It is so gratifying to see readers finishing their projects and to hear that the blog helped. I have to say, Graham and Monika still are cuter than their bathroom, and that’s sayin’ a lot because this bathroom rocks! Graham writes:
Hi Pam,
I just wanted to thank you for all your hard work in creating and running this website. We recently remodelled our bathroom and your ideas and suggestions for everything from fixtures to tile to accent pieces really came in handy. In fact, a majority of the items that make up our bathroom were items found in links on Retro Renovation. For example, we used Dal Tile Terrazo floor tile, our wall tile is custom 1″ X 6″s made by B/W Tile, we went with a Villager tub, a Cimarron Toilet, and we went with the Mississippi fixtures for our sink and tub. So as you can see the we really utilized a lot of the information on your website.
Fabulous bathroom! So I ask Graham for more information. He writes:
The details of the bathroom are this, yes that is Caesarstone countertop, the lighting above the tub is from Rejuvenation, the wall heater is a Cadet (which, if I had to do it all over I wouldn’t have done the wall heater, it’s a cheap knock off of how they used to be), the paint is from Dunn-Edwards, the sink is a Kohler Tahoe Undermount, the stainless steel cabinet is from Ikea, and we have a friend who is a carpenter that specializes in cabinetry who did our vanity and the wood spacer between the wall and vub. The spacer is all teak and the vanity is teak veneer.
He is an amazing carpenter, he veers towards Mid Century design in his work and also does custom furniture (he did the teak top for the credenza on my flickr page). He does incredible work and I can’t say enough about him, so if any of your readers in the Southern California area (he lives in Long Beach as do I) need any wood work done I can give you his contact info….he’s super easy to work with, has great sense of design, and he can always use the work : ) His name is Armbay Zacharia and his email address is Apsua1@hotmail.com.
I have some before pics that I will send you them tonight. The reason we went with the 1″ X 6″s in the pattern we did is that we saw this pattern done in 2″ X 8″s in a bathroom at a Hof’s Hut (it’s a local cafe restaurant) here in Long Beach (pic is attached). We got samples of the 2″ X 8″ but thought it was way too big for our bathroom to work so we sized down and thought the 1″ X 6″ were much more proportional. We recently went back to the Hof’s Hut and we surprised at how much better we liked our tile than the tile we got the inspiration from and we think the size is the major reason. We were gonna do subway tile in that same color for the walls, but then we saw that pattern and loved how different and interesting it was. After we decided on that we thought the 4X4 for the floor would be too much of the same color so we went with the (the Daltile) terrazzo (tile). We had 6 months to figure out all the design so it was a work in progress that was constantly changing. As you can tell by the length of my responses I love talking about this stuff : )
I have attached the before pics, they’re not very good as they actually show the parts of the bathroom we liked. They remodeled the rest with really cheap tile, vanity and toilet so we decided to just do the whole thing….sorry pink bathroom.
Also, for the floor we used the Dal Tile micro tile, we got samples of the regular terrazzo but the stone pieces in the tile were too large for our taste and the micro terrazzo was perfect. We used the colorway Full Moon..We don’t really have a very interesting story of the our Condo, but here it is. We were living in a one bedroom bungalow that we really liked and the when the housing market hit the dumps and we decided it was time to buy, all the while I was buying Danish Modern furniture for the day we found a spot. We have a friend who is a realtor and he knows what style we like and he was able to find us our place relatively quickly. We’re both very picky, but the second we stepped foot into our place we knew we loved it. The floor to ceiling windows, the hardwood, the location, it’s perfect and we knew this was the place for us..Once we got it we worked on it like crazy. We painted every room including the ceilings, replaced the glass blocks windows in both room with larger aluminum casement windows, blinds, pleated curtains for the F/C windows, switched out the lighting, added fans for the bedrooms, the works..A few months down the road our bathroom flooded due to the upstairs unit, but it was blessing in disguise as we were able to use the insurance money towards our remodel, that along with the first time home buyers tax credit is the how the remodel came about. It’s been a crazy year, but so rewarding. I’ve always been a homebody, but owning a place I absolutely love makes it that much worse..Also, my girlfriend Monika helped a ton in working on the bathroom. Every detail of the bathroom was either proposed by her or ran by her for approval. She has an incredible eye for design..Hope I gave you all you need. And once again thanks for all you do, your website was a great asset to me, and I’m sure to tons of other people as well, I bet most just don’t realize the time and effort involved and forget to take the time to say thanks : )Graham
Many thanks, Graham, for sharing, and for your kind words. The bathroom is fantastic. 🙂
Readers, do you want to get this look. Here are the Retro Renovation posts about the products and sources that Graham and Monika used to pull together their bathroom:
- Tiles from B&W
- Mississippi bathroom lavatory faucets. Note, shower set also available $$:
- Daltile terrazzo floor tiles
- Kohler Tahoe sink
- Rejuvenation Nimbus lighting
Note: Links to Amazon are affiliate links – I earn a wee commission if ya click and buy.
jkaye says
Thanks for the explanation — I see that’s a window now. I thought it was a mirror. The special cat box design is so clever and functional. Your carpenter is one creative craftsman.
Graham says
To Jkaye,
The reason one part of the vanity is lower is to accommodate the existing window, which we wanted to keep intact (we also liked how it broke up design). Secondly, the reason the handle is on the bottom of the shelf is we have two cats and that area of the vanity accommodates the kitty litter box. The door is a sliding door that can be slid up into the body of the vanity or pulled down to cover the litter box when we have guests and want to mask the smell. Really a cool design that our carpenter suggested and made happen.
Graham
TappanTrailerTami says
Gorgeous bathroom Graham, and I *love* your pre-emptive pink bathroom demolition explanation – you know the RR crowd well 🙂
Congrats and enjoy – mission definitely accomplished!
jkaye says
Stunning. Why is one part of the vanity lower? Why is the handle at the bottom of the door on the lower part?
bepsf says
Gorgeous tilework & a beautiful bath – Congrats!
Frank says
Great job, and I love Hof’s Hut. espeically the original one in Garden Grove. They have the best ice cream sundays.
Sabrina says
Really, really lovely! I love it all, the tile setting especially!
carole says
Love that green tile and that vanity!
Gotta love Rejuvenation too. 😉
Marcela says
You got yourself an incredible looking bathroom!
Graham says
Wow, thanks everyone for all the kind words. Pam, the only part of the actual construction we did was I refinished the door. Everything else was done by the contractor and his guys. The tile guy he has is incredible, truly an artist. I don’t really think he knew how large of job he was taking on. We were very lucky to use the contractor that we did, he’s a great guy to work with especially in the difficult world of contractors. If anybody in the Southern California is looking for a contractor contact me and I can give you his info…
Graham
Mark Beaton says
Hi –
Awesome remodel. Could you forward your carpenter’s contact info?
Armbay Zacharia
I tried the email provided but was unsucessful contacting him.
Thanks
Best regards
Mark