From the BlogSubscribe Now

Guest Bathroom: Then and Now

You know what’s not on the internet anywhere? (To my knowledge?) Photos of my guest bathroom.

For most people, that’s completely normal. But here I was thinking my guest bathroom had an “internet presence:” a few before-and-after shots and a blog post dedicated to it, at least. But I just realized I never did post about that room!

So today I sat down to write a (brilliant, thought-provoking) post about a few little tweaks we just made in that room, and realized I need to start from the beginning: with before-and-afters. The post about the tweaks we just made will come later, which means the brilliant, thought-provoking aspects will be lost forever — probably leaving in its wake overwhelming mediocrity. Sorry guys.

When we bought our house, the guest bathroom was a shade of pink I like to call “pepto bismol:”

The floor was dirty, stained linoleum…
And we never got a photo of the ballerina border across the top. It looked something like this and was a nightmare to remove:

This is what it looks like today:
Bathroom with dark wood and slate tile
We replaced the vanity, hardware, lighting… everything? The only thing we kept was the tub and surround, which was totally salvagable, though not ideal. As much as I wanted to tear it all out and tile the whole shower surround, we decided it’d be wasteful to replace it. Which means I still need to google how to rid a fiberglass tub of previous-homeowner-stains. But back to the new stuff.
Bathroom with blue-gray shower curtain and dark wood accents
We finished this room about two years ago, and it’s funny looking back how much my tastes have changed already. This room would be completely different if we redid it today.

If fact, when I post rooms we redid a while ago, I always catch myself wanting to comment on the things I still see that it needs – or the things I would do differently if I could do it again. (I’d choose a different color scheme, maybe. And definitely different art… you get the idea.) Mostly so you know that I know that this room is not perfect.

But I’m trying to learn how to be more content – seeing the room for what it is instead of what it could be. Being thankful for the clean, new toilet, and not worrying so much that I didn’t use a beautiful, elaborate mirror, for example.)

We replaced the floors with these 4-by-4 inch slate tiles that Andy installed in a running-bond pattern (like how bricks are laid – not in a perfect grid, but offset from the one below it.)
Dark slate floors in a running bond pattern
Here’s another view of the floors, which I still love years later — and that’s really saying something. You can’t really see all the different colors in these photos, but the dark slate is beautiful. So many different blues, greens, even purples and reds in the natural stone. LOVING it.

Since we’ve had so much company recently, we’ve made a few tweaks in here. I’ll show them to you in the next post, which will now be remarkably underwhelming. On a scale of terrible to brilliant, it will rank “fair-ish.”

Not really. It will change your life. It will make you want to climb upon your rooftop and shout proudly to the world: “I now know how to make small tweaks to my own bathroom and am inspired to be the change I want to see in my bathroom!”



Let's connect

Comments

  1. I really like the slate floors. I am a fan of them and the pattern is fun and a little historical. I like it.

  2. Love those slate floors girl ——– The bathrooms looks amazing esp when compared to the before, haha — I can’t imagine why you would take down the ballet wallpaper though. It’s so chic…. 😉 kidding.
    xoxo
    Cat

  3. Wow that really was very… pink… before. I LOVE the darker colors, especially the floor! Nice job!

    I’ll be praying for little Caden today!

  4. Ballerina wallpaper? In a bathroom? Maybe it was a tribute to the potty dance? Your floors, however, are great. I might do the potty dance extra long just to stay in there and admire them.

    I’m praying for Caden and his family, for a smooth surgery and full recovery. What a tough thing for them to be going through. 🙁

  5. You did an amazing job. I know all about horrible colors… my bathroom was all (and I mean even the ceiling) avocado green! I can’t wait to look through the rest of your blog to see what you have done!
    I just started posting today about our house makeover. I posted the before pictures today. You might enjoy them!
    http://mrmagnificentandcompany.blogspot.com/2011/08/our-first-home-part-1.html

  6. Wow– AMAZING! Love the moldings, wall color and fixtures. Great makeover!

  7. I love that vanity! 🙂 aaand I love the floors too! At least if you want to make some more changes around there you will have great bones to start with from the first “re-did”! 🙂

  8. When I moved into my current apartment I noticed the tub was a little gray-not really dirty, but definitel not white. i tried bleach, scrubbing bubbles, lysol, pretty much everything and nothing worked. Last weekend I bought the extra strength magic eraser on a whim and now I have a white tub! Hope that helps with your tub situaton 🙂

  9. I’m kind of partial to the pink….

    I love slate. It’s makes everything very pretty!!

    Prayers for Caden!!!!!

  10. I love every single thing in your bathroom but especially those floors. Might I add that your hubby outdid himself. They look professionally installed. Rockin’ job on the bathroom!!

  11. We will definitely be praying for Caden and your friend and guidance for the doctors.

    On a side note, those floors are amazing!! 🙂

  12. Why is it that pink was such a popular color for a bathroom???
    Needless to say, I LOVE what your room looks like now.

    I hope little Caden is doing well after his surgery.

  13. I just want to ditto Jaclyn’s recommendation to try the Magic Eraser on the tub. It’s worked wonders on my tub!

  14. shirley fin says:

    amazing job. i really love this bathroom

  15. Beautiful bathroom – the floors are fabulous!

    Have you tried Barkeeper’s Friend to try to remove the stains? It’s similar to Comet (it’s a power that you sprinkle on then rinse), but it gets rid of crazy stains…or at least it has in my house. 🙂

  16. Absolutely lovely! Really appreciate you linking up this great bath post at the Roomspiration blog party.

  17. Love your bathroom redo. total transformation!

  18. kathryn estay says:

    LOVE the slate floor..Where did you get them?? Great re-do!

    • Thanks! We got them at Floor & Decor. I can’t remember how much they were exactly, but it was pretty reasonable for such a small space.

  19. I love your vanity and have been looking for one about that size, where did you buy the vanity from? Thank you!

  20. It’s Perfect, but I don’t see why you’d have a standing toilet paper holder. Why not just screw one into the side of the sink cabinet? Or either side of the wall of the toilet? That’s nitpicking though. Love the floor and everything else!

  21. Would you be willing to say where you got the vanity? I love it and have a similar guest bath that would equally benefit! 🙂

  22.  you really did a beautiful job! I love how bright & fresh everything looks. What an improvement. 

  23. Thanks for sharing the useful information. It was really amazing and very informative. Keep sharing

  24. Very clean looking bathroom. You really did an amazing job! thanks for sharing

Trackbacks

  1. […] Roomspiration party continues with bathrooms over at Homemaker on a Dime. I’m linking up my guest bath and powder room, and I can’t wait to check out all the beauties that everyone shows off. And […]

  2. […] seven days, you know?Time for a quick bathroom update!After we moved in, we replaced the faucets in the guest bathroom with oil-rubbed bronze, but we never replaced the drain or the — um, other thing, […]

Speak Your Mind

*

Back to top          Privacy Policy          Copyright © 2013 View Along the Way. All rights reserved.          Contact Me