The Underdog’s original 1950’s master bathroom had an elephant color scheme going on – flesh pink and gray. Some of the shower tiles were fractured allowing water to seep into the wall. To keep costs down, we kept the layout of the room the same, kept the shower window placement and reused the toilet which may have been the only thing ever upgraded by the previous owner.

We gutted the room to the studs, had the electric upgraded {as well as throughout the rest of the home} to today’s standards and replaced all finishes and fixtures {minus the toilet as mentioned above} which included a new vinyl window.

From a renovation standpoint, we’re saying this room is D-O-N-E.

I spent all day Saturday scrubbing the bathroom clean. It was a 38-week-pregnant lady’s nesting dream! I used my favorite Mrs. Meyer’s all purpose cleaner mixed with water in a spray bottle to remove chunks of stray grout and drywall mud throughout the bathroom. It worked like a charm. Plus, it smells delightful and isn’t harmful to me or baby. It may have taken me longer than usual considering my condition but it felt so good to get at least one – albeit small – room in order at the Underdog.

We now have a proper place to use the bathroom and wash our hands. Before, my guys would ‘go’ in the backyard and we had to wash our hands with a dirty bar of soap at the outdoor spigot. We’re movin’ up!

Let’s take a tour, shall we? Starting with the shower…

We replaced the window, tub, shower fixtures and tile surround. We took the shower tile all the way to the ceiling to make it feel taller and airier. If you look back to the ‘before’ pics, you’ll see that the original shower tile only went about two-thirds of the way up the walls.

The new vinyl window has texture on the inside of the pane {you can’t feel it from the shower side of the glass…it’s in between the double panes} for privacy.

Here’s the view to the backyard from the window when it’s open. Yeah, the backyard could use some love. We’ll get there.

Back inside, we replaced the shower and tub fixtures.

We replaced the old gray tub with a deeper, sleeker white one.

My favorite feature of the tub is the one-click drain stopper. You can easily open and close the drain with a tap of your toes. This is high society stuff for us, people!

The shower tile sparkles like glitter and reflects the natural light pouring in from the window.

Contrary to popular belief, it wasn’t difficult to clean at all. The textured surface doesn’t have grooves and crevices deep enough to hold tons of grime. I just used a microfiber cloth to wipe it down.

Moving right along from the shower/tub to the toilet…

There’s nothing special about this toilet. It’s the one that came with the house. All it needed was a good scrub-down.

HH removed it for the floor install and carried it out to the front yard so I could hose it down. Now, wasn’t that a sight?! An obviously very pregnant gal bent over a dirty toilet in the front yard! I’m pretty sure I scared some neighbors and passerby. I did have to resort to some Comet with bleach to get this bad boy looking like new. But I was outside and wore cleaning gloves to avoid harmful chemicals.

She shined up pretty nice if I do say so myself.

Enough of the commode. Let’s have a peek at the vanity area.

I like a little contrast in every room, so here I chose a glossy medium gray vanity. This portion of the bathroom is highly visible from the master bedroom, so I tried to keep the distinctive bathroom features {vanity, sink, faucet, mirror and light} from feeling too bathroom-y…if that makes any sense.

The vanity isn’t huge by any means but it’s simple and practical. The floating design keeps the room feeling light and makes cleaning underneath a breeze.

There are two deep drawers for hiding toiletries.

The faucet is simple too.

It doesn’t look like much but it puts out a steady flow of water without splashing outside the sink.

Above the vanity, I chose a round teak mirror to add some warmth and curves to the shiny, rectangular bathroom.

Just above the mirror is a galvanized wall sconce. I like the touch of industrialism it brings to the room.

I should probably switch out the lightbulb for a clear one but we’re just happy to have a light at this point!

I like the light just as much on. It really warms up the wood mirror and wall color.

At night and in the early morning hours, this is what the bathroom may look like under artificial light…

Onto the penny tile floor…

While the shower got standard white grout, I chose a sandy gray grout for the floor in the hopes of it hiding dirt a little better. The penny tiles give such a great texture to the bathroom. They’re almost like scales on a lizard.

It feels good under bare feet. If you have a keen eye, you may have noticed the new baseboards in all these after pics.

HH and I decided to go with a thick, high trim throughout the house. The higher trim has more presence and actually makes the walls feel taller somehow – which we weren’t expecting. It’s more noticeable in larger rooms. Hopefully, I’ll post some pics of those rooms this week!

As soon as the bathroom was clean, I took a break to enjoy the fruits of my labor.

I could live in this bathroom and be very happy. Okay, maybe I’d need a little more than a bathroom. But still. I love this bathroom.

Like I said, from a renovation standpoint, this room is done-zo. From a design standpoint, it still needs some work. Here’s what’s left to do:

• touch up the walls and trim
• hang shower curtain
• add towel hooks
• find a spot for toilet paper roll
• add hanging storage to the back of the door
• uh, hang the door!
• organize the vanity drawers
• accessorize

So, I have my tweaking cut out for me. Should be fun! Since I know I’ll get questions, here’s a source list:

• tub – Kohler Archer
• tub drain – Kohler Archer
• tub & shower fixtures – Kohler Archer
• shower tile – Capua Blanco*
• toilet – reused, Kohler
• vanity – GODMORGAN
• sink – ODENSVIK
• faucet – DALSKÄR
• mirror – Home Emporium
• wall sconce – Barn Light Austin Sconce*
• floor tile – Penny Round Moss*
• wall paint – Benjamin Moore Tapestry Beige
• trim paint – Benjamin Moore White Dove

*Denotes items that were kindly donated to us by the companies linked to above. We were not forced to include certain products. While we were permitted to choose items in exchange for photos and links, we only used items that we would have chosen to purchase with our own money. That means the items you see are ones that meet our aesthetic, budget and level of quality.

And because I know there are a few of you who could care less about the bathroom and just wanna know “Is that baby here yet?!”…

Nope. Even after a very physical weekend full of intense cleaning, baby hasn’t made his/her appearance yet. I know he/she will come when they’re ready but I’m this close to crying ‘uncle!’

images: all Dana Miller for House*Tweaking

Remember this mood board for our master bathroom?

To keep the bathroom from feeling too sterile with all the hard, shiny surfaces {tile, gloss vanity, galvanized wall sconce, etc.} I wanted to incorporate a few natural elements in the form of warm wood tones. I thought that bringing in a small woven ottoman and/or a mirror with a wooden frame would help balance out the harshness of the other very bathroom-y elements. And if the ottoman and mirror were round, they’d also break up the strong rectangular lines {vanity, tub, overall shape of the room, shower tile, etc.} of the bathroom.

The bathroom is openly visible from the master bedroom. In fact, I plan on placing the bed so that when lying in it the bathroom is directly across the room. So, I’m going for more of a dressing room effect in the small bathroom vignette {sconce, mirror, vanity, sink} that will be seen from the bed. It helps that the toilet placement is off center from the bathroom doorway! Otherwise, I’d just close the door and call it a day.

I featured the Jules Mirror from Home Decorators in the original bathroom mood board. But with a price tag of $300, it was more than I was willing to spend. So, like I typically do, I used my mood board as a jumping off point to search for another mirror that was cheaper but still retained the two elements I was wanting – warm wood tones and round shape.

I create mood boards for my own home not to pick exact items but rather to create an overall look for a room. So, if an item that I use in a mood board is not at my price point {or if I simply think I can do better}, I have no problem straying away from the mood board and finding something different. I would say normally I end up buying maybe 60% of the mood board items and finding practical replacements for the other 40%. That’s just a rough estimate and every room is a different experience, of course. Still, it’s a process that has worked well for me so I continue to use it.

Now, back to my mirror search…

Somewhere along the way, it crossed my mind that hanging a wood-framed mirror might not be the best option for a bathroom. What about all the moisture? But I really wanted to make it work if I could. I searched everywhere for a round, wooden mirror – online and offline – to no avail. I decided to take a break from my mirror hunt. After all, it wasn’t pressing. We don’t even live in the Underdog yet. I thought I’d give it some time and eventually ‘the mirror’ would come to me.

And that’s exactly what happened. Weeks ago, on a trip to a local salvage/closeout store while looking for rugs, ‘the mirror’ found me.

Round? Check. Warm wood tones? Check. Budget-friendly price? At $79, check. I called Handy Hubby back at the homestead {Surprise! HH was at the Underdog working.} to make sure the mirror’s diameter wasn’t too big/too small for what we needed in our master bath. Wouldn’t you know? The size was just right. Another big check for the salvaged mirror. Then the “do I put a wooden mirror in a wet bathroom?” question popped into my mind again. That’s when I saw it. The mirror’s description tag. It read ’round teak mirror.’

I was sold. Why? Because teak has natural oils that make it ideal for wet conditions. It’s commonly used to make outdoor furniture, boat decks, exterior architectural elements and cutting boards. It doesn’t matter if the wood is treated or not. This round teak mirror was the perfect solution for our master bathroom! It came home with me. FYI – I didn’t find any buy-worthy rugs. You win some; you lose some.

Yeah, I know it’s just sitting on the floor leaning against the wall up there but can you picture it hanging? It’s gonna be fab. I don’t think I’m going to mind staring at it from my bed across the room. Not at all.

I especially like the wedged design of the frame. It gives the mirror interest, pattern and variation.

The wide frame does take away from the surface area of the mirror but HH and I only use the bathroom mirror to wash our faces, brush our teeth, put on a little makeup {me not HH} and fix our hair. So the size of the actual mirrored surface is plenty for us. A leaning floor mirror in the master bedroom has always been a part of the design in my head and we’ll use that larger mirror for full-length once overs.

And that’s the story of how a round teak mirror found me when I wasn’t even looking. That’s usually how true love starts, right? It is how HH and I met. And here we are 14 years later happily living in an apartment, renovating a house, raising two healthy kiddos and expecting another! I expect just as many fulfilling experiences from this mirror. ;)

In other bathroom news {ew, that sounds gross, sorry}, HH has started work on prepping the master bath for tile!!

He picked up supplies from The Tile Shop this past holiday Monday for all of our tiling projects to come {master bathroom, kids’ bathroom, mudroom/dining room} and there was some concern that his Danger Ranger was going to lose an axel. Luckily, the Danger Ranger held in there and pulled through.

Even with it in the box, I couldn’t stop googling over the shower surround tile. It’s so sparkly! HH has been busy throughout the week {after his long day job hours} prepping the master bath for tile. That’s the first room we’re going to tackle with tile. Should be fun!

So how about you? Ever found love for someone/something when you were least expecting it? Ever put off searching for that perfect piece only to have it find you later? I have a feeling when baby #3 arrives, it will be a similar experience as we definitely weren’t expecting to have more children. Sometimes you just have to let things come to you, huh?

images: 1&2, 4-9) Dana Miller for House*Tweaking 3) Home Decorators Collection