Bathroom Reno - All About the Details

This is the last post in my series about the new downstairs bathroom.  I figure if it takes a year to finish one room, you are allowed to milk it into 6 blog posts. :)  You can catch the rest of the posts here, if you are just joining:
Before and Plans for the Reno
After
Shower Area Details
Sink Area Details
Floor and Ceiling Details
Source List

I wanted to dedicate a post to the details, because I think it can be helpful to explain why certain items were chosen, and why they all work together.  Know that I am certainly not an expert interior designer/decorator, so this is just what I wanted to put in a room in my house and why.  Hopefully, explaining my process and choices will help someone out there make a room that they are really excited about, even if it doesn’t follow my “formula”.

The big picture:  keep the large spaces (walls, tile, ceiling) a consistent neutral color, while adding the interest in a bold floor.  The consistent color scheme helps to keep a tiny room with a low ceiling from feeling cramped.  The bold pattern on the floor is there because I liked it, haha.  I heard somewhere that it helps to have some black and white somewhere in a room help to bring out some contrast and keep the room from looking muddy or washed out.  I took that to the extreme here, but I like the advice.  Wood tones were my third color, which bring some warmth to the room.  All black and white would have been too

stark for my taste, and especially for a room with no windows, something natural was really needed.

For hardware finishes, my formula was that everything large and expensive to change (shower fixtures, light, faucet) went brushed nickel, and everything small or changeable (hooks, cabinet hardware, mirror, shelf) went black.  Why brushed nickel?  I thought something shiny would be too formal in the room, and brushed nickel was readily available.  It doesn’t show water spots as easily as some other finishes, so that’s also a bonus.

Next, storage solutions.  I have mentioned before that this is not a primary bathroom for us, but could be a master bathroom for a future owner.  With that in mind, the vanity has built in storage for the not-so-pretty bathroom items, and an open shelf over the toilet with the pretty things was plenty of storage for us.  A future owner could put something more functional over the toilet, but I didn’t need to crowd up the space for us.  Some small canisters hold a few bathroom items, and then decorative items fill out the rest.

The accessories mostly fit the theme or black, white or wood.  Or birds, I seem to have developed a thing for birds... they are so cute though, and all are handmade, fair trade goodness from Ten Thousand Villages.

Mixing textures in a room is another thing to think about when accessorizing, but to me, a bathroom naturally does that already.  There are hard surfaces in tiles and counters, and soft towels and shower curtain.  Maybe I’m making it too simple, but I think it works here.  Wood could also count as a texture, especially with the counter being live edge.  Plants are another great addition for some texture, but I have to settle for artificial or dried stems in here thanks to the lack of windows.

The last thing I tried to balance was the straight lines all over the room.  There are naturally a lot of hard edges in this room (and most rooms, really), so I chose a light with a globe shape, a mirror with round edges, and even the tile has some roundness to its pattern to bring in some softer edges.

So, the “formula” for this room was black, white, wood... and birds.

If I missed anything that you would like to know about our new bathroom, just leave a comment!

Hope you enjoyed following along!  Next up will be showing you the laundry room, which is a different take on the same basic "formula".  Stay tuned!

~Amy