Where Did You Get That?----Bathroom Edition

When designing my hall bathroom, I asked my daughter what she wanted since she would be the one using that bathroom the most. She told me that she wanted "A black bathroom". When she first said it, I wasn't too excited about it. I even considered compromising and just doing one wall black but she said "If you're going to do a black room, you have to go all in".

Knowing her style and by researching black rooms, I began my search to pull together a luxurious bathroom that she could be happy with, didn't break my piggy bank, and one that I would be proud to have in my house. Anything would be better than what was already there, right? We never liked the bathrooms here. We've fixed up almost every room except for the bathrooms so it was time. I wanted to start with the hall bathroom because not only is it the kid's bathroom, but it is the bathroom that guests used when they come over.

You can say that my condo is up to date, but when you walked in that bath room, it was like walking into a time machine. Everything in that bathroom must have been original to the condo when it was built in the 80's. Not only was everything builder's grade material from that time period, but I can't even imagine it being cute back then. I knew I was up for a challenge, but I have to say that it was pretty stress-free.

The first thing I looked for was wallpaper. If we were going with black walls, we needed texture, a 3D pattern or something. At first we decided on the Versace Greek Key wall paper and we were going to go with gold fixtures, but as I researched, gold fixtures tarnish too fast. I didn't want to spend all that money renovating only for the faucet to turn from gold to green. Besides, the Versace Greek Key pattern was very formal. We're not formal people. We were talking and agreed that bathrooms in public places were more our taste, like bathrooms in a sushi restaurant, boutique hotel or even a night club, so with that in mind, I searched for fun patterns and textures in black and came across this on Overstock.com.

Manhattan Comfort Riverdale Vinyl Wallpaper- $46.30

                                      
When I saw this, I knew it was what I wanted. It looked like wild animal stripes at first glance, but it was subtle because it was monochromatic.  Not only was this sexy wallpaper prepasted and made out of durable vinyl but it came in a double roll. I bought three double rolls to be safe even though I knew that I would only need two.  The rule in purchasing wallpaper is to always buy an extra roll, you can always return it if you don't use it.  Normally, I do not shop online without going through  Ebates (which is now called Rakuten) first, but if you're on Overstock.com's mailing list, they e-mail you coupon links every day and the savings through their coupon links are better than the Ebates (Rakuten) links.

If you're not on Overstock.com's mailing list, what are you waiting for?  They send out coupons from 11%-20% off.  The day that I purchased the wallpaper, the coupon link was worth 15% off and Rakuten offered 1.5% off, so yeah, I went with Overstock's link instead of Rakuten's.  I am a Club O member, so I got an additional 5% off and free shipping.

I then began to search for a vanity, It had to be black, sleek, and affordable.  After looking at so many from several websites,  I found this on Amazon:

24" Bathroom Vanity and Sink Combo--$249.99

This was the best deal EVER because that meant that I didn't have to find a vessel sink separately, a counter top, a faucet, pop up drain, door pulls and  I didn't even have to find a mirror (but I knew that I wasn't going to use this mirror so I did find another one).  You cannot beat this price!  Can you imagine the cost of buying all of those things separately? This is really nice and sturdy too!  I loved that the vessel sink was clear glass so that light can go through it considering that the room would be so dark.  Any way to invite light was welcomed.  The doors are even soft close doors.  I added this set to my cart, left Amazon, went to Rakuten, searched for Amazon, went back to Amazon through the Rakuten link so I could get up to 5% cash back, then proceeded to check out.  I'm also a Prime member so shipping was free.

When I went to search for more things to design our bathroom with I thought, okay, I have black wallpaper, and a black sink, so that means that I have to have a mirror that lights up because that room will be entirely too dark if I use the mirror that comes with the sink.  Besides, if I chose a different mirror, the design would look more custom because that mirror was too matchy matchy with the sink.  I decided to go way left and search for a round mirror.  I looked at many mirrors that lit up with LED lighting and even watched a few YouTube videos to learn more about the LED mirror technology.  I ended up finding this 24 X 24 mirror.

LStrip M Bathroom LED Lighting Mirror With Anti-fog Function-$129.92

I wanted a 24 X 24 mirror because the width of the vanity was 24 inches. I was also drawn to this because it lit up from the back instead of the front. It had that Bruce Leroy glow! It also has an anti-fog button so when you come out of the shower, the steam would have no effect on it. I  was happy to snatch it up.

I began my search for a toilet. I did not want a black toilet, that would be overkill. I also knew that I was going to eventually have the bathtub reglazed in bright white, so I wanted the toilet to compliment that. I looked for a sleek one-piece toilet. I pictured one with buttons on top; one button for "tinkles" and another button for "number twos". I saw a really cute one on Wayfair.com and added it to my cart.  Here it is:

Ivy Dual-Flush Elongated One-Piece Toilet- $283.92

                                     
This toilet ended up breaking in shipping.  We didn't know until the day the contractor was about to install it.  He called me and we had to think fast.  I went to HomeDepot.com from my phone, ordered the below toilet (it was the closest looking one they had in stores, it was also a blessing in disguise because it was a lot cheaper than the original toilet that I purchased from Wayfair), chose in-store pick up, and within 20 minutes my order was ready for pick-up.  My contractor (who is AWESOME, I'm making a separate blog post about him and his crew soon) picked it up and was able to install it without skipping a beat.  I called Wayfair and e-mailed the representative the pictures that the contractor sent me.  They gave me a full refund and told me not to send it back and to just junk it.

1-Piece High Efficiency Dual Flush Elongated All-in-One Toilet- $149.00

                 
I knew that I wanted dark gray 12X24 porcelain tiles.  I fell in love with these babies because they looked like concrete.  I bought 3 cases (Wayfair mailed me four.  When I called them to let them know, they told me to just keep the fourth case.  My guess is because it would have been too much trouble for them to have someone come and pick it up.  Those cases had to be at least 60 lbs each).

Dimensions Graphite 12" x 24" Porcelain Field Tile in Gray - $3.94/ sq ft

$3.94 a square foot is expensive as hell.  This was my splurge.  You would have thought that I bought real stone, but I was covering such a small space so I didn't feel like I spent that much.  Let alone, I got a whole case free (that I didn't even use, but maybe I will in my foyer one day).  I had to get this tile though, it helped me achieve the look that I was going for so I couldn't do it with cheap floor tile.  Besides, I saved in so many other areas that this little splurge was nothing.  I have no regrets.

I wanted the towel bars removed from the wall, my kids didn't use them anyway, they used paper towels to dry their hands with.  I bought a paper towel dispenser to be mounted on the wall.  I opted for acrylic because light goes right through it, I didn't want anything that appeared heavy.  I went back to Amazon to add this to the cart.

Acrylic Paper Towel Holder,Wall Mountable Paper Towel Dispenser for Z-fold C-fold or Multi-fold- $18.99

               
Before checking my cart out, I wanted to get shelves to go above the toilet.  I felt that I needed something to bring the eye up.  These acrylic shelves were the answer.  Again, nothing heavy or dark, yet the light above it will shine down right through them.  I wanted shelving from 12-15 inches because the average toilet width is 14 inches.  I am loving how they look on the wall.  I plan to display decorative items as well as functional items on them.

15" Acrylic Floating Shelves 4 Pack- $21.99

There were other little things purchased, but this is what I'm featuring for now.  I didn't get the tub/shower area done yet.  The porcelain tile that I bought for it won't be here until eight days from now.  It's beautiful.  It cost less that the floor tile but it is pretty and a nice compliment to the floor.  I also have a shower panel system on its way.  It has eight jets, a rain shower head, hand held sprayer and tub spout.  I have not bought the shower doors yet.  I am waiting until the tub is reglazed for that.  I'm not sure when the whole bathroom will be complete but I am hoping that it would be before next month ends.

I look at my master bath with a "stank face" now.  I can't wait to update that.  It is going to be a while before I can, but when I eventually do, you better believe that I will post it all right here.

Question of the day:  What is your favorite part so far?