Guest Bath Remodel - THE BEFORE

Late last year, amidst being 100 months pregnant, the holidays, Croix's Birthday, wrapping up projects before maternity leave, our Patio Project and Croix's big boy room + Custom Closet projects we decided it would be a good idea to add one more tiny little thing to our plate - the remodel of our downstairs guest bath.

Just writing that I realize how insane that makes us sound, and to be honest I think we did stretch ourselves a bit too far, I mean we literally set our Christmas Dinner table (for 20+ plus guests) on CHRISTMAS DAY! Nothing like the last minute...OY! But there was a method to the madness, so let me explain...In 2017 I designed the bath display for the Luxury Living Show at Phipps Plaza. You all may remember me mentioning it...

Photo via AH&L Magazine.

After the show the displays were disassembled and all cabinets came back to Bell Cabinetry & Design (company I work for). For months the cabinets sat in the warehouse until it occurred to me that I could use them. We have 4.5 bathrooms in our house and I knew Croix's Bath Remodel  was on the horizon and who couldn't use another vanity + giant pink towers? So, Brent and I went and picked them up. Once we got them home we stored them in the space between our kitchen and dining room - the space we had dubbed our future home office. As we have worked to re-do and organize various spaces in our house, this area, the "future home office" area, has become the dumping ground for all the things. Every home has a space like this, problem was, this space is wide open to the rest of the house. There are no doors to block or hide what we have going on in here and worst of all, if you should come visit and enter through the front door, you have to walk past this monstrosity to get to the other areas of our home.

Exhibit A:

If you've been following along you know we re-did Croix's Bath earlier in the year so that got one of the 61" vanities out of the space, but we still had a lot of other items in here including another vanity + giant pink doors and shelves (the actual towers were still back at Bell). It was driving me nuts and knowing that we would have people around for the holidays + the fact that I would be at home for maternity leave first of the year I really wanted to get this space cleaned up and cleaned out which meant re-doing Guest Bath. Let me introduce you to this space...

Much like Croix's bath upstairs, there was nothing wrong with this bathroom. Everything worked properly, but there were two points I hoped to correct by re-doing the space. 1. I wanted to make the bathroom more efficient. Our home was built in the 1920's and before the big addition that was done in 2007 (before we owned the house) this bathroom was the master. So, it came with two vanities.

Two vanities is a plus in a master or a shared bath, but for a Guest Bath it was unnecessary and when you have two 8 foot towers that could take up that space and provide a TON of storage it just made sense to shake things up. And 2....I just wanted to make the space more "us"...you know, freshen it up a bit visually. There was way too much brown going on in here...

So, the plan was to remove both vanity cabinets/countertops/fixtures, the floor tile and the shower tile. A vanity would go back in front of the tub/shower but the vanity beside the toilet would go away forever. The plumbing would be capped and this would be the future location of the linen towers. The tub and toilet would stay, but all other elements would be removed.

The only way we could swing this was to hire out the labor this time around. At this point in my pregnancy and in our lives we couldn't tackle this DIY style. A project that would take us months to finish up could be completed by a professional in a weeks time, so we decided to give the whole hire a professional thing a whirl for this project. Obviously this is a more expensive route than DIY'ing the project so the name of the game was to keep costs to a minimum with the material selections to balance things out. I also had to make decisions quickly which doesn't come naturally for me in my own home for some annoying reason, but I did it and we are very happy with the end results both visually and monetarily. Here is a shot of our living mood board for the space:

The project wrapped in about a weeks time and while I'm currently nailing down some final details with art, etc...the bathroom is totally usable (already been used by several guests!) and the linen towers are full stocked and organized. It's a happy space and I'm excited to show you the AFTER soon.

PS - If you follow me on Instagram you've seen some of the after shots of this space in my stories and on my feed, follow along for the inside scoop on some of these projects before they hit the blog... _CourtneyShearer

Unless otherwise noted, all photos are my own. 

Cabinetry & Trim - Croix's Bath Part 4

Well folks, we have a LOT of catching up to do.

Let's start with the fact that we have cabinetry, trim and a mirror! 

You know, like REAL LIFE WORKING BATHROOM Essentials! woo!!

Shortly after my last post, we got the vanity set and boy did that make such a difference! Our cabinetry is, of course, from Bell Cabinetry & Design (the company I work for) and was designed by me for our Luxury Living Show Bath last year. It's 61" long with the sink base centered and 3-drawer bank cabinets, left and right. 

Wellllll, I guess I should say what looks like a 3-drawer cabinet on the right side. It's actually a pullout with adjustable shelves, just tricked out to look like drawers. Lucky Croix, I wonder what kinds of treasures he will store in there. :)

The cabinet color is Bruton White, CW-710 by Benjamin Moore in a satin finish, the interiors are stained walnut and the hardware is polished nickel from Top Knobs. 

Next up, we got busy getting the mirror installed. When I had originally designed the bath display for this cabinetry to sit in (the one that sat at Phipps Plaza), I had also designed a walnut mirror frame in the same finish as the inside of the cabinetry. Somewhere along the way the mirror was lost, but I still wanted that look, so we decided to try our hand at making our own. We headed to Home Depot and picked up some pine, a wood that is much cheaper than walnut, but we knew could be stained to look very similar. We also bought a plate glass mirror (also from Home Depot) in the size we were looking for - 36" x 48". 

Once home, Brent attached the mirror to the wall. He used clips that came with the mirror + Liquid Nails. Next, he used his miter saw to cut the wood to create a mirror frame. He used wood glue to hold the pieces together. After the glue dried, I sanded the frame down and it was ready for staining.

I applied one coat of stain - Varathane's Dark Walnut, but some of the areas where the wood glue had been didn't take the stain very well, so we sanded those areas again, added a little more stain and the frame was good to go!

Brent removed the little clips that were stabilizing the mirror and then used his nail gun to attach the mirror frame round the mirror.

And BOOM.....INSTANT HAPPY!

Once the mirror was set, we were ready to focus on the trim. I knew early on I wanted the trim to be something unique and cool, but was unsure of the exact direction at first. As the bath began to take shape a concept occurred to me... WOODEN BALLS! To be honest, I've been mildly obsessed with them for about a year now and have incorporated them into several of my designs, but I'd never seen wooden balls used in a trim application, and I thought it could be a fun way to add some depth, texture and fun to the space. 

We started by picking up 2" wide strips from Home Depot and I ordered 1" half round balls from here. Next, Brent cut the wooden strips and I used Liquid Nails to glue the balls to the strip. We planned for a staggered look, so before gluing, we pre-marked the boards so we could easily get the balls securely in place. While we waited for the glue to dry we got the baseboards installed. We went with a 6" high square baseboard. We pre-measured/marked the walls so the 2" strips would be mounted 9" apart on center.

Once the glue was dry Brent used his nail gun and a level to get the strips up on the wall.

My excitement grew with each strip that was installed. I could tell almost instantly I was going to love the outcome. 

We got as many installed as we could, but because we didn't have countertops in we couldn't finish the section behind the vanity, so as you can see from the photo above I started painting because I just couldn't wait and OH MY GOSH!!!!!!!

What do you think?! Pretty happy, right?

Annnnnd, this is where I'm going to leave you hanging. Countertops came next and they deserve a post all their own. Until next time....

All photos are my own. 

Bell Cabinetry & Design's New Showroom Sneak Peek

Holy radio silence my people, I'm sorry for the drought over here in blog land but I have been busy with a capital B. Last spring I mentioned that I was heading up the opening of Bell Cabinetry & Design's Buckhead showroom. Since that time I have been working with my team to bring our 3000 square foot space to life.

Over the past few weeks we really stepped on the gas and focused on getting this space finished! Last week we stripped the paper covering off the windows and had a photo shoot with Atlanta Homes & Lifestyle Magazine for their August issue! You will get the chance to see some full shots of the showroom then, but in the meantime I thought I would give you a little sneak peek of the finished product.

Cabinetry can be technical, overwhelming and scary to some but we wanted to create a space that showcases our various cabinetry construction offerings in a way that is relatable and inspiring.

The opportunity to be creative and focus on the custom capabilities of Bell Cabinetry was really fun. Anyone can design a cabinet, but it's fun to think outside of the generic cabinet box and focus on details and elements that truly make a space unique and personal. 

Inspiration was pulled from anywhere and everywhere and it was like Christmas Morning time and time again as all of the little details began to come to life before our eyes. From hardware placement to cabinetry colors, no element or selection was left to chance. 

The Design Studio:

...where all of the magic will happen. 

Our cabinetry is always made even more beautiful thanks to it's surroundings and in this showroom we are excited to have worked with and showcase some of the best in town. Sub-Zero Wolf Appliances, Countertops from Neolith & Construction Resources, Tile from Renaissance Tile & Bath and plumbing from PDI. 

To say this process has been long is an understatement.  It has been  A LOT y'all. From finding the perfect studio location and space planning every square inch to designing, sourcing and styling the various vignettes the journey been equal parts exhausting and exhilarating.

Every last detail has been considered, re-considered, analyzed and talked through no short of 1000 times. There is literally a why behind all the things, big or small. And while I'm a believer that it is that level of heart and consideration that makes any space, home or room go from good to great, the process of getting there on any type of time-line or budget is not easy. The seemingly simple act of pouring your heart and soul into anything can be emotionally and creatively draining, but once you wade through the challenges the end results are so sweet and rewarding. We are located in ADAC West, so come say hi and let's design some cabinetry!

All photos are my own.