Writing Room Bath Reveal

I know you thought back in January when I first mentioned the writing room you would be getting some reveal shots any day.  Little did you know that you would just be getting bathroom shots in August. 

Sorry, girls, this DIY business is rough.

Remember the before?  This is what it looked like in April...

Here it is now...

I love it sooooo very much.  I wanted an escape from nasty paint clothes (and paint speckled feet), sweet toddlers who mean well but you know, wear you out, the mile-long to do lists, and I feel like that's just what I got.  Believe it or not, it was done on a budget, as was the rest of our attic addition.

Because I know you ladies love some details (and I am pretty excited to share them), here's the scoop on the room.

The clawfoot tub.  Oh, the tub.  It is, without a doubt, my favorite part of the upstairs.  I have been pining for one for a while now, and we went back and forth on the most economical way to get one. 

I researched for months on restoration and re-coating of porcelain tubs...that alone was going to run $300-500 just to refinish the inside, not including the cost of the tub or recoating the outside.  Yes, we could get one for $30 off of ebay that was coated in rust, but it might take $500 or more just to get it back to working condition.  Even then, companies wouldn't guarantee the porcelain wouldn't crack.  Then we began shopping for the fixtures and plumbing, and quickly realized we were going to be spending $500 on those.  While we knew the tub was our splurge and main expense, we hated to sink money into something that might have to be replaced.  We eventually found a fiberglass tub at American Bath Factory, and our purchase included the oil rubbed bronze fixtures, giving us a brand new tub!

We are all about building our own cabinetry, but we chose to have the vanity built to resemble some storage I have in the writing room.  It is gorgeous.  Funny story.....

Our attic stairway is pretty tiny, and I felt really badly for the guys hauling these cabinets up (plus matt's bar and my office storage),  so I went up to ask if they needed any help, etc., only to find that the cabinets were all the wrong color.  They were off white, and I mean like, really off white....like brown.  I had wanted a light grey glaze on top of white.  I felt terrible and begged them not to hate me, but told them it wasn't what we had talked about.  I described it and even showed them the table I had shown their partner.  I tried to describe a grey glaze and bless him, he asked me if I had a small piece I could put it on and show him.  So I did what the man asked.  But when I wrote the check, I was thinking, "and why didn't I do this myself???"  :)

I wanted to have some kind of script on the wall or maybe something architectural.  When I found this scripture, I knew I would love to have that running through my mind daily.  And while the white "limbs" are not exactly what I was looking for, they were a budget compromise from Walmart and they did the job of adding interest but also balancing the romantic mirror and vanity with some contemporary flair.

I made time for a few small DIY projects as well.  This great bath caddy my sis-in-law gave me my first Christmas with Matt's family definitely fit the bill for storage, but I added a coat of oil rubbed bronze to it to match the tub fixtures.  And I finally made use of the tiny soaps we have been stealing collecting all these years. 

And a wider view...

I am a huge fan of piles of candles.  Pillars, tapers, votives...doesn't matter.  Using the galvanized bucket to hold such romance seemed to achieve that same feel I had been going for.

Before I forget, the wall color is the most perfect balance of grey and blue, Benjamin Moore's Iceberg.  Matt laid the floors in here as well as the rest of the attic.  I had strong ideas regarding flooring....I really wanted a whitewashed look, but it was going to cost a fortune to buy the right hardwood suitable for washing ( and durable enough for two toddlers).   We also found that a whitewashed laminate was one of the most expensive laminate choices.  Of course.  We just happened in a flooring liquidation center and we found this flooring clearanced for $1.02 per sq. ft.  We snagged it on spot.

And yes, those are anthro mercury glass knobs.  They were $8 a piece, but there were only two and honestly, I couldn't picture anything else on this cabinet.

Adding elements like the driftwood really grounds the space for me and gives the elegant a little rustic.

Love these ceilings!  I printed off some botanicals from the Graphics Fairy and framed them in some cheap frames I painted.

They started as wood tone ($3 each), and I painted them oil rubbed bronze.  I then used a wax crayon to highlight all the grooves...this ensures when you distress you only sand down to the next layer of paint and not to the wood.

The view looking into the writing room and the daybed.

Don't you just need a place to escape?  A place that's you, but still, just one side of you....the "spa maven" you.

Okay, whatcha think?

Looking forward to hearing your comments since I've been teasing you with this thing for a bit now.

I'm having some tests run this week so I'm not quite sure on the status of posting.  If you don't hear from me, know that I'm probably in the middle of a waiting room somewhere...I'll keep you posted!

linking to The CSI Project

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