Shore Files: Mod Beach Bathroom Cheat Sheet

Ok, so a tiny bit delayed but as complete as I can make it, below a source list for the shore bathroom. If you are just joining, read part 1 and 2 of the bathroom remodel. I did my best to look up prices and links but in some cases I just estimated.

• Wall Tile: 9x12 Bonda Glossy White Ceramic purchased from Classic Tile at $3.50/sq ft
• Floor Tile: 12x24 EdiMax Space Spaz Porcelain Tile from Classic Tile at $5.75/sq ft
• Accent Tile: Jeffrey Court Silver Tradition Mini Brick (a mix of clear glass, frosted glass, gray glass, white marble and dark blue stone). Home Depot carries this and it ended up costing $4/linear foot for the 4 rows we used.
• Trim Tile: Carrera Marble "Pencil" from Classic Tile. Don't remember the exact price but its about $10/linear foot. (I later saw these at Home Depot as well.)
• Wall Color: Zinc by Martha Stewart from Home Depot
• Ceiling Light: 10 arm Sputnik purchased on ebay from a seller named lamparts for $135
• Vanity: Hutton Powder Room Washstand from Restoration Hardware
• Medicine Cabinet: Framed Wall Mount from Restoration Hardware. They also sell it for full price online but we snagged at their Virginia outlet store for half price.
• Faucets: Tub and Sink both from Kohler's Bancroft line purchased online with coupon code but I don't remember the site.
• Fixtures: Towel Bar, Shelf and TP holder all from Restoration Hardware Outlet. Don't remember the specific prices or style names but they were discounted 50% at the outlet.
• Art: Reproduction I ordered online from Ocean's Bridge for $285.
• Bottles: Blue, green and white bottles sitting on top of the medicine cabinet are from Ikea for $8.

As I mentioned in the first post, we did not do the work ourselves. We found a contractor who was able to do it in his spare time. Since we don't live here it was pretty easy to have the bathroom out of commission for a few months in the winter while he got around to finishing it up. It took longer this way but we were okay with that.

Hope that answers all of the questions you had in this space. Maybe in a year or two, I'll be just as excited to share a redone shore kitchen but I wouldn't hold my breath for that one!

Shore Files: Mod Beach Bathroom Reveal

If you missed yesterdays post about the shore bathroom renovation, go read it now for the full scoop. Otherwise, read on for the finale.

So last I left off we were just about done but had a few more key pieces to add. The most important piece from a design point of view was the light fixture: a spunik multi arm get up. Once I had decided to use this fixture, the rest fell into place for me mentally. Its glamourous and vintage and modern and beautiful all that the same time. At least thats how I think of it.

And then the vanity. I think its fair to say I looked at every available vanity on earth before deciding. I think we could have saved some money on this if we had gotten it made by a woodworking shop but we were running out of time and I couldn't find any solid recommendations for one so we just bite the bullet and ordered.

The medicine cabinet is also Restoration Hardware but we managed to find it at the outlet so we saved a big chunk on it. Hooray. (We also scored all the little bits and pieces like the towel rod, tp holder, shelf, etc from RH on sale at the outlet.)

And then I had one more thing to add that was also a big element to my mental picture - art. I originally wanted a print of this R Kenton Nelson painting, Swim Party, for ages (you might remember it from Diane Keatons character's bedroom in Somethings Gotta Give) . Unsigned prints proved impossible to find (signed prints go for $2k each. Holy Moly!) I looked forever for a suitable alternative and came up empty. So when I found a site that sells reproductions I was all over it. Of course, I'd prefer the real thing but that was not in the cards.

With the all the pieces in place, its time for the big finish. To refresh your memories, here is the before...

and here is the after...

As with any of my projects, its not quite finished. I'd like to get some lacquer boxes for the vanity shelf along with a nicer shower curtain and towels. But all in all, I'm thrilled with how it turned out.

Click here for a source list of materials used in this room.

Shore Files: Mod Beach Bathroom Renovation Part 1

So its time to do the big reveal of the bathroom. (I should warn you I'm breaking this up into two posts because I don't have enough time to write out the full explanation today but I hope you find it worth waiting for!)

Let's start off at the beginning - the before photos. From afar it doesn't look so bad really. Kind of sad and dull but not terrible. But photos have a way of glossing over all that is nasty in person. Like a rusted tub that won't get white no matter what you try. Or craked tiles over an uneven floor. Or shoddy workmanship in general.

But honestly, if it were just those things we would have probably left it alone for another few years. Sure its been a few years since we've wrapped up the reno on the limestone but I wasn't looking forward to having to deal with it again - even in minature. Despite wishes to put it off, we got some indication that there was water leaking from somewhere beneath the tiles. Once we heard that we knew we had to do SOMETHING. We could have ripped around in there looking for the leak and just fix whatever it was but we figured we might as well just do the whole thing the right way now. We also happened upon a contractor who was doing work in the complex already so the stars were aligned I guess.

With that decision made, I had to get thinking about what I wanted it to look like. We wanted to keep the bill down so we left the layout exactly as is. As for the finishes, I struggled a bit at first. I could have went with the obvious choice - beachy cottage. You know the style well - beadboard, pale blues, cottagey woodwork, etc. I was sure I didn't want that (not that there is anything wrong with it, its just not what I wanted) but I didn't want to totally ignore the setting either. So I set out to do a style I'd like to call "Mod Polished Beach" - deeper blues, lots of clean white with a splash of sparkle and grey to punch it up. Here is a sneak peek of my selections but more to come on that.


After I had decided what I wanted, the whole thing was gutted save the toilet (which we just installed ourselves 2 years ago so there was no reason to junk that)


New plumbing and electrical were first to get, natch. And then the other essentials including a new subfloor, sheetrock and tub.


After a brand spanking new window complete with frosted glass (hooray - no more gross blinds in here!) , the floor went down.



Finally it was time for the magic to happen - the wall tiles. I toyed with the idea of having some kind of basketweave pattern on the tub wall but I ended up scrapping it. I luvrve me some basketweave but it wasn't going to work with the concept I had in my head for the room.


I won't lie - I wasn't 100% sure about that decision. I was worried it might look a little flat. But once I saw the tiles in, I felt so much better. It was coming together exactly as I imagined it. Of course, we weren't there yet.


Time to paint!


So close! It was just a matter of adding the fixtures, hardware and lighting before we were at the finish line. But this post is already too long so I'm going to stop here. I promise you'll see how it all turned out along with a source list in my next post.

Our Secret Hideaway

I have to admit, I've been holding out on you. I promise, it wasn't intentional - it just sort of happened.

When I started posting, this blog was just supposed to be about the renovation, restoration and decoration of one dilapidated limestone. (Hence the catchy title!) Much to my surprise, some of you wanted to know a little more about us and what went on behind closed doors. So I added a bit of travel and entertaining to the mix. Instead of it just being about the limestone, its become more of the highlights of our lives (always with an eye on spotting good design of course!). So you'll have to forgive me that I never shared our little bit of peace away from the city - down at the Jersey shore.

Before we had any plans of a huge renovation project in Brooklyn, we purchased a small one bedroom condo near the beach. Sadly, I don't have very good before photos so you'll just have to take my word for it. We loved the location, the complex's pool and the potential but the apartment needed some help. For starters, it stunk like a dirty diaper, the carpets had blood stains, the bathroom had all sorts of nasty yellow and brown surprises. It was kind of a mess.

Here are my only before photos but trust me, it was way worse than these photos let on. We spent our first few days in bio hazard gear with bleachy scrubrushes in tow.




So why am I mentioning it now? Because I need some motivation! We did do a few critical things the first year (like ripping up carpets, painting, etc) and it looks so much better but there is still work to be done. Naturally, we were preoccupied with the limestone renovation for a while so whenever we got the chance to stay, we didn't want to have to tackle a to-do list. But the time has come. The plan is get in gear this season! There are still way quite a few "little" things to do (isn't it always those little things that cause the most trouble?). I figure if I blog about it, I'll have no choice but to get my tasks crossed off or I'll have to hang my head in shame! (Am I the only person who uses their blog this way?)

On top of that, we really do love to relax here and I thought the first unofficial week of summer was the perfect time to invite you all in on our little secret. I'll be sharing what it looks like now, the bathroom renovation and the other projects I'm working on all summer long. And if you're interested, I can share a little more about what the Jersey Shore is like. (No, its not all Snooki poofs and fake tans!) If there is anything you want to see in particular, just ask.

Hope you've had a great Memorial Day weekend!