Fourth Floor Walk Up

Claw-foot – Lonny Mag © 2011

Wow, moving from a place that you rent into a place that you own can be extremely challenging.  Money and board approval aside, the idea of designing a space that is yours and will be until you decide when to leave can be overwhelming.  Luckily our new place is in great shape.  There are a few things that could be better, like the kitchen.  Which is still nice, it’s just not my dream kitchen, yet.

For the time being the changes that we want to make will just be to enhance the look of the apartment.  Such as darkening the floor, updating some of the bathroom fixtures and of course painting/wallpapering. I thought picking out bathroom fixtures and coming up with bathroom ideas would be easy and fun, but it’s actually a little daunting.  I think it’s because I love too many things!  I also don’t have a large budget and I really want to choose pieces that will be timeless.  The overall bones of the bathroom are great, there is a claw-foot tub, a pedestal sink, a window, hexagon floor tiles and subway tiles.

These great features do create new issues however.

1. There isn’t any storage in the bathroom, without a vanity, there isn’t any place to hide the ugly stuff.

2. The  window takes away from necessary wall space that could be used for storage.

3.  The claw-foot tub makes storing bath accessories and products difficult and forces me to purchase a 2nd shower curtain.  If you can’t remember, or haven’t read my older post about the fabulous yet pricey shower curtain I purchased, you would understand my pain.

The Curtain In Its Current Home

Just to get a picture of what I’m working with, here is what the bathroom looked like when I first saw the apartment:

Bathroom Before

With the challenge at hand, I have been gathering inspiration images on my Pinterest and Houzz sites.  Here are a few of my favorites:

Inspiration Board

These are the key features/changes that I would like to enhance/make:

• Bring out the beauty of the tub by painting it a contrasting color to the tiles, the tub will also coordinate with the wall color – which will be a dark charcoal grey/blue to go with the shower curtain.
• Change out the hardware and fixtures to vintage and more period appropriate designs that are all in a satin nickel finish.
• Build a storage cabinet with mirrored glass doors that will hide the messy bathroom supplies and increase the feeling of light and space.
• Add a touch of charm with the apothecary like storage accessories and curio-styling of the elegant bathroom necessities.
• Lastly, I would like to add an interesting yet glamorous light fixture that will most likely hang right outside the bathroom in the mini hall that divides the living room, bedroom, bathroom and closet.

Color Palette

Elements and Materials