Meet Our Future Bathroom

You may remember from this post that the bathroom remodel is becoming a reality. This weekend we went on a "shopping" trip with our designer, Francisco, and made a bunch of really scary decisions. All that has to happen next is to put the orders in, wait for the products to be ready, and schedule the up-to-15-day overhaul. Bring back that paper bag, I'm having trouble breathing just thinking about it!

Because of our small budget, we started off the day at Home Depot, where Francisco showed us what was safe to buy and what to beware of. Obviously with word-of-mouth advertising and things like Angie's List, no company wants to install parts with crappy components that will end up leaking or breaking, so he tried to show us where we could save money and where we needed to splurge for better quality.

First up was tile. There were only a handful of choices that Francisco thought were good quality. Most were very very beige. I hate beige. Our bathroom is currently beige, so we are looking for more gray, cool tones.

The key to a good ceramic or porcelain tile apparently is that the color is sustained throughout. Many tiles we saw had a gray or beige layer on top of a brick red tile, which means that chipping or scratching or even cutting the tile to get it to the correct size can make it look awful. We found one that fit the quality test in this one. It still had hints of beige, but was definitely mostly gray and very in our price range, so we bought one piece to carry around with us, sort of the equivalent of a paint swatch.

Next it was on to fixtures! Kohler Forte is probably what we will be getting, because Francisco has had very good luck with the Home Depot version of it (and it's about 30-50% cheaper than the fancy designer store version). We originally planned to get brushed nickel but chrome is significantly cheaper, so the company is going to price both and give us a comparison. It's so strange how different the prices are (in some cases, there's a $70 difference between getting chrome or nickel for the exact same piece). Since we have a lot of fixtures, this could end up adding up, and we need to figure out if it's worth it. What do you think? Chrome is actually really pretty in my opinion, but it looks dirtier faster and isn't as modern looking.

This represents only a component of our shower package, because we are going to do a hand-held shower on a slide bar:

Then to toilets! A Kohler Cimarron two-piece comfort height elongated seat toilet. After sitting on a bunch of toilets, we realized that comfort height is what we have in our house already, so it's what we're used to (I had no idea--it's not like I ever measured my toilet before). It's pretty compact and has a high-powered flush without using much water. Originally we thought we'd go with a rounded seat, but Francisco tactfully suggested that guys might prefer the elongated shape...

For bathtubs, Francisco recommended the middle one, a thick porcelain on steel tub. It won't retain heat as well as cast iron but it's much cheaper and still pretty sturdy. The tub is tiny and shallow anyway, so won't really be used for taking soaking baths. It's better than acrylic, at least. The cast iron tub next to it by Kohler looks ok, but it is suspiciously cheap (most cast iron tubs cost thousands and this one is only $320) and is even shallower than the Bootzcast porcelain on steel. Plus it has a gritty sandpaper non-stick bottom (I hate those! It's so easy just to use a suction cup non-slip pad that can come out when necessary).

We left Home Depot and went to another design store where we bought a medicine cabinet. While there, I fell temporarily in love with this deeply discounted sink (after additional discounts, it was only $220). D was not convinced, however, and Francisco took us to our next stop, a rock store, to look at possible tops for a much better quality, much more expensive custom vanity.

 We wandered around the remnant granite. It was rather surreal.

D found one that he really liked, called "Blue Pearl." It's hard to tell from the picture but it's a dark gray with whitish veins and light iridescent blueish chips. Francisco cut off a little piece for us to take along with us. If we got the cabinet, it would be a dark blackish red finish with simple lines from Merillat. It would be made of real wood instead of the MDF piece I liked (though I made sure that the MDF wouldn't start to peel, because at no price point was I willing to have to replace it in after few years of steamy showers), and for not much more than the already exorbitant price of a regular two-door piece, we could get drawers. Nice, dovetailed, sturdy drawers. We'd also get the granite installed so that there was a back and side splash to protect our walls, and a nice sturdy under-mount sink.

It was an expensive decision. But D won, so no cheapo tiny pre-made vanity for us. I finally admitted that he was right, anyway. If we were going to spend all this money remodeling our bathroom, we might as well get really good quality stuff.

So armed with our swatches, we hit our last stop, The Tile Shop, for our accent piece. I looked around for a grayer/whiter main tile as well, but after a few half-hearted tries, became convinced that the Home Depot tile really was the best bet for us. We picked a glass tile that played off the blues in the granite and the black undertones of the wood stain. And so I present to you the look of our future bathroom:

Now we just have to make a decision on chrome vs. brushed nickel, and pick out a few more details before all the orders get placed (Francisco suggested a Panasonic vent fan over Broan or NuTone, but those suckers are expensive, so we still have to figure that out too). Once everything arrives, we can figure out when to schedule the work. I am still in shock! So is my bank account!