bathroom renovation update Archives

Update 5 | Project Ugly Duckling

It’s been awhile since I’ve given an update on the progress in the bathroom! Two reasons for that: ONE, we were lost in the land of drywall dust for quite some time and TWO: Graham has been traveling like a madman and barely home the last month, so progress has been slow. That said, we are nearly at the stage where the wallpaper can finally be installed!! Yippee!! I cannot wait to see this etched gorgeousness up on the walls.

Baseboards and crown are currently being installed by my man. Once they are painted, the wallpaper can finally shine in all its glory, and then this beauty can find its home floating on the wall of clouds.

I chose a natural Pau Ferro {unstained} for this vanity. I love all the movement and character in the grain. It’s dashingly handsome and all kinds of pretty all at the same time.

I’m pleased as punch at the custom drawers on the vanity which will make the most of the space available, jogging around the p-trap elegantly and maximizing the rest of the available drawer space. The top drawer does the same, so this elegantly simple vanity will offer a ton of practical storage while looking sleek and minimalist.

Lastly, the solid form sink and counter combo are sleek and simple and modern and will make cleaning up a breeze. I can’t wait to see this vanity floating on that wall! Cantilevered pieces are one of my favourite cabinet designs, and this will float 8-10″ off the floor for a weightless effect that will compliment the clouds perfectly. It should be visual poetry!

That’s it for now! There’s a small surprise coming in the hallway that connects the bathroom to the bedroom, and then there’s the bedroom itself…aka Project Debonaire Young Sir. Drywall is done there as well, so once this bathroom is finished it will be on to the to-do list for that space. Can’t wait to see it transformed! It’s going to be awesome.

xo
s.

By Sarah Walker The Curated House|August 27th, 2013|0 Comments

An Update on Project Ugly Duckling + Some Wallpaper Love

It’s time for an update, and I am SO EXCITED! My amazing husband has been working hard to lay this rather complicated floor for me. Let’s just say, this is an installation that even my professional tile installers would moan about, and Graham didn’t so much as winge. I am BEYOND impressed at how successfully he passed this test of patience.

He is currently working on the electrical so the best I can show you right now are these photos taken with the natural light available on a really rainy day, but I think you’ll agree, the new floor is SPECTACULAR! I am beyond in LOVE with it and still can’t believe I found these tiles for $3.50 a square foot. Steal of the century! The statement this floor makes as soon as you open the door to this hallway makes me SO happy. Stylish, sophisticated, subtle in its striation…simply STUNNING!

With the vanity on order, I’m currently turning my attention to what to do with the walls. Given all the wallpaper that once adorned this space, it seems only fitting to consider an homage of some sort. The first option to grab my attention and make my heart skip a beat is this absolute STUNNER: Nuvole from Fornasetti made by Cole and Son.

I am almost as obsessed with clouds as I am with all things herringbone and chevron, and I simply adore the look of an antique etching accomplished with this gorgeous, hand-drawn paper. How poetic would it be to enter a bathroom and find oneself enveloped in clouds? The only catch? I might have to sell my first born just to paper the bathroom, and given that this bathroom is in fact for HIM…well…seems a titch counterproductive.

{Image via Elle Decor}

Still, Fornasetti has my head even more “stuck in the clouds” than it ever was with this amazing paper. Much to consider…

For the sake of having a less expensive option to weigh on the scales of design, I searched out and found this rather whimsical and charming paper from UK-based illustrator Abigail Edwards.

I love the simplicity and playfulness of Abigail’s hand-drawn illustration, and I am warmed by the idea of feeling adrift on a sea of dreams in this little bathroom – a sweet escape in which the imagination could journey to many a land. Our son is in fact a sailor, so there is something that feels rather apropos about this one.

The third option, of course, would be no wallpaper at all, and my imagination is playing with the options for what I could do to create interest on the walls, complimenting the stunning floors while not competing with their texture and style statement.

What do you think? Do you have a favourite wallpaper between the two? And could we all just take a moment to celebrate – nay APPLAUD with a standing ovation – my superstar husband for the DIY floor installation of the year? Still so impressed with his mad skills. I am a very lucky girl to have married the son of a builder man – he’s a software sales superstar by day and a DIY champion by night. Colour me grateful!

xo
s.

By Sarah Walker The Curated House|June 18th, 2013|3 Comments

An Update on Project Ugly Duckling + The Winner of the Tata Harper #gorgeousgiveaway !

There’s something about the demolition phase of a project that is rather satisfying. Saying saiyonara to the details that were crying out to be laid to rest almost feels like we are doing our civil duty to the design world. But there are always surprises in the demolition phase. I’ve done enough renovations over my career to have learned to expect the unexpected, and this project has turned out to be no different. But I’m getting ahead of myself just a bit.

Inspired by these photos on Pinterest…

…AND by the lovely Christine Dovey of Bijou and Boheme bringing this concept to life in her own bathroom reno, I wanted to reinvent the shower in this bathroom to have more of a debonaire, Paris loft feel. It is, after all, to be the bathroom for my rather dashing and debonaire young son whose sophisticated tastes lean towards all things London and Paris. All that glass would of course also make the shower feel so much brighter and more open. My heart skipped a beat as I started to research reclaimed metal doors and windows and other creative ideas for how to bring this concept to life.

But alas, it was not meant to be in this house, for surreptitiously hidden inside the wall I had envisioned becoming the black-metal-framed, Paris-window-inspired pièce de rèsistance was my nemesis… A big, clunky, no-where-else-to-run-it plumbing stack, linking the upstairs toilet to the one in this bathroom. The location was totally unexpected and illogical, but logic and budget both dictate that you don’t move a plumbing stack unless you have gobs of discretionary income with which to do so. And so, my inspired statement wall of black metal framed glass was quietly laid to rest. {Sniff}

Back to the rather mundane tasks at hand, my superhero of a husband has finished gutting the bathroom. SO exciting to see the blank canvas emerging!

Well, an almost blank canvas, that is… Remember that wallpaper? Oh. My. Word. What a beast to get off! We tried rolling hot water over the paper. We tried steam. We tried a scraper. This stuff is just having a hard time letting go, like a bad boyfriend that won’t stop calling! I’m confident some industrial strength wallpaper remover will finally do the trick, and I’ll keep you posted on that.

The hallway is also a part of the deal as it shared the same tile floor with the bathroom, and if you can believe it, there was yet another wallpaper installed in the hallway that I forgot to show you last week. It, too, has separation anxiety and is having a very hard time letting go of the past.

With this one I kind of get it. I mean, it’s kind of gorgeous for 1969! It does seem a shame to be removing this one, but it just doesn’t work with the stunning floor we have planned. So, it is with just one lone and silent tear that I say “Farewell, gold-and-mint flocked damask wallpaper. I wish I could have salvaged you to reinstall you somewhere where you could be more aptly appreciated, but you will remain {all warm and fuzzy} in our hearts forever.”

Now it’s on to the good stuff – some design planning! Given that my longed-for feature wall of black metal framed glass for the shower was nixed by that inconvenient plumbing stack, the floor will have to more than pull its weight in making the kind of statement I want out of this bathroom. I want it to be restrained yet sophisticated and a bit unexpected. So, I have set to work dreaming up ways to use a regular old 12×24 tile in creative ways. Here’s what I’ve landed on, encompassing both the bathroom and the hallway:

I literally planned it out down to the piece so that we know exactly how many tiles to buy and how many cuts to make. This is where my husband earns another really big and shiny medal of “weekend warrior” honour, because he is cutting every single one of these tiles to create the chevron pattern I am dreaming of, resulting in about a thousand off-cuts like this one:

And a really big stack of tiles like these ones waiting to be installed:

SO exciting!! I can’t wait to share the installed floor with you next week. Wish us luck! This is the kind of installation that is not for the faint of heart.

I must thank you all for sharing the Tata Harper #gorgeousgiveaway on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest! As promised, it is time to reveal our lucky winner! Jennifer, if you would please email me {sarah@thecuratedhouse.com} with your mailing address, you can consider yourself travel ready, armed with an emerald green bag of Tata Harper gorgeousness to have you looking fresh and flawless when you step off that plane!

xo
s.

By Sarah Walker The Curated House|June 6th, 2013|0 Comments