Category: Hall Bathroom

Simple Solution: Great Bathroom Lighting

Published on by Our Humble Abode7 Comments

So, this might seem strange.  More than once, we’ve had people ask, “Why is the lighting in your bathroom so great?”  They weren’t referring to the actual lights, rather the quality of light.  Three things are going on to make that happen.

1.  Large mirrors.  Both of the mirrors in our upstairs baths are huge.  The main bath mirror is three feet wide and 4 1/2 feet tall, so it reflects a lot of light.  Our master bathroom mirror is about the same size, filling the wall both in width and height.  Mirrors are your friend, in almost any situation. 

2.  Light colored walls.  This isn’t a must, but again, it helps bounce light around the room. 

3.  Ditch the overhead light fixture which casts harsh shadows.  Opt for sconces on either side of the mirror.  By using sconces, you’re getting equal lighting from both sides, eliminating those harsh shadows.  It doesn’t matter much if you choose a down lit or up lit style.  Ours happen to be down lit, just because the fixtures we chose looked better hanging.  Height matters!  A rule of thumb for hanging pictures is eye level or 60 inches from the floor. 

We have sconces in all three of our bathrooms and all are within five inches of each other.  The main bathroom sconces are 70 inches from the floor to the center of the electrical box.  The master bath are 66 inches from floor to center.  By keeping the fixtures near eye level (even if it is someone who is 6’2″), the lighting is more direct.  This also means you can use a lower watt bulb and pitch the flood light. 

Anyone interested in changing out their bathroom lighting?  Do you have a design problem and would like our help?  Send us an e-mail at ourhumbleabowed@gmail.com.

Glass Container Sale: Part Deux

Published on by Our Humble Abode11 Comments

If you recall, Hobby Lobby had a 50% off sale on all glass items a couple of weeks ago.  On my first trip, I left with a few canning jars, a small apothecary style lidded jar and a tall glass container for spaghetti.  When I returned home, I realized the tall jars would be perfect for our pantry, so I went back to buy 6 more.  Add a few pretty labels and we were done.

Well, in that same trip, I picked up the larger apothecary style jar and another footed, covered container for our main bathroom.  I filled the largest with soap, the medium with cotton balls and the smallest with Q-tips.

This is the bathroom our guests use, so I wanted to keep some often used items out to limit searching.  And I love that everything is white and pretty. 

We haven’t had any visitors since this addition, but I hope it is useful.  If not, I still don’t mind looking at them.  What about you?  What do you do to make your bathroom more guest friendly?

Trim: Main Bathroom

Published on by Our Humble Abode12 Comments

Before we remodeled our main bathroom, it had pink on nearly every surface.  Even the walls were covered in a metallic pink floral wallpaper.

Before the wallpaper removal began, we planned to have 18 inches of white trim at the top of the walls, a shelf below and lilac paint covering most of the walls.  We thought the paper would be easy to remove becuase it was peeling.  With our trim plan in mind, we began tearing down the wall paper.

It turned out to be far more difficult than we initially thought.  After hours of scraping, peeling and subsequently damaging the sheet rock, we had removed about 18 inches from the ceiling down.  And that was on one wall!  Time for plan B; we opted to install sheets of beadboard to cover up the remaining wallpaper.  A few more hours of scraping and we had the top 18 inches of wallpaper removed from the entire bathroom.

Once we had the paper removed from the areas we knew would be visible, we cut our sheets of bead board from 4 foot by 8 foot down to 76 inches, leaving them four feet wide.  Ben used an air nailer to secure the sheets to the wall, going in to the studs.  Then, we covered the bottom of the bead board with baseboard, hiding the unevenly cut ends and gap between the panel and floor.

To build the shelf to display and store items, Ben cut a sheet of 3/4 inch thick MDF into 3.5 inch,  3 inch, and 1.25 inch wide pieces.  Then, Ben nailed the 3.5 inch cut piece to the wall 77 inches from the floor, checking to keep it level.  He added shims in areas because this piece was partially covering up the bead board panels.

Once the trim was secured, the 1.25 inch pieces were added to provide additional support for the shelf.  Keep the tops of the trim flush with one another.  Cut the trim pieces at a 45 degree angle when approaching doors or other vertical trim.  Finally, the 3 inch shelf was installed on top of the trim pieces.

Then, of course, fill, sand, prime and paint.  This can be modified to any height.  If a shelf is added, be sure the height works for the use of the space.  You don’t want to bump into it.

Weekend Painting: Custom Artwork

Published on by Our Humble Abode31 Comments

After spray painting a new magnet board for Vincent, I started creating a painting for our main bathroom.  I looked in our garage and found a 13 inch by 31 inch scrap of 1/2 inch thick MDF.  I really wanted something that was 12 by 36, but it was close enough.  After a quick cleaning, I applied a coat of primer to all sides. 

This is going in our bathroom, and I don’t want the MDF to swell in the humidity.  Priming and painting all sides will seal the MDF, preventing any swelling.

I was inspired by the shadow of leaves the afternoon sun casts on the walls in our house, so I went out to take a picture of our tree. 

After my primer and white paint dried, I began drawing leaves onto my ‘canvas’, using my photo as a guide.  I lightly drew some of the leaves with pencil.  Some areas where the leaves are more clustered together were difficult to recreate, so I took artistic freedom and drew some leaves as I liked.  After 10 minutes or so, I had half of my template complete.

I mixed up a custom ‘greige’ color using a small amount of black, tons of white and some yellow.  Then I started carefully filling everything in.

It was a little time-consuming, taking about one and a half hours, but I actually doing things like this.  Call me crazy, but I’d rather spend an hour or so creating free art than buying something.  Now we have a custom, one of a kind piece of art in our bathroom.

I like the long, rectangular shape and size.  It definitely makes more of a statement than the smaller items that were there before. 

How many of you make your own art?  Whether it’s a painting, drawing or something else.  Do share!  I would love inspiration!!

Take it for Granite

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We recently revealed our new DIY dining table, complete with a dark green-black marble top.  This isn’t the first (or last) piece of marble or granite in our house.  In fact, we have quite a bit in 1 1/4 inch thick slabs and tiles.  I thought I’d give a pictoral view showcasnig the granite and marble we have in our home.

All three of our bathrooms have granite-topped vanities. 

The main bathroom granite is Giallo San Francisco:

Our master bathroom color is Galaxy Black:

The basement bathroom counters are Verde Maritoka:

Part of my office desktop has Carrera marble, while the other areas have Brazilian Cherry.

Each bathtub has a matching granite sill to rest on.  Both the main and master bathrooms have marble tub surrounds, too.

The master bathroom floor is covered in white marble and absolute black granite checkerboard.  The main bathroom has white marble floors in a brick lay pattern.

We decided to install granite and marble as some of our window sills to protect them from moisture.

The kitchen and dining room sills are Silver Spark:

Our master bathroom has Carrera Marble:

The half wall by our stairway has a brown granite topper:

Our love of marble extends to a few pieces of furniture other than our dining table.  Two small side tables in our guest bedroom have marble tile tops.

This little table had a clear glass top, but it was easily replaced by one 12 inch square tile, left over from our bathroom remodel.

Why limit marble to counter tops when you can have a marble table lamp like this:

Just to recap, we have 4 countertops, 3 tables, 6 window and tub sills, 2 shower surrounds, 1 lamp and we haven’t remodeled our kitchen.

Why do we have so much marble and granite you ask?  We love the timeless look, durability and we can get remnant slabs for a great price.  And, it’s almost easier to work with than wood.