THE GUEST BATHROOM

Happy hump day! Since the next big home project I will be tackling is my lower level bathroom I have decided to dedicate today's post to "the guest bathroom". It hasn't been an easy task deciding how to design this room. On one hand I don't want to spend a ton of money since it is not a room that my husband and I will use a whole lot. On the other hand it is the main level bathroom that all guests will be using so of course we want it to look nice. The way I start out is I decide what look I want for the entire room. Do I want traditional? Modern? Elegant? A mix of two styles? In general my style is traditional with an elegant twist. I then narrow down a color scheme for the room which sometimes involves knowing what material I am going to use such as tile vs. wainscoting. I then look for inspirational pictures to try and find my ideal room, or a few different pictures with ideal elements I would love to incorporate from each.

Here is a picture from Sarah Richardson's portfolio that is a good representation of my ideal bathroom

I then customize the ideal bathroom to my specificity. So for example, I know that instead of a vanity I would prefer to have a pedestal sink. Since it is a small sized bathroom the pedestal sink will make the space appear larger. Normally I would say incorporate as much storage as possible but since we do have a small closet in the dead space behind the door I am ok with sacrificing vanity space for a pedestal. I also know that I want to keep my bathtub in this room but I do not want to have to replace shower curtains all the time it is such a nuisance. Also a shower curtain acts as a wall and can also make the room appear smaller. I have found the perfect solutions here:

Here is a set of glass shower doors from Ultimate Glass Inc.

I like clean lines so I know I want a square shaped pedestal sink. After looking at many, many different brands up and down the aisles of The Home Depot and Lowes, I have decided that Kohler is my favorite sink brand. 

Here is the Kohler Memoirs Stately sink that I like

I have watched way too many HGTV shows than I would prefer to admit but one thing I know is that the look of Carrara marble is so timeless and elegant and goes with almost anything! This picture is c/o Tile Technicians

Since I tend to lean on the traditional side, I do like to jazz the room up every now and then in the details. In a guest bathroom I think the mirror is the place to let your personality shine through! It is something that can easily be replaced if you ever wanted to resell your house or if you get tired of it. Here are a couple of ideas I found on Lampsplus.com. They are not necessarily bathroom mirrors but I say they don't have to be :)

Lighting is key in any room. It impacts every other element in the room and therefore will determine the overall mood. Here is a flush mounted Possini chrome & crystal strands ceiling light I found on Lampsplus.com

You definitely want some space for your guests to put their belongings when they come to stay with you. There are many different shelving options out there but since I am going with glass for the shower this glass Sussex shelf from Pottery Barn really caught my eye!

Of course no bathroom is complete without those finishing touches. I am totally digging these Pottery Barn Quinn beaded bath accessories

There are still sooo many other pieces of this bathroom that I have to pick out but these are the main ideas that have been floating around in my head. The most important thing before the decor part of any bathroom is to make sure all of the plumbing works correctly! This is what prompted me to re-do this bathroom in the first place. When my husband and I first moved in to our house the ceiling was leaking which turned out to be an issue with the plumbing from our upstairs bathroom. Be sure to examine the behind the scenes before you start any decorating project. You don't want all your hard work going down the drain (pun intended). I am excited to begin this bathroom remodel which will probably be in the Spring. I will be sure to post some before and after pictures when I do, that's my favorite part of decorating!