Guest Bath

This room is what I refer to as my jewel box! This room is one of the more textured rooms with a few collected and earthy objects. This room had a lot of changes! I really love neutral colors for tile/floors/etc throughout the home, but I wanted to introduce one soothing tile color to the home: BLUE! This room reminds me of blue skies and traveling to Joshua Tree for a mini vacation.

Details:

When I bought the home:
The guest bathroom felt very dated and dark, and there was wallpaper on the walls and ceilings of the bathroom. The bathtub/shower had curtains (removed before the photos were taken). The flooring was carpet. There was only one light fixture, above the sink (nothing in the shower area).

The Plan:
Remove the wallpaper and re-texture the drywall, remove the cabinets and replace, replace the mirror and light fixture, replace the floor, add recessed lighting and a new light switch, add a quieter exhaust fan, replace the toilet with a taller chair height model, remove the shower insert, and redo the shower walls, add a new tub, and paint the walls.

Additions to the guest bathroom:
- Terrazzo concrete tile floors: Concrete Collaborative (Venice: Alabaster Marble Chip)(located in San Marcos)
- Marble: Amazon Stones (Greywood Marble, leather finish, from Brazil)(located in Miramar area)
- Shower tile: Bedrosians Tile & Stone (Provincetown 2.5" x 9" Floor & Wall Tile in Surfside Blue)(located in Miramar area)
- Light above sink: Schoolhouse Electric
- Shower door: Home Depot
- Toilet: Toto
- Exhaust fan: Panasonic
- Sink: Kohler (Vox)
- Faucet: Kohler (Purist)
- Vanity: Build.com
- Shelves: Target
- Door knobs: Schlage
- Mirror: Target
- Paint: Benjamin Moore (Simply White in satin finish)
- Towels: Target
- Rug: Target
- Trash can: Target
- Toilet paper holder: Etsy
- Towel bar: Etsy
- Art: Target x Minted
- Shelf accessories: collected rocks from Paso Robles antique stores, vases from LA art fairs, and one quartz geode rock from Home Goods
- White small vase: Anthropologie sold out, similar
- Picture Frame: Target
- Candle holder: CB2 discontinued, similar
- Air plants: Pigment
- Interior stylist: Natalie Griffo
- Contractor: DCC Construction (send me a note for his contact info)

Before:

Advice and things that I learned…

When planning for space in a bathroom, make sure you have 12” of space on each side of the toilet. Toilets come in two common sizes: chair height or shorter. Opt for the chair height unless you enjoy the lower seat heights.

When choosing floors for the guest bathroom, you can go a little wild in here. This is one of those rooms where the sky is the limit, but make sure it’s easy to clean, practical, and doesn’t take 8 weeks to make. If you choose tile, opt for thin 1/16” grout spacing. Don’t pick a printed tile where the pattern will wear off with foot traffic, and don’t pick a penny/small tile for a larger floor area (you will go crazy when the tiles have uneven spacing). Since my floors are concrete terrazzo tile, I had to wait 6-8 weeks for these to be made, and these are slightly higher than my wood floors, so I had to add a threshold at the doorway. Try to match your floor heights, but if you can’t, it’s not uncommon to see thresholds.

Medicine cabinets are not popular with interior designers/decorators. If you need to use this bathroom often, and need a medicine cabinet for storage, here’s what I recommend.

Marble vs granite vs quartz vs fake quartz (engineered) countertops: Everyone has an opinion. Pick what’s best for your style, budget, and lifestyle. My opinion: if you have messy/tough kids…avoid marble since it etches easily and is not as durable as the other options. Marble upkeep: refinish yearly for a clean look and only use mild soap and water to clean it (no heavy products). Granite is the next best option compared to marble.