Our Design Plan for the Kid-Meets-Crafted Hall Bathroom
All the finishes and inspiration we’ve collected so far…
Bathrooms are one of our favorite spaces to remodel. They stretch our skills from plumbing to moldings to countertop fabrication and if we do it right, we end up with a long-lasting, beautiful space that’s also efficient and functional. Best of all, we get to enjoy it for years and years to come!
The first bathroom we’re tackling at the Hill House is the upstairs hall bathroom. Our goal for this space is a heritage-quality bathroom that’s kid-friendly and charming with just a hint of vintage summer camp. Our kids are 7, 9, and 12 and will be the main users of this bathroom so we want the space to feel good for them, but in a nice, can-grow-with-them kind of way. We don’t want to be re-renovating this bathroom any decade soon! And though we always focus on quality, but we’re going the extra mile in this house since we plan to be here a long time!
psst: you can find the floor plan here
Here are the finishes and inspiration we’re working with…
There will be plenty of traditional in this space - classic shapes, neutral colors, and traditional materials that would have been used back when the house was built. And since this is a kids bathroom, a little color and fun was in order, too. When I stumbled on Alex Adamson Design’s blue shower, it felt just right.
Here’s the moodboard I put together:
Quality, kid-friendly, charming, traditional - it’s all here. And hopefully these finishes are things that no one will age out of or find ‘dated’ anytime soon. I’ll walk through the finishes in more detail below, but first wanted to mention that we are working with Rejuvenation and DalTile on this renovation, though everything was designed and selected by us. We’ve been using their tile and lighting/hardware in our renovations for a decade plus now and it’s amazing to have their support on the Hill House!
Tiles
This will be our very first time using colored tiles. I’ve been pretty scared to install them after seeing all the pink and avocado green tiles pulled out of ‘60s bathrooms. But I’ve also seen plenty beautiful, creative, and colorful bathrooms lately that I just love. And it’s better to run toward something you love than run from something you’re afraid of ; ) So blue tiles it is. We’ll keep the floors simple with a classic octagon and dot pattern.
Blue Tiles | Octagon and Dot Tiles
Paint
I’m a big fan of neutrals - they’re easy to love and harder to date. But for a kids bathroom,
a little color was in order. Blue felt just right. In addition to tiles in the perfect shade of denim, we’ll be adding blue sconces and color drenching the walls and sloped ceilings in a linen-ey, canvas-ey neutral color (I’m looking at SW natural linen, but we’ll see). Paint is almost always last for us, so this could change, especially with 3 kids lending their input! There will also be plenty of white in the floors and tub to ground everything and keep it light. Lastly we’ll bring in more color and interest from art, rug, and decor.
Paint: SW Natural Linen (probably ;)
Metal finishes & Lighting
Blue can be pretty cold, especially in a north-facing bathroom, so we’ll be adding in some warm metals - unlaquered brass, aged brass, and polished nickel. Unlaquered brass ages and patinas over time and will add a bit of a regal, centuries-old feel to the new space. Polished nickel is a warm, traditional metal and felt like the perfect compliment. We’re doing nickel for the plumbing and brass for the lighting and hardware. Note that we have 7’ ceilings in here so will be using a flush mount on the ceiling. How fun are the sconces with metal shades?!
Lighting: Flush mount, Blue metal sconces
Hardware: Cabinet knobs, large hooks, small hooks, Mirror
Plumbing
Cathy has strong opinions on bathtubs and this is the same cast iron one we used in the Farmhouse kids bathroom. It’s brand new but looks like it could be original in a 1910 home.
Finishing touches
The tongue and groove paneling is a durable and lovely wall treatment that we’ve used before. Pairing it with the vintage-inspired brass mirror, national parks art, and blue metal sconce shades should lend a touch of fun summer camp vibe in here!
Can’t wait to see this bathroom come together!
xx
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Three children and one sink concerns me. Also, do you need permits for all the construction?