathroom remodel indeed!
    Three Cheers for you guys!

    Cheers,
    TENIVI

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  8. Deborah MarchMarch 14, 2011 at 9:02 AM

    OUTSTANDING!!!

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  9. Lester MiguesApril 11, 2011 at 11:19 PM

    Now, your bathroom looks way better than before! Just look at how you gave it some beautiful details like those crabs on the wall. And the choice of color is really cool in the eyes.

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  10. TeresaMay 8, 2011 at 12:37 PM

    Your bathroom is lovely. Curious about how you modified the Bjorken cabinets. Is that one larger cabinet cut into two?

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  11. Christie ChaseMay 8, 2011 at 4:34 PM

    Hi Teresa,
    The Ikea Bjorkens that I used are the tall skinny version...I link to them in my post. I modified them by hanging them horizontally instead of vertically, omitting the internal glass shleves. I also added the ring pulls to the front of the cabinet.

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  12. A to the l to the ia.August 21, 2011 at 11:09 PM

    Hi I am curious about the cabinets hung horizontal. They seem modified in the corners as well. The bjorken on Ikea's site has small cut aways in two corners.
    What did you do to fill those? Or did you purchase different door fronts? I want to drive to ikea this week and get two of these. Thanks!

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  13. Christie ChaseAugust 22, 2011 at 6:27 AM

    I did modify the front of the bjorken by adding a thin 1/4 inch sheet of cut plywood to the front of it. I did not like the corner cut outs, so used Liquid Nails to glue a smooth piece of wood to the fronts. Once painted, you can hardly tell there was something extra applied to the cabinet.

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  14. Terence WatthensOctober 2, 2012 at 12:21 PM

    You were definitely determined to make your New Year’s resolution a reality. I think that your determination and hard work definitely paid off. The bathroom looks marvelous. Compared to its previous look, the latter is brighter and more welcoming. The space seems wider thanks to the light that is coming in from the windows. Best of all, you were able to achieved your goal of making the bathroom look like a spa.

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  15. Darryl IorioMarch 13, 2013 at 11:10 AM

    I’m quite surprised and impressed at the same time because you get yourself involved in plumbing work. Oftentimes, women are hands-on when it comes to remodeling projects like this, but they let men do the labor. Well, I know your dad didn’t let you work on it alone. :)

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  16. William GulliverApril 18, 2013 at 1:44 PM

    You did a great job on choosing a marble sink because it complements very well with your faucet and vanity table. I like the idea that you bought it years ago, but still used it for your bathroom renovation. Others might be against in using it because they might think it’s already out of style. You, on the other hand, made it useful. It’s never too late for anything, right? :')

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    Replies
    1. kDecember 14, 2014 at 5:26 AM

      It's never too late for taste that suits you.

      Delete
  17. Jane NewfMay 3, 2014 at 7:14 PM

    Did you mean to leave the corner of the cabinet exposed on the left side, or did your cut the countertop and forget to account or the door?

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  18. Christie ChaseMay 9, 2014 at 10:03 AM

    I did not mean to leave the top of the door of the cabinet exposed. I cut the counter surface prior to putting the cabinet door on, and forgot to account for the depth of the door. I was initially disappointed in my error, but it does not even bother me anymore.

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  19. Jason SmithDecember 21, 2018 at 5:57 AM

    This is an awesome renovation, thank you for sharing this idea. My bathroom is very plain and I don't have enough knowledge about what to do and how to enhance it. This is very helpful.

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