Young House Love

DIY Home Decorating Projects, Tutorials, & Shenanigans

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Reader Redesign: Sleek & Smart

The bathroom makeover below that Gemma sent us impresses us for lots of reasons – the cool dark mirror choice, the attention to detail in using some of the shower tile over the sink, etc, etc. But what gets me the most is that the gorgeous vanity you’ll see, which was built from scratch. Color me impressed. Better yet, color me the greeny-grey color they used because it’s awesome. Here’s her letter:

Hey John & Sherry! My hubby and I have just recently re-hauled our bathroom. What was a boring and beige space (and seriously outdated) has now become fresh, sleek, and classic. The whole project was a DIY affair – from the plumbing, to the tiling – we even built the vanity. We did it all ourselves and saved some big bucks.

There were two main things that we wanted to accomplish: to make the space feel bigger (it’s a pretty teeny room), and to make sure there was plenty of smart storage. Here’s where we ended up:

By keeping the walls white, injecting some colour into the ceiling, and using an extra tall mirror above the vanity, the space appears to be a whole lot bigger than it is.

We don’t have a lot of square footage, so we splurged on some carrera marble tile for the floors, which feels totally luxurious.

Since we couldn’t find a budget-friendly vanity that would utilize the long and narrow space, we decided to build one. I painted it a pretty green-gray colour (which was the same colour I carried up to the ceiling), and kept all of the finishes in classic chrome.

One month of chipping away at the room and putting in a ton of elbow grease was absolutely worth it – we now adore the space. Every time I walk by, I can’t help but peer in and think “I can’t believe we did that!” Thanks for all the inspiration, you two! – xo, Gemma

So yeah, isn’t that vanity awesome? Gemma’s got more details and pics on her blog, including a full budget breakdown. The whole thing – carrera tile and all! – was only about $1500 thanks to some leftover wedding gift cards. Now let’s play the favorite part game. We have already established that I’m obsessed with the homemade vanity, and Sherry’s loving the tile behind the sink and the color from the vanity that they playfully brought up on the ceiling. Your turn.

Psst- We shared our Labor Day adventures over on Young House Life. Hello photo bombs, beach dancing, and cannonballs…

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Comments

  1. I’m loving their whole design!

    Kevin and I actually have the same white subway tile, sea green accent, and carrera marble floors (although ours are tiny hex tiles) picked out for our bathroom… we’ve even priced everything and ordered samples! It’s uncanny how similar they are!

    I love the idea of building your own vanity, too! Our bathroom is so tiny and the nook for the sink so shallow, building our own vanity may be the way to go!

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  4. i love everything about this bathroom!! the rectangle sink (when on earth do you ever see that in a home!?), the marble floors (i’m in love with marble right now), how bright it is with the white and the pop of color on the shower curtain… :) :) :)

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  7. Holy Cow! This is seriously perfect timing – we’re currently working on pricing out our bathroom overhaul – including white subway tile and the accent tiles! This project looks fantastic and I’m bookmarking it for reference! Awesomeness!

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  12. Love it! We used the same green accent tiles with white subway in the bathroom we’re in the middle of redoing!
    I love that they used the same color as the vanity up on the ceiling… never would have thought to do that in the bathroom!

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  13. My parents just gifted us a bathroom reno and this looks so much like what we ended up with! The vanity is the same sink, and Dad even made the legs exactly like that! Plus, our space is also super-tiny and we stuck with white to make the room look bright! Very impressed and a little relieved someone else had the same styling ideas we had for almost the exact same space!

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  15. What a great makeover! I love everything, but especially the blue tile. it’s the perfect thing to break up all the bright white.

    If we want to submit a reader redesign, what’s the best email to submit it to?

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  16. I’m all about that gorgeous floor tile. Totally worth the splurge.

    I love when you guys post bathroom redos. It gets me thinking about all the awesome things I could do.

    Also, I would like to wear that shower curtain as a dress it’s so pretty. lol

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  20. The marble…oh the marble! Just wanna press my face against it.

    Being a lover of color, I used to think white walls were stark, but am learning through all these great blogs that it can give a very clean, crisp look and a great backdrop for color. I was on the fence about redoing my builder-grade beige, window-less powder room a soft white but now I’m convinced and inspired.

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  22. Yeah i love the whole project but mostly, i love that her name is Gemma! That’s our little girl’s name too! Since it’s so uncommon, i can’t help but get excited about that. oh and the beautiful marble floors.

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  23. This is great. Love your blog but was just talking with a friend (who also loves your blog) about how although I love what you guys do it isn’t always helpful as I have a townhouse so many of our spaces are small. This bathroom reno is so in line with the space we have. I’m very excited to use this as a stepping stone to our own.

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  24. Totally unrelated, but do you have any tutorials on taping/mudding after drywall (before painting?) I found some mention on the dining room header post, but it was mostly just saying that you taped and mudded it. I also saw the post on patching a hole in the ceiling or wall, but I’d LOVE to see a play by play with photos on any mudding projects (we just opened up a room and put up a header and drywall, so we need to get mudding!) I go here for nearly all my inspiration and house how-tos and that’s the only thing I can’t find! Haha. Thanks in advance.

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  27. Not to be a snark or anything, but isn’t it Carrara marble (with two a’s)? Named after the city of Carrara, Italy where the marble comes from?

    I used to live in Italy and was lucky enough to visit Carrara a few times and see the marble quarries and all the cool shops everywhere selling unique marble pieces. So it always confuses me to see it spelled with an “e”.

    Carrara, carrera, tomato, tomahto?

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  30. So clean and classy, but also very welcoming! So many bathroom remodels come across as overdone or more suitable for a hotel. Yours is just lovely. The marble flooring has a wonderful reflective surface that helps make the room feel larger than it is. :o)

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  31. Very cute!
    It’s very interesting that the sink from Ikea didn’t come with a vanity, as we have the same sink with a vanity that came as one piece. Maybe they only sell the sink now?

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  34. Sigh, I do very much long for a sleeker sink in our bathroom (ours is similar to their “before” photo). It’s on our radar!

    Also, have you seen this: http://fab.com/sale/10203/product/214343/ (alternative photo here in case fab.com is funky for ya: http://dogs.thefuntimesguide.com/images/blogs/dog-sleeping-in-a-croc-bed-by-ann-dabney.jpg )? They had a photo of a dog that looked like Burger, and when coupled with Clara’s Crocs, I had to crack up.

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  35. I love the sink – but can you put anything on it? Like I need some counter space when I put on my make-up or curl my hair. Just wondering – would love that for our bath but not sure how functional it is?

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  36. @Erin: Yep, they sell just the sink! The vanity didn’t fit into our space (we have an awkwardly placed heat vent), so we built our own!

    @Mary A: The floor is surprisingly not at all slippery. We were worried about it at first, too. We have sealed it to keep it looking polished, and ensure to put a bath mat down when we’re having a shower.

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  37. The great thing about small bathrooms is that splurging on luxurious details doesn’t break the bank!

    I splurged on marble too, but on the counters instead of the floor, and it’s black with white marbling (I love the high contrast, to add some drama to my builder-beige-boring powder room).

    I love that vanity, and everything you chose helped make that room feel so much larger, good job! :)

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  38. Great choices on colors and elements! Very nice! Well done! :)

    And I am really entranced with rectangular and/or trough sinks for home bathrooms. Who knows why? (LOL) – They just look clean and modern to me. …

    … though I hadn’t thought about the lack of surface space that some of those sinks offer, til I read a comment above on that. Hmm, that’s a good point. I need to at least have a few inches for my contact lens case and solutions for my lenses when putting those in, taking them out …

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  44. Oh my goodness, I *love* this bathroom! I’m drooling over the floors and the sink… and it’s giving me ideas because our bathroom is nearly the exact same layout. We’re planning a bigger overhaul at some point (tub, tile, sink, toilet, floors) I’ve been racking my brain over the floors – marble never came to mind, but it looks stunning. Great job!

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  45. @house crazy Sarah: Nope the drawers are fully functional! The plumbing with the IKEA sink is pretty small, so we were able to still get fairly deep drawers. We based our model off IKEA’s Godmorgon vanity.

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  46. My favorite part is that she has MY Ikea sink (mine is currently in the closet in the spare room, tho :) :D Even better, she kind of has my bathroom. My bathroom is pretty much that size, including having no where near enough space from the wall behind the sink to the doorway, so finding sinks to fit was nearly impossible until I found that same narrow sink at Ikea.

    I’ve been considering a traditional mosaic tile pattern in my bathroom, but I think I’m going to steal their idea and pony up for the expensive floor instead. And I won’t have such a nice vanity because I need to leave floor space and plumbing access for a Cat Genie cat box.

    Really nice job, Gemma! Thanks for sharing :)

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  49. I think it looks great. I like how the dark border around the mirror breaks things up and draws the eye. I also like the long sink. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a sink that shape/size. Very cool.

    My initial thoughts were the same as Mary A about the floors. They look super slippery to me. I redid the tile in my master bath with a slippery tile and won’t be doing that again. I have to have a pair of flip flops waiting on me to step on when I exit the shower.

    The vanity is killer too. I love seeing stuff you can’t just go down to the big box stores and buy.

    Great job!

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  50. I found Gemma’s blog through Houzz and had already seen this bathroom and feel in love. We will likely be doing something similar whenever we get around to renovating our main bathroom. I love the tub but I think its only available in Canada :(

    Reply

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