A long 9 months

Nine months. No, I am not referring to how long I carried my children before giving birth; but rather how long the cute carpenter has been remodeling this bathroom. It has been almost as painful at times as child birth, but don't tell him I said that. I have told you before that my husband does not hire people to do what he can spend months trying to figure out himself, and the room design of our bathroom is one of those things. If you are planning any sort of remodel, I highly recommend you checking out http://www.floorplanner.com/ . The below image is our final design that my husband decided was our best use of space. The site works by entering in the dimensions of the room and then adding and moving what you want into the space. The program is free, and very user friendly with a lot of features. It even allows you to add images of people into the room to get a sense of space, and thank goodness for that because my husband also thinks he is a stand up comedian and he had a field day with that feature.
Here is where the room started...

We gutted the room back in June of last year...

And just this past weekend I sewed the curtains to hang, thus I am calling this room complete.

It is officially my favorite room in the house. It is not a spacious room, and fitting everything we wanted in it and the room not feeling crammed was a challenge.

The first thing I did was buy a dresser. I looked for weeks at salvage stores and finally found one for a great price. My husband ripped off the top of the dresser and we used that as a template for the marble top.

Figuring out how to hang a mirror over the cabinet was also difficult. The cute carpenter spent weeks trying to create a casing to wrap the mirror and also "hold" the sconces. At first I thought it was overkill, but I am pleased with what he created. The man is good with some trim!

One of my least favorite things in the world is picking out tile. I never know what I am doing, and it is very difficult to get a sense of what the finished product is going to look like. I stayed neutral and basic and then added the decorative pieces in the center of the shower for interest.

The tub and fixtures were my husbands deal. "Don't know, don't care, you pick" was all I had to say about that. We bought everything online and saved a lot of money that way. The TV in the bathroom was his idea as well, the man loves him some news in morning while shaving. He built it into the wall nicely and I think it is as "unnoticable" as a tv in the bathroom can be.

There is my black door that used to be white. A few weeks ago I told you I was painting everything in my house black, this was one of those things. The white was lovely, but it didn't pop. I love the black and I really love that door. This is like the door that was in our bathroom in Paris and I loved it.

Teal is my current favorite color, and these walls show that. I fauxed them using a smooth, tinted plaster that is tightly troweled onto the surface. I created the custom color and I could never recreate it even if I tried. My husband says he would never want me to recreate it...he's not sold on the color, but I really like it. There is movement and a hint of a metalic dimension to the walls, but no texture. They are smooth to the touch.

I need you to understand the love I have for this next piece of furniture. This is the best spent money we have used in this remodeling process so far. I told my carpenter husband I wanted a high vanity that would hold all my stuff and this is what he drew me. The upper cabinets open to reveal hidden shelving, and the lower cabinets glide open like spice racks in a kitchen with more hidden shelving. The cabinet is an awesome use of space, and the bar stool was discounted from the same salvage store where I bought the dresser. I have big hair. Big hair requires a lot of equipment and supplies, and my husband gets tired of looking at my equipment all over the counter tops. So he was equally motivated to come up with a solution to this dilemma. How cool is that...there is power inside that cabinet!

More shelving in the bathroom...

There is often dead space in a toilet area, so we framed out the wall to allow for a cabinet to be built behind the toilet. Simple concept, great use of space.

More details...

Still dreaming of Paris...

I hope you saw something that inspires you. Next time I will show you my closet (also designed by floorplanner.com) if I can get it cleaned up....so don't hold your breath.