One or two things when remodeling a home: My masterbath after

When we started remodeling our home I knew we were not going to live here forever, I also knew what many people know to be reality now a days that the time of the housing boom was over.  Knowing that, my choices on materials and structural changes needed to be more cautious, but I didn't want to sacrifice style or comfort.  So I kept the kitchen and bathrooms as traditional and neutral as possible, something that would appeal to most people, in case one day we decide to sell this house. 
For our master bathroom I mixed "real and steal" materials.  Marble mosaic in calacata gold for the floor, chair rail (to end the tiles that I extended 12" up the wall, below) and the pencil border that frames the walking shower.  The shower walls are in porcelain that looks exactly like calacata gold marble.  It's funny the tile installer didn't know it wasn't marble until he saw the back of it.  I bought the porcelain tiles at Classic Tiles in Brooklyn.  The vanity is custom made. 
The master bathroom is on the small side so I installed a programmable tile warmer, a luxury feature that will compensate for the lack of space.
Anyone who has ever remodeled a home knows that faucets are extremely expensive.  For the shower faucets I simply left out unnecessary things such as volume control handles.  Those things complicate life, really! The main shower handle does the volume control already so why buy an extra one?  I got the big overhead shower at Lowe's and the handheld is a combination of one of those handles that come with the shower I just replaced the hose for one that you can connect separately and got the set of handles with its respective valves at a trade showroom.  After doing all that math and all the search I became more savvy about plumbing and my hubby keeps telling me that I like to complicate my life.  But when he enjoys a shower with more than one water source all hitting his body he gets to understand why I like to complicate my life and why I always choose to go through the less traveled road.  Whatever you think it's possible it's because it is! 

 A shot of the floor and chair rail.

Our sons's bathroom.  We finally got the oval shower curtain rod that was in back order (I don't stand when things are in back order) and replaced the L shaped rod we used for the previous photo shoot. 

Photos (besides the second) by Robert Levi

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Our Master Bath Process Part Deux

One of my favorite type of marble is Calacatta gold marble, yes because of the golden tones in it.  Remember what I said about buying what you like even when you don't know when you'll be using it.  Of course I mean only if it's a deal!  I found this Calacatta gold sink top, above, at a vintage store.  When I found it, it did not look this nice; the poor thing had seen better days.  The opening of the sink was only 8" by 6", it was (dingy and stained) and it was deeper than the size I needed it.  My bathroom is narrow, so this ugly ducky lived alone in the cold in our garage for about a year but he trusted me.  He knew that one day I was going make him look like Cinderella.  So I took him to the marble shop ( I love everything about that place by the way, the smell, the sound, the different stones even the white dust that lies around) So, back to my point, the ugly ducky got lipo-suction in the back and mid-section to fit the space along with a bigger sink and got laser and microdermabration and now he could not be happier!! Anxious to come back home, he's still in the marble hospital waiting to be picked up by her proud mommy.  But the sink legs (more on that below) need to be extended and attached to it, so the poor thing is not done yet.

On the floor we installed a heating mat, something I think is very useful due to how cold stones can get.  For tiles I selected calacatta gold marble in hexagon mosaic (below) with a 1 inch diameter and for the walls I opted for bigger slabs with a chair rail.  I decided to install the slabs in a vertical way because of their length at 7"h x 18"w.  If I were to install them vertically it would only help emphasize the narrowness of the room. 

 

I wanted to use sink legs with more character than the ones normally found in stores so I went to Demolition Depot and I found this rare and elaborate figure bronze legs (below right), a little freaky but very elaborate but for whatever reason they only had one.  I guess there is a one-legged sink somewhere.  Since the heavens had another plan for me,  I walked out of there with a shorter than normal pair of legs (17" H below left, mine is in nickle) are you serious?  I understand they're were reproducing something from the 18th ct. but shouldn't they adapt them to the regular standard size (33"H) of today.  I'm glad I can have them extended!  The legs are very classic French style, below is how they were originally used.  I'm not using them like this though.  I think that style would look great if you're looking for a more country vibe.

Below are the same hexagon marble tiles but in two different directions.  I decided to use the pattern on the right side to be installed on the shower floor and the pattern on the left side to be installed on the main floor to differentiate them a bit.   As you can see they look completely different, the one on the right has some movement in it, like they're going up the walls and the one on the left is more relaxed and balanced.  As you can see my lovely readers, I went for a classic bathroom.  A bathroom I or anyone can live with for a long time without getting tired or annoyed by it.

images taken by BV for BV.

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