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Will the En-Suite be Sweet?

Let's hope so!


In the last post we "put the pretty on" the upstairs hall bathroom and today we are going to do the same for the master bathroom. The master bathroom is fairly large and has angled ceilings that are not symmetrical and one large window over the tub. This is the link to the renovation post for the space and these are some pictures of it in all its current glory (via the listing photos from when we bought the house). She's a diamond in the rough!


I showed a lot of inspiration photos of bathrooms in the hall bathroom post (you can see them here) and out of all of those, this one is my favorite. Was it yours?


A majority of the master bathroom inspiration photos to follow are a love letter to Amber Lewis of Amber Interiors. She is an amazing designer and I love every bathroom that she has designed that I have ever seen. Check these beauties out! A chair in the bathroom? Yes, please!


And a few more amazing bathrooms!


Perhaps you are noticing a theme here, I love a vintage rug in a bathroom! I feel compelled to mention that we have had a vintage rug in our master bathroom since 2005 and at the time when I put it in there I thought I was doing something innovative that I had not seen before. Perhaps the look has been around longer and I was unaware, nonetheless I do not feel that I am jumping on the bandwagon with this look, rather, I am continuing with something I have loved for over fifteen years. I apparently do need to be jumping off my soap box now though.


Okay, I'm back down now and ready to show you my mood board for the master bathroom:

Before we "put the pretty on", there are a few changes I am planning to make to the architect drawings that I originally shared in the renovation post for this space.


The first thing I want to change from the plans is the entrance hall from the master bedroom into the bathroom. Right now there are French doors that lead into the closets and the bathroom from the bedroom with no separate door to the bathroom from the hallway. The ceiling is very tall in the hallway and it just "dumps" into the bathroom. I want to change the French doors in the bedroom to be either one large arched door or a pair of arched doors that will lead into the hallway and add an arched entry into the bathroom from the hall to visually divide the space. The hallway between the bedroom and bathroom currently houses his and her closets that in the course of the renovation will be converted to one master closet and the laundry room. To maximize the space in these areas there will be barn doors only with no door trim/moldings at the entrances to the closet and laundry room. I cannot get it out of my mind that it will look like the land of doors with the French doors from the bedroom overlapping the barn doors (because they currently open in to the space) and I do not want that! The large window in the bathroom is arched at the top so I think the sightline through the arched entryways will be a beautiful entrance into the bathroom.


An idea of the look I am going for is found in these pictures:


A redline on the floor plan to show the location of the arches:


The next change is to remove some of the glass from the shower and replace it with "wall" to allow for easy access to towels. We have been using a coat rack I bought off of Amazon - necessity is the mother of invention - for the same amount of time I have had a vintage rug in our bathroom for towels because there has not been a place to hang dedicated towel hooks. It is time to say goodbye to that! Following is an idea of what I am planning.


You may remember from the renovation post that we are moving the current shower head side of the shower to the opposite side to allow for a bench so we now need to have a column within the glass to hide the plumbing. Adding more "wall" to the shower will actually make the shower more attractive, I think. A redlined look at what I am planning:


The view from when you enter the bathroom:

The view from the shower looking towards the tub:


Now, to bring the mood board to life. As a jumping off point, I have some Thibaut wallpaper that I purchased years ago (so long ago that I cannot find an image of it online) for the laundry room in our Grosse Pointe house. We never got around to hanging it so I have been "hanging on to it" in hopes that some day I could use it. I planned to use it in Holland and once we found out we would not be staying there I put it back in storage. I think now is the time! I took a few pictures of one of the rolls. I am planning to use this wall paper in the water closet. On my screen, the top right image is the most accurate representation of the colors.

For the rest of the bathroom walls I want to use board and batten siding painted white with faux "beams" on the angles in the ceiling painted white as well. The architect drawing has tile behind the tub up to the window, carrying over from the shower, and I do not want to do this because I know the lack of symmetry around the window with the shower on one side and the water closet on the other will bother me every time I walk in to the space. For me, the simple board and batten will unify the angles and differences in the space the best (and will be more economical than a wall of tile!).


I want the vanities and cabinetry to be painted Black Blue by Farrow and Ball and to have marble tops. The floor as well as the shower floor will be hexagon honed Carrera marble tiles. The shower wall tiles will be a dark, dark blue subway tile, similar to the darkest blue in the wallpaper. I have not decided yet if I want to have them in an offset pattern (traditional like on the mood board) or stacked like so:


The stand alone tub will be white and the fixtures throughout the bathroom will be black. I love the light fixtures on the mood board, very similar to my favorite bathroom at the beginning of the post, and I want a simple paper pendant lantern to hang over the tub. There will also be some recessed lighting in the ceiling on dimmers as well to fully illuminate the space when needed.


Lest you think I forgot, there will be a vintage rug! I have one from my parents house in Florida that I think will be perfect. I will keep the mirrors over the vanities very simple, I will be looking to find ones with a brass frame. Lastly, I plan to have a custom plantation shutter made to fit the entire window so you will still be able to see the molding and the arch (cannot lose that now with the arch theme!). This makes the most sense to me because it will be easy to shut for privacy, easy to adjust to allow fresh air and light, easy to operate from the side/behind the tub, and will provide the cleanest lines.


I am excited about the plan for this bathroom and I am excited to talk about the laundry room in the next post too! It will be small and mighty.


Until next week...thank you for being here today,

Kerry

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Welcome!

Hi, I’m Kerry, a true lover of all things home design.  Thank you for stopping by to check in on the journey.  Please feel free to reach out to me, I love to talk design!

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