Luckily, the existing tiles were relatively large, so they popped off without too much struggle. Scott went in with the new sand-colored tile, Clé tile pantry pavers, in a “fairly simple” tile design in a simple brick pattern. He previously used the same pavers in his kitchen, and had loved the way it looked.
Step 5: Painting the vanity
Because the vanity area of the room is so small, it took Scott a while to find the right one. The existing bathroom vanity was just a kitchen cabinet with a countertop and sink on it, and clearly it had to go. While he knew he had about 30 inches of space to work with, the majority of vanities are 24 or 36 inches wide. Luckily, Scott found one on Offer Up for about $200 that had a marble countertop, sink, and a little back detail. Initially he thought painting it Tiffany blue would look great with the taupe walls. “But when I brought it in there, it felt like it was for like a little kid,” he says. Instead, he chose to swap in a rich burgundy red color, which ended up being much more “impactful” and mature looking.
The price for the vanity’s hardware, like the $350 unlacquered brass faucet, was more than the cost of the vanity itself. “But it really makes it,” says Scott, who felt the hardware didn’t shine until he painted the vanity burgundy. “It really made it stand out, which I love.”
Step 6: Installing new lighting, toilet, and fixtures
Looking to find bargains to balance out his splurges, Scott relied on a mix of high-low items for the bathroom’s lighting.
“One of the sconces was a huge splurge,” he says, referring to the Panoplie scalloped glass sconce. “That’s more prominent.” He paired it with a cheaper ceiling light “that was like $25 from Amazon.”
Scott installed a new Kohler toilet, and purchased a brass bathroom faucet spotted on Etsy for the vanity. For the shower, he bought a solid brass floor drain and a vintage brass built-in shower wall system, also from Etsy. After some Googling to research the process, he chose to do a “DIY patina” by oxidizing all of the brass hardware himself to give it a more weathered look. He placed the brass fixtures in an old plastic storage tub lined with vinegar and salt. He closed the tub, and came by once an hour to see the tarnish get darker.