kids' shared bathroom (modern southern bungalow week 1)

The saga finally begins. You’ve heard me talk about this remodel for what seems like 200 hundred years already but now we are really getting somewhere. Maybe. The city took its time issuing our permits because someone over there thought we had plumbing where we didn’t have plumbing and required our builder to dig a 4’ trench across our yard to prove that we didn’t have said plumbing. Tiny hiccups. If you are one of those people who likes things done on a very specific timeline, I’m telling you now, don’t remodel.

The outbuildings were finally demolished and new posts put in, which means that framing is coming soon to a neighborhood near me. In the meantime, it is time to start making some decisions on sexy things like bathroom valves. Wait, what? It turns out, every brand of fixture has different types of valves. If the fixture is plumbed into the wall (shower heads, wall-mounted faucets), the plumbers need the valves early on. This means that we need to pick our faucets and shower heads in order to specify the valve type.

A recent trip to Ferguson felt like a win until we got our price list. One of us (I’m not naming names but it wasn’t me) totally pushed us over budget already with his fancy pants choices. It’s now back to the drawing board on several of our choices for the master bath and the powder room. I will admit to choosing one ridiculously high priced item for which I am now attempting to find an alternative: the sink for the kids’ bathroom.

I’ve had this bathroom pinned since I saw it months ago on Instagram because I loved both the sink and the color of the base cabinet. I’m also a huge fan of the streamlined look of the IKEA Braviken sink and the Godmorgon drawer cabinet. However, there is no way that my husband will ever agree to an IKEA sink in this remodel. (I don’t know about you, but I’m convinced that all couples should be required to shop at IKEA and put together a piece of furniture together as a test of compatibility. IKEA is one of those things that people either love or hate and I suspect could be the biggest reason for “irreconcilable differences”.) On the other side of the price spectrum, is the Hutton sink and vanity from Restoration Hardware. Also a non-starter.

Of course the sink I picked out at Ferguson is more than both the sink in the beloved inspiration photo and the sink set-up from Restoration Hardware. I also discovered when looking at the fine print that the sink I originally loved is actually set into the countertop. This is probably why I like the look so much – deep sink without a high profile – however, it strikes me as a recipe for disaster in the labor bill department. I’ve found a couple of alternatives but am waiting for my fabulous cruise director at Ferguson to come up with her best options before deciding.

Since I’m sure you don’t want to talk sinks all day, let’s move on to the rest of the bathroom, shall we? Over the summer, I was researching what’s new in wall covering options (a.k.a. wasting time on the internet) and discovered this amazing octopus wallpaper:

Image via Wallshoppe.

I mean, are you kidding me? The only question was when can I buy a beach house so that I have a place to put this wallpaper. The kids immediately jumped in on the discussion (because they are like flies to a light when the internet is involved even if it is just looking at wallpaper) and it was decided that the upstairs bathroom would have green George the Octopus wallpaper and green tile floors. Sometimes, you just have to give the client what he or she wants. Who am I to step in the way of green octopus wallpaper simply because I have no beach house?

Let me back up a minute here and say that one of the reasons I had not yet started writing about our remodel despite the fact that we have obviously been in the planning phases for a good while now is that one obviously does not start planning a house with faucets or octopus wallpaper. Listen up, because I’m going to save you a lot of time and money in design classes here: if you want your home to have a cohesive look, you really need to develop an over-arching concept for the house BEFORE you start picking things out. It isn’t enough to just pick out whatever you like when you hit Ferguson. (If any of y’all can work on my husband with this one, I’d sure appreciate it.) For the moment, let’s assume we’ve already tackled that subject and I’ll be back with more on that later. The anticipation is killing you, I can tell.

So armed with the kids’ parameters and my sink dreams (and keeping in mind our overall concept for the house to be discussed in a future post that you can't wait to read), we picked these fantastic items for the kids’ bathroom upstairs:

Head’s up. Some of these links are affiliate links. I stand to be paid probably less than 25 cents each time you buy something through these links. Buying through these links isn’t going to pay for my sink but I sure do appreciate your clicking either way. Shower faucet, similar sink, sink faucets, similar toilet, tub. 

Not super sexy on their own, but how about when you combine them with a few other tidbits?

I'm thinking this is going to be my favorite room in the house. Realistically, we might end up with black and white floors and a green vanity because resale. As you can see from my little mock-up, I’m not yet decided on the vanity situation. More on that later. Mark your calendars. It’s coming whether you want to read it or not.