Small but Spa-Like

My journey in blog land started with the posting of my Master Bathroom on Rate My Space web-site two years ago.

 I met a community of people that were like- minded in their love of all things related to design. I was invited by a couple of people to come and look at their blogs. Blog??!!! What the heck is a Blog?

 Well, you all know what happened next. A whole new world was opened to me. I had no idea that there were so many wonderful people writing about their design experiences and observations.

I was immediately hooked. I kept looking at more and more blogs and quickly realized they fell into categories. I sorted through them and found so many favorites that I liked to visit on a daily basis.

 I also was fortunate to be able to join in a couple of chat rooms and meet the most amazing lovely people and have developed blogging friendships. Many of these wonderful new friends encouraged me to write a blog. Of course I said,” No Way!!”

 I thought about it long and hard for over a year or more before I jumped in.

 I must say now I am so glad that I jumped. Blogging has been nothing but a positive experience for me. It is creative outlet that I did not even realize I needed at the time.

 So, my blogging friends that leads me to the present. I realized that I did my 100th post on Monday so in memory of where it all began I thought I would do a post on my, Small but Spa-like Bath!!

Here is the picture that started it all. It was actually featured on the HGTV website and used in one of their commercials that they posted.  It was a pretty fun experience for me since I had never done anything like this before.

I love the ocean so I knew I wanted ocean colors in my master bath. This room is 6ft wide by 10ft deep.That is why I called it Small, but Spa-like. The sink area is divided by a small wall and a pocket door for privacy.

The original design for the sink area had Thasos pure white marble. When the top came it had some discoloration so it was sent back and I compromised with white tile.

The white tile is handmade tile so it has more depth to it than some white tile. It is by Summer House, purchased at Expo, when they were still in business.

 The blue-green mosaic back wall tile is by Sicis Iridescent in the color Fern#3. When the lights are on , it shimmers with an iridescent quality. I knew I wanted this to be a focal wall and this was the perfect wall to do the entire wall.

I saved over $100 by not tiling behind the mirror. The vessel sink was chosen for it’s color. I love it but in hind-sight I might have chosen a white porcelain bowl instead

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I chose a rectangle frameless mirror. Since I had a round bowl and everything else was either square or rectangle I chose oval backed sconces in brushed nickel.

 This decision was made because right next to the entry to the sink area is my armoire which has a powder finish on brushed nickel. I love shiny nickel and wish I had chosen that.

You know what they say hind-sight is always twenty-twenty. I was careful to choose sconces that did not project out to far. They needed to feel as if they were a part of the whole back wall.

This picture shows my armoire and the pulls. I ordered extra pulls when I ordered my bedroom set from Ethan Allen and used them on the vanity.

 I designed the vanity with three components from Thomasville at Home Depot. The finish was so close to the armoire. I projected the middle section and angled the sides for interest. I have radiant heat flooring which is heavenly in the winter.

 The floor tile is porcelain and it looks very much like travertine but without the maintenance. It is  a very beach sand color with a soft  alabaster grout.

As you go through the pocket door you see the focal wall in my shower. I designed the back wall to be almost like a picture frame.

 I did not realize how much math skills would come into play in designing the back wall. I worked very closely with my tile man and this is how it came out………

I love everything about my shower. The shower head is incredible and puts out just the right amount of water to be soothing. I have two cut-outs on the side walls. Both have the mosaic tile backs.

 I actually got together all my shampoos and beauty products and measured them to figure out the size of the cut-out.

 I also have a bench and to figure out it’s dimensions I sat down and measured my toosh. Yes, you heard right I measured how much space I needed to sit!(I will never disclose this measurement!) I also put my foot up to see what would be a comfortable level  to shave my legs. I hope this is not TMI!

I wrapped this very small room with a tile wainscoting  in order to keep the eye flowing and to make it seem a bit larger. Here is a small corner of what it looks like……………

I learned a very expensive lesson about the clear glass shower door. Did you know that clear does not mean without color?

All glass has a green tint to it unless they take out what makes it have color.  When I placed my order I asked for clear glass and when it came in it was GREEN!

 Yikes! The company said I should have ordered the Diamond series to get colorless glass. I was not told of that option at the time. Long story short I  had to order Diamond series glass to get the clear without color.

 I now have a beautiful green custom cut shower door in my garage. Like I said it was a very expensive lesson. I had to have it custom cut because of the shower bench.

 The attached wall is 1/2 thick and the door is 3/8 thick. I also made it taller in order to not cut the tile frame work with the top of the door. Hard lesson but I do love the end result of my master bath.

Now you know the in and out’s of my Small but Spa-like master bath. I hope you have enjoyed the tour!

Thank you to all of my loyal readers for your constant support and your wonderful comments. It still is amazing to me that anyone is out their reading what I write. You all are the best community of clever and creative people around!!

“Enjoy the Process” Of:

 Blogging and meeting new creative people.

Kathysue