Curbly House: Our Bathroom Reveal

After much ado about color, we are finally finished with the Curbly House bathroom (for now). We thought we were ready to reveal the room months ago, but then I got cold feet and decided to re-paint the room. When our friends at Sherwin-Williams invited us to participate in their National Painting Week once again, I knew our bathroom was the room that was going to get a mini-makeover in preparation for its big debut.

For those of you who have been following our progress, you know that when we purchased our house, the 'loo' looked like the above photo. And this photo somehow managed to be the bathroom's equivalent of a Glamour Shot; it makes the room look one million times nicer than it was. 

The problems weren't just aesthetic. There was a four inch step-up into the room (to accomodate outdated plumbing). And once the floor was torn up, we realized that there was a softball-sized hole in the sewage pipe, which was, um ... gross. The room was also smaller than it needed to be due to some weird built-ins that flanked the chimney. Basically, it was a mess.

So, we gutted it, dropped a cast iron tub out of the window (only becuase it was too tiny to keep), re-plumbed, tiled with stunning glass tiles, used gorgeous fixtures, and painted.

Initially we chose a paint color (Sherwin-Williams' Quietude) that was akin to the glass tiles. It was a gorgeous, airy color that I still love.

Love that color, but it just felt like too much of the same.

But after a few months of living with the color, I decided that we needed a change. We wanted more contrast between the walls and tiles, in order to let the both colors shine. Apparently you can have too much of a good thing. So, there was a very peaceful break-up, everyone stayed friends, and we decided to bring in a new color to complement the room: Sherwin-Williams' Alpaca. We'd already used this color in our son's nursery, so we thought it would be a perfect fit for the tiles, and we were right! 

Initially, Bruno refused the change, fearing that he was only feeding my "addiction to repainting rooms that look great", but after the first roll went up, he was on board. We went with Sherwin-Williams' Emerald line in an eggshell finish. The Emerald paint is our favorite; it's thick like honey, which is a weird visual, but totally the way you want your paint to be. The coverage is amazing, and we only needed to use one coat to complete the whole project. 

As is often the case, the prep work took a lot longer than the painting. I taped and Bruno draped, I cut in and Bruno rolled. The whole painting process was done in an hour (while our daughter was at preschool and our son took one of his record short naps). 

Before we knew it, the room was done! The contrast between the glass tiles and the gray walls is perfect. The room feels much larger and the wall color really highlights the different tones in the glass floor. The room is still airy, and the best surprise was that the neutral walls combined with the shimmery tile made the whole room feel like a big, beautiful canvas. It allowed us to bring in several additional colors to give the room personality. Here are a few pictures of our new bathroom:

And, for those interested, here's a source list:

Paint: Sherwin-Williams' Emerald paint in Alpaca (finish: eggshell)
Shower Tiles: Modwalls' Lush 1x4 Cloud Tile
Floor Tile: Modwalls' Brio Blend White Linen
Vanity: Kohler Traverse (Color: Ostrich)
Sink: Kohler Traverse
Bathtub: Kohler Underscore Alcove Bath 
Toilet: Kohler Cimmaron Two-Piece Elongated Toilet
Bidet: Kohler C3 Toilet Seat with Bidet (and yes, you need one of these)
Bathroom Fixtures: Kohler Purist Collection
Shower Curtain: West Elm's Nile Shower Curtain
Hamper: Ferm Living Spear Basket
Shower Shelf: Gatco Latitude II
Whale Art: Thomas Paul Whale Tray
Vase: West Elm's White Ceramic Vase + Wood Top
Succulent Vases: Arcadia Garden Products' Round Wall Planter
Coral: Nate Berkus for Target (not available on-line)
Wall Art: Ferm Living Harlequin Tea Towel (color copied and reduced)
Whale Bath Toy Holder: Boon Whale Pod 
Wall Art Frames: Ikea Ribba
Cup: West Elm's Modern Stripe Tumbler

Every single time we paint a room, I am blown away by the way a coat of paint can transform a space. It can change things in the most dramatic ways and help you achieve the look and feel you want in a matter of hours. Thanks to Sherwin-Williams for inviting us to particiapte in National Painting Week. Be sure to check out the other 13 design bloggers' painting projects.

If you're curious, you can go back and see our whole bathroom remodel process:

• Week 4 - Bye Bye Bathtub (and Chimney Too)
• Week 7 - Plumbing Down the Tubes
• Week 8 - Grrr. Plumbing, Take Two
• Week 10 - Finishing the Bathroom and a Surprise!
• The Curbly House: Painting Like a Pro
• How To: Cut Tile at Home and Not Seriously Injure Yourself

Note: Thanks to Sherwin-Williams for sponsoring this post. All opinions are mine alone.