Well, the time has come for the guest bathroom to finally show herself!  This is one of those posts that doesn’t need too many words because the focus should really be on the photos themselves.  The only problem here is that these images are not all that I expected them to be.

You see, I have been studying Joanna Gaines new book- specifically, her chapter on bathrooms and I was pretty convinced that because our bathroom looks really nice to us, it would lend itself easily to being photographed.  The truth is that I have a habit of seeing someone else do something well and immediately assuming that if I try hard enough, I can do the same.  I will never forget the first time that this problematic trait of mine showed itself.

I was about 7-years-old and had seen a Sports Illustrated for Kids special on TV one Sunday morning.  It just so happened that I had a big soccer game coming up later that day and on the special, they broke down exactly how to head a soccer ball.  It was something that I had never actually attempted but had seen some of the other (more skilled) soccer playing 2nd graders do.  The kids on TV made it look SO easy.

Have you seen Joanna Gaines’ new book?  It all looks effortless- the styling, the photographs, the lighting, the perfectly positioned plants- how hard could it be?

So picture me with a wholeeeee lot of confidence standing in front of my own goal with one BIG plan to show everyone just how fancy I could be.  No, I had never practiced this heading skill, but yes, I was 100% sure I had this one in the bag.

I guess it’s safe to say that my 7-year-old self didn’t learn a lesson that day because I brought the same confidence that I had on the soccer field then into our small, windowless bathroom yesterday, regardless of my lack of experience, and guess what?  It didn’t turn out quite like I had planned.  I’m going to keep practicing taking interior pictures and editing my images (I purchased a Photoshop subscription a couple of months ago and am carefully trying to find that perfect balance between some light touch-up editing and that ever tempting make-it-all-shine, over-the-top editing that I secretly want to use on every single picture!)  So please, bear with me with these photos as I try my best to figure out how exactly to showcase the work we are doing in a way that is enjoyable for you to look at.

Oh, and if you are wondering how that soccer game turned out, it was pretty similar to the photographs below.  Despite my veryyyyy best intentions, things didn’t go quite as planned- in fact, they went the opposite of what I had planned.  The ball did make contact with my head, but instead of heading right back in the direction it came from as I was carefully visualizing, it went directly behind me and straight into the goal that I was supposed to be defending.  I looked like whatever the opposite of fancy is and I wasn’t the hero I expected to be for my teammates (but I was quite popular with the other team.)  You win some, you lose some.

That said, I hope you enjoy the photos of the finished product below and if you don’t, you should totally check out the bathrooms in Joanna’s new book, Homebody, because those babies are GOOD!  (I bet her soccer skills are on point too.)

Here is the view from the hallway looking into the bathroom.  (Can you tell I took these pictures at night?  No, I didn’t think so. ) The walls look a little greenish in this picture, but they are actually a nice warm grey color.

Moving in a little closer here and giving you a peek at that shower tiling.  Although it’s hard (for me) to photograph, the room has a nice bright light with built-in fan in the shower and a sconce next to the mirror above the vanity.  We are mostly full-lighting people, especially after living in this house with minimal lighting for a couple of years, but we also love having the option to use only a little bit of light, especially first thing in the morning or in the middle of the night.

I only chose to include this picture because I love when you can see under a piece of furniture and the fact that our vanity allows us to do that makes me really happy.

We knew we wanted a round sink and usually prefer drop-in basins to the bowl style basins that sit on top of the vanity.  We got really lucky and found this one at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore a few miles from our house.  It was unused and we got it for a great price.  If you haven’t ever shopped at a Restore before, I highly suggest you check them out!  They are so fun and the proceeds from their sales go toward amazing projects!  We found a faucet that we liked at Lowes and we love the way the two look together.

We also knew we wanted a big round mirror, but couldn’t find one reasonably priced anywhere.  There were a few good deals in different colors, but we really wanted black.  It seemed like something that shouldn’t have been too hard to find, but for some reason it really was!  This one was purchased at Target and then Ronan spray painted the frame of it black.  We are happy with the finished product, but wish it wasn’t such a tough item to track down for a reasonable price.

This photo could use some lighting help, but we are loving having a nice clean, bright, cozy place to shower and bathe.  Of course, we do miss that tiny window in our old shower.

Last, but not least, is this little shelving unit we put in next to the shower.  See how you can’t really see any shadows in the towel and it looks kind of like a marshmallow?  I believe that is an indication that I got a little too Photoshop-happy.  Don’t ask me how to fix it…just know that I do not support this level of editing.  It also should be noted that we don’t even use cotton balls and I just got them and put them in a jar because Joanna did it and it looked like a good idea to me.  So, now that we have a whole jar of them, can someone tell me what we should use them for?  They seem kind of wasteful…

Time to move on

We hope that you enjoyed what we did in what you saw in everything that happened in the bathroom!  If you really enjoyed it, you will be happy to hear that we still have the master bathroom and a small half bathroom to create!

We feel guilty that we made all of the decisions on this bathroom without asking our blog readers to vote on anything and we intend to change that moving forward.  We have gotten a lot of feedback from people letting us know that they really like having a say in what we do and we think that is what makes us a little different from most other renovation blogs.  So, please get ready to help us make some more design decisions in the near future.  Think paint colors, light fixtures, and so many other choices that make up this crazy renovation process. Ahhh!

Thanks for being here and cheering us on!  Now it’s time to get back to work : )