Hall bath

Our hall bathroom that guests use was gross and outdated.  We had talked about updating it for a long time but something always came up and took the allocated money. 

I am sorry that I don't have a before picture to share.  The before bathroom had a dark cabinet with a yellow Formica countertop.  My husband had tiled the floor with an off white tile and we faux painted it two shades of brown.  See gross and very outdated.  The floor never looked clean to me, even when I steamed it with the shark steamer.  But the real ugly thing was the small, tiny, shower with a plastic door.  I could not get the door clean any longer and the shower pan was also off white and just dirty looking. 

So last Thanksgiving when we had family over my husband used that shower.  I could hear him banging around in the small space.  He came out grumbling.  One of my daughters looked at him and said, "Dad, I've taken a shower in that little space my entire life, get over it!"  Now in his defense he is 6'3" and she is 5'2"..... Thinking nothing of the incident I went to the grocery store to
get the last minute fixings for my part of our Thanksgiving dinner the next day.  When I came home I was shocked.  BUT - this is why I love my husband and probably why we've been married 25 years now.  He's always open to home improvement projects and will go on any crazy journey I come up with. 
I came home to the bathroom gutted - to the studs! and he was in the process of ripping up the tile floor.  I was shocked and a bit dumbfounded.  I was only gone about an hour and a half..  he was fast!  He only looked at me and said, "I couldn't stand it any longer." 

We are very lucky to have a good friend who specializes in tile work.  Rob Allor does tile for a living and is a true artist.  His portfolio is simply stunning and I am amazed at what he can do with tile.  At one clients home he replicated the Colorado front range from summer to fall to winter in tile on her kitchen backsplash! 

Rob agreed to help with the tile work and I got busy with what I wanted this now gutted bathroom to look like.  I wanted timeless and not trendy for re-sale value.  At the same time I also knew that my elderly Mother would be coming to visit for long periods and needed to be able to get in and out of the shower easily and a bench of some sort would be nice.  It would also be nice for us girls to use to shave, after all having a place to put your leg is a luxury. 

This is the after of this bathroom and a lot of this bathroom reflects my husbands traditional style.  I think the floor is my favorite.  
For now enjoy the 'after' pictures. 

The floor of the bathroom - this pattern layout is called Versailles pattern after the famous French palace. 

The tile is all a natural stone, travertine, except for the threshold and some of the trim, which is marble.
This is the ceiling of the shower!  All hand cut travertine tile that started out as large as the floor with the marble trim.  You can also see the travertine in the shower stall laid out in a subway pattern.

This the inside of the shower, the bench is marble.  The floor is travertine and some marble, again all cut by hand by Rob Allor and my husband. 

I was afraid it would all be a bit too brown so I painted the room a rust color, the wall color comes across a bit orange in the pictures but it is really a southwest color of rusty sand.   

 

 

Sources:  We got all the tile at Bedrogians in Colorado Springs.  The vanity is from Lowes as is the faucet, shower head and light.  The mirror is from Home Depot.  Rob Allor did all the tile work, all of it is hand cut and laid to my specifications. 

 



I hope you enjoyed our little hall bath tour.  If I find a before photo I will share.  I think they are all on another PC.  I'll have to hunt. 

I hope everyone has a great week! 

Victoria