Maria Killam’s Classic Garden Powder Room; Before & After

When I started planning my bathroom renovations, what I kept in the back of my mind was this presentation by the Co-founder of Waterworks, Barbara Sallick which I posted about five years ago.

Barbara says the best baths happen when you set out to create a total experience. You have to design in the experience, you can’t just buy the perfect bath, you have to create it personally and tastefully.

Laundry room with the adjoining raspberry powder room

Our powder room is located close to the back door of our rancher just past the laundry room (above). When we first bought the house, I remember thinking what a bad location that was, however, I quickly changed my mind after we decided there wasn’t enough room to install a small powder room in the studio located in the backyard.

Now, anytime a client or anyone working in the office needs to use the facilities, it’s a short few steps from the back door, no one has to traipse through the entire house to use the restroom.

Before

The current 80s sink (above) was totally inadequate for hand-washing clothes for example, as this sink also had to function as our laundry sink.

Also, anytime I have cut flowers to put away (which is often), I’m totally in Terreeia’s way if she’s in the kitchen preparing food. However, obviously, the existing sink couldn’t fit even the most basic of vases. It would also be nice if I could fill a watering can or pail while working in the garden.

So this bathroom needed to function as a powder/laundry and garden room.

When I posted about this dilemma three years ago, one of my lovely readers posted a link in the comments to this vanity from the Pottery Barn:

By the way, if you are not someone who reads the comments on this blog, you are missing out on half the post. The comments are always filled with great links and awesome advice that move the conversation forward. I truly love and appreciate all of you, thank you so much!

Pottery Barn Vanity

A farmhouse sink with a gooseneck faucet was definitely the solution for this bathroom.

We had enough space for a square farmhouse sink and 8″ of counter space to go all around the sink.

I’ve always loved the look of penny tile so I had the entire back wall tiled in it.

after (Custom cabinets by Quality Cabinet in North Vancouver)

The vanity has two drawers in a rustic, reclaimed oak finish which is darker than my light wood floors.

Notice that my countertops and backsplash are white. This gives me all kinds of freedom to change the colour of this bathroom anytime I want. The wood stained vanity will not dictate colour changes so there’s nothing wrong with introducing a wood stained vanity in your bathrooms. It will simply add contrast.

I found the distressed, whitewashed mirror from HomeSense.

My favourite decorative item is the swing arm sconces. I love the way the backplates pick up the garden, rustic vibe of this bathroom.

The undertone of the wood finish on my vanity reads taupe. And you can see that the overall read of the stain on this wood plate (below) is also taupe. Which means, I was 95% sure it would coordinate well and when it arrived, I was happy that it most certainly did.

Related post: The Best White Bathrooms

Source

How many times have you stopped yourself from buying something because you’re not sure it will be the right colour? On the 3rd day of my Specify Colour with Confidence workshop, you’ll discover how to shop and specify items on-line.

When you learn the 9 neutral undertones in my system, you’ll be able to add this lucrative service to your design business. Or if you are a colour enthusiast, it’ll give you the confidence to be able to shop for your own home.

The existing colour was a raspberry shade to relate to the raspberry drapes in my living room. But I wanted something different so I started looking for wallpaper. Shopping for my own home takes time, however, because I need to turn over every stone so I haven’t found it yet.

In the meantime, I told my painter to paint it white. But I didn’t like that at all (below). You can see the powder room through three rooms in my house. When you walk into the family room, you look through the kitchen and the laundry room into the powder room, and in one coat of primer, it just disappeared and looked completely unfinished so then I chose a lighter shade of pink.

But the lighter shade of pink was still too close to the old raspberry shade, so a few days before my painter was due to come back and finish the job, I added orange colourant to the gallon to make it more coral:

It’s not a massive tweak from the pink, it’s even more accurate in the close ups so keep scrolling.

I found some flower art in watercolours to relate to my beach girl in the laundry room. As this wall is the focal point of the entire powder room it’s fun to have a grouping of art while I take my time sourcing wallpaper for this room.

Here you can see the penny tile a little clearer.

Brizo Faucet | Pure White Caesarstone Countertop

This is the accurate read of the custom coral shade.

Here’s the before picture again:

Before

After  (Photography by Barry Calhoun Photography)

The first time Terreeia was in the kitchen and I had flowers to put away, wow did it feel like a luxury to be able to arrange them using my fabulous new farmhouse sink!

I’m still waiting for sconces to arrive for my master ensuite, they were back ordered until late October. So then I’ll have Barry back to shoot both of the other bathrooms. Stay tuned for those!

I’ll be in downtown Vancouver this week to lead the first of our five Specify Colour with Confidence events this Fall!

Related posts:

Wood Flooring in the Bathroom, Yay or Nay?

Is your Bath Perfect or Perfectly Nice?

The Best Trim for Bathrooms; NOT Cloud White