Bathrooms to enjoy

Designed by David Kaplan Interior Design

These lights are fab. Photographed by Ken Gutmaker

Simple and stunning bathroom in designer Jill Crawford's home

Mirror, mirror on the wall(s)

One year, two weeks and a few days after moving in, the mirror in our upstairs jack-and-jill bathroom was installed (not that I was counting of course). To be honest, it was a fairly awkward year explaining to guests why we didn't have a mirror for them...especially when we weren't entirely sure ourselves.

This will hopefully serve as a kids bathroom in the future, and as such, we went away from the rest of the house decor. Instead of concrete and neutrals, we went for a Mediterranean style with lots of cobalt blue, white and clay. In fact, it was designed after a hotel bathroom in Marbella, Spain that we found to be particularly fun and casual.


Overall, I'm pleased with the final result (well almost final, but good enough for now). I did have the urge to bring down the mirror 4-5 inches when the tiling was done, but unfortunately I held my tongue. I really wish I hadn't. If this is for kids, it would have been best to get the mirror as low as possible. Oh well....too late now.

Today we spent the day doing little jobs around the house that have been neglected. I got a little shelf up in the adjoining toilet/shower area. And what did I decide to put up there but a Mexican mirror that I've had for years.


So yes, we went from no mirrors to two mirrors in a matter of days. Our building crew has taught me well!

Towel bar triumphs

In the ten months since we've moved into the house, our poor guests have had to find creative locations for their damp towels. How frustrating! Our builder was worried about drilling into a wall with a pocket door for one towel bar, and somehow, that translated into none of them getting up. And because he made such a fuss about it, I was (probably incorrectly) hesitant to take it into my own hands.

That all changed yesterday when the last towel bars were installed. Yes! Mr. Big was puzzled by how happy I was at this development. I suppose that it just means were getting much closer to done.

So in celebration, here are a few pics of our guest bath, which is virtually complete. (Sorry, the photos aren't great quality...)

Concrete countertops from Art and Maison. Cabinetry and mirror from Artcraft. Hole in the wall from electrician. :)

Can't wait to get some artwork on that big blue wall

After vehemently discouraging Mr. Big and our designer on it originally, I now positively adore this mosiac shower.

If you've visited before, you're going to have to come back to take these towel racks for a whirl. What a great feeling!

Bathroom desires

We're well past this point, but I just can't help sharing the following bathrooms. Wouldn't they be special to slip into at the end of the day?

Mai Linh as featured on Desire to Inspire

Valerie Pasquiou as featured on Desire for Inspire

MR Architecture + Decor on Desire for Inspire

Jolanda Bukhard from Desire to Inspire (of course)

Evoking a feeling

Looking for artwork is such an awesome undertaking. Some pieces move me initially, but after a few days, they feel a bit flat. Others evoke wonderful feelings, but perhaps not exactly those that I'm trying to get after.

It's been a fair time coming, but I've come back to the following images for the last time. Now it's time to pull the trigger. Amazingly, all images are from etsy seller lightleak.

Light Dance II

Light Dance I

Pacifica V

I get a lot of energy from these photographs. At the same time, they are fanciful and leave a lot open to the imagination (exactly what are the first to images of?).

I also love his blurred images of individuals on the beach. So peaceful. I can't imagine choosing between the company of good friends or just myself if I were actually in one of the photos.

Soul Friends II

The teacher

Contemplation

Don't you wish you could start every morning this way?

So now the question is which set should find it's home in our guest bathroom. I'm leaning towards the first set because it's a bit more modern and has more movement, but the second evokes a real calming, comfortable feeling. Thoughts?

Please don't drop that window

So I understand that I should only think good thoughts to bring good results. But sometimes this really challenges me. Really challenges me.

Some may remember that we changed from glass block to a window for our master bathroom (posted about here). A few weeks ago our special order window arrived on site. We had an entire audience present to watch it go in...except me. I couldn't get my head around how they would get a window like this...


...up and into a second floor opening. I was telling myself "they can do it, they know what they are doing". Right. A peek inside my mind would find honest pleads of "Please don't drop the window, please don't drop the window". Mr. Big was outside "oohing" and "aahing" but my hands were over my ears inside. Please don't drop the window. Please don't drop the window.

Ugh...here we go

Deep breaths

Ahhh...a deep sigh of relief

Well, there you go. It took no more than 15 minutes and all the anxiety was over. And of course, the team did great. They did know what they were doing and they did do a great job.

The window is all finished now at it looks fabulous. We will be getting an opaque decal of some sort for privacy from the street (any suggestions out there of where to look?). Otherwise, it's so refreshing to have a beautiful view from the shower first thing in the morning. And you can imagine all the nice positive thoughts that come from that...

Concrete countertops and wine rooms

The post below about our new Caesarstone countertops made me realize that I haven't posted any images of our concrete countertops in the bathrooms. They are nice and my favorite is this chunky one in our powder room. Without natural light, it's difficult to get a good picture, but this should do for now.


The wall tiles in this bathroom give a bit of texture against the smooth concrete. It's one of my favorite spots to send visitors. And for those who are "in the know", we actually have a secret door from here to Mr. Big's favorite spot...the wine room.

He is so protective that it took over two months for me to earn a key to his secret hideout. Two months...in my own home! Eventually I think it involved spontaneous cooking on my part that brought on the key. I guess he realized the chances of that happening again were slim. ;) Our relationship is that much deeper now.

Bath accessories

Towel racks, toilet paper holders, shower caddies...galore! Who knew that there was so much to choose from? Actually I'm slowly realizing that the abundance of options is what often leads us to indecision. Would that one particular item give a little added pizzazz? I often find myself wondering if I am going to get suckered into this on each and every decision. (Answer yes if you belong to this household.) I'm sure no one is going to enter the house and proclaim the beauty of our towel racks. With that being said, if you feel so inclined...

The order for our bath accessories was placed today and hopefully they will arrive shortly. We went primarily with the Ginger Surface line. Ultimately it was their hand towel rack that stole my eye. (Yes, yes, get a life, I know...)


But then began the dilemma about whether we would get more use out of the double towel rack or the hotel shelf (with a rack of course) in our master bath. Back and forth (a few too many times) and the trigger was finally pulled on the double towel rack. Check back in a few to see if hotel shelf has been installed in its place.



Ah...it's nice to know that there aren't too many more decisions to be made (or changed for that matter!)

Wood floors and wall tiles

Excitement galore! A quick sneak away from the office this afternoon put a huge smile on my face. Our wood floors are almost complete.

The color is perfect...dark but still warm. They work really well with the windows and exterior doors. Now we get to look forward to the doors and window sills being stained the same color. I know, I know, I'm getting ahead of myself once again...

Dusty but beautiful wood floors

It was equally as exciting to see that the wall tiling in our master shower is close to complete. A little rumor made it to me that one of Mr. Big's buddies walked into the master bath this weekend and quickly proclaimed it to be a spa. Perfect! If a guy gets it, we've done something right! :)

Close up of the floor and wall tile (how crazy is the optical distortion on this image?)

A little eye relief

The cobalt blue countertop for the jack-and-jill bathroom was also in progress. In a few days, the entire wall should be covered in wall tiles. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing this bathroom once it's finalized.


The grout for all of the wall tiles should be completed by the end of the week. That's the plan anyway...

There is currently a lot of activity at the house. Our move-in date isn't too far away. It's a bit hit or miss on whether we'll be making that date. We've given up our current condo, but finding a friends place to crash wouldn't be too difficult. The real challenge is that we have family arriving to stay in the house very, very soon. Please keep your fingers crossed for us!

Guest bathroom

As mentioned in the last post, will tiles were very intimidating. Mr. Big, our designer, and virtually everyone in the store spent no less than an hour trying to convince me that a mosaic tile would be appealing for our guest bathroom shower. To be honest, I wasn't completely sold, but went along with the majority opinion. Apparently I need to do this much more often because it is looking great so far.


The glass shower enclosure has been ordered and once the tile makes its way around the floor of the shower, the cabinets will be installed. Once again, it's nice to see our selections come together. And yes, I'm learning through this process.

Master bath

Wall tiles intimidated me in stores. Everything looked amazing and I found myself easily distracted. Fortunately, our designer joined when our final selections were made. He kept us moderately on track...as much as possible anyway. The tiles are making their way to our walls and we thought it was time to show them off. :)


These still require grout, but it is certainly exciting seeing them come up. As for the layout of the bathroom, there are two sinks...can you guess which side is Mr. Big's?

Trust issues

Tall guys often get short changed when it comes to tubs. Apparently they get all squished up and taking a bath just is not a relaxing or enjoyable experience. When it came to planning for the house, Mr. Big wanted to make sure that we found something that fit him (understandably so). There were not a lot of options available, but our designer ended up finding one. Honestly, it's so big that you could literally sail a boat in.

While the picture above doesn't make it look so large, let me assure you that this baby is 6 ft long by 3.5 ft wide. 6 ft long! Mr. Big was thrilled.

Our builder uses an exporter who has the ability to negotiate wholesale prices for most of the finishings for our house. When I saw the price that he obtained the tub for, I was certain that the wrong one was ordered (being the drop-in tub rather than the freestanding). We were assured that it was correct, but I must admit that I was skeptical because the price was ,000's below what we were expecting to pay.

Well, the tub arrived on site this week and....it is the right one! Believe it or not, the exporter was able to get this baby for exactly one third the retail price. Wow! I am extremely impressed. Now I need to go work on my trust issues...

Bathroom lights

Bathroom vanity lights or regular wall sconces? Bathroom searches have not been too exciting to this point so we've reverted to regular wall sconces. Here are the front runners at the moment.

Chip wall sconce by Fire Farm Lighting (leader to this point)

Dot sconce by Lampa

Silhouette sconce by Archer Collection

Broadway wall sconce by Fire Farm Lighting

Dau by Zaneen

Iris by Justice Design

Metra Twin bar wall sconce by Hubbardton Forge

Behind the lonely door

A while back, a friend and I were doing some "house research" in Miami and she recommended that we pop in (unannounced) to a concrete countertop manufacturer that she found through a magazine advertisement. Sounded like an adventure. We searched for the address, got lost, searched some more, ran into some suspect areas, turned around, tried again...all the time fairly concerned about our welfare (we weren't really in the best area in all of Miami). Just when I was about to call it a day, my friend bounced out of the car, determined to find our destination. It was one of those moments that you know you can't let her go alone...but to be honest, you really just want to get the heck out of there.

The next thing I know she starts banging on a huge metal door displaying the number that we had been searching for. It absolutely could not be our destination. The big metal door was the lone invitation on a building with no windows (but still with bars...yikes). I was pretty sure that was going to be the end of both of us. I held my breath as the door opened...

What we found inside was the most wonderful French couple that had recently moved their business to this location. Besides great conversation, we were treated to a trove of concrete treasures. "Oooh....aaaH". They walked us through their entire manufacturing process and introduced us to each member of their staff. It was wonderful!

Art and Maison, Swan Sink

After all is said and done, we've decided to go with their Swan Sink for our powder room. It's really simple, but impressive at the same time. The order will be placed shortly. So watch out because I'll probably be itching to tell this story to our visitors. And to think that I very easily could have missed out due to my lack of imagination...live and learn!

Paint effect

For quite some time I've begged my dear husband to paint one wall or bathroom in a really different, rustic paint finish. This image from the talented photographer Paul Massey has captured my exact desire.

We have a small powder room downstairs that will have fairly modern cabinetry and finishes. However, the wall tile will be a bit rustic. And even more special (or random depending on how you see it) is that this powder room is home to a secret entrance to Mr. Big's rustic wine cave. A single wall painted in this manner might just be the unique touch that we need for this space.

Glass blocks be gone

Somehow someone sold us on putting glass block in our master shower when we were planning our house (it may have come from our inspiration image coming from John Travolta's bathroom but I can't be sure). Glass block? Isn't that a bit early 80s? I remember an application of this in the living room of a high school friend. Even as an 18-year old, I just wasn't too keen on the look. But it seems to be popular in the Caribbean so I went with the suggestion. There are plenty of examples of really nice applications of it...when used correctly.

Friends visiting our construction zone often comment on how nice it will be to shower with a view. Somehow the glint of excitement rapidly leaves their eyes as we tell them that our plans call for glass block. "Ohhhh, (with the voice raising as they consider what to say next), that will look nice too."

Ironically, our builder has had a real challenge trying to find the right size glass block to make the curve for the shower. After researching for three months, the only solution has been to mix the sizes in order to make the curve. This would mean that we would have a pattern/mixture of 4 inch, 6 inch, and 8 inch block. Huh? Needless to say, it's hard to visualize what this will end up looking like. Both Mr. Big and I fear that it might look pretty random. Add that to my high school flashbacks and you've got a pretty hesitant couple to say the least.

Last week I decided on a whim to ask our window guys if they could make anything that would fit the space. Low and behold, they have done similar applications before and can even use our left over wood grain finish and match the rest of our windows. The rough estimate is pretty much spot on the original cost of the glass block. Perfect! An upgrade at minimal extra cost (imagine that!)

Titco.net

Now we get our view (with a little privacy panel of course) and the high school flashbacks will remain just distant memories. A 30-second inquiry never felt so satisfying!

Outdoor facilities

Just so that you don't all feel disappointed that our fascination with plumbing, toilets, and all-things-bathroom are behind us, I leave you with an inspiration image for our outdoor bathroom.

This was the product image for a Duravit sink. Truth be told, they got me hook, line and sinker. (I suppose that is the purpose...) This is a really simple bathroom dressed up in soothing colors and clean fixtures. And best of all, for an outdoor bathroom, it appears that it would be easy to maintain.

For those of you amazed that I could honestly be spending time posting inspiration images for our outdoor bathroom, don't worry, you're not the only ones. Mr. Big is going to be really happy when his normal wife returns once the building is complete (at least we hope he is...).