Almost two years ago, a little cottage home nestled in the woods down a country lane came onto the market. It caught our attention immediately, but it also needed a ton of work – I’m talking probably hadn’t been updated in any way since at least the 80’s. We knew we had our work cut out for us, but we also knew we were up to the challenge.
Since buying this home, we completed a full kitchen renovation, a full butler’s panty & laundry room renovation, updated the downstairs main bathroom (can be seen in this video) and completed a lot of other necessary updates like new septic, siding, and electric, all discussed in this video.
Just recently we completed the renovation of the upstairs bathroom, which is our second of two bathrooms, and our kid’s bathroom. I spent a lot of time deciding how we would reconfigure this space and on the details that would bring it to life, and I must say I am so pleased with how it all came together!
A look at the before…
And after!
Watch the reveal video here!
Design decisions
This bathroom was a tricky space to design for two main reasons: 1) it’s not a large space and 2) it has a sloped ceiling on one side. One of the biggest pain points of this space was the fact that it lacked a shower – it only had a free standing tub (which I love!). But with four growing kids we knew that adding a shower was a non-negotiable.
In order to add a shower enclosure over the tub, we actually had to swap the tub to the opposite wall where we had the ceiling height for it. We switched the sink to the wall with the sloped ceiling, which of course involved reconfiguring the plumbing.
Demo of the bathroom
The project kicked off with removing the old tile floor, as we needed to access the plumbing beneath. My original plan was to use this white penny tile, but when we removed the old tile we discovered the original hardwood floors underneath! Always a delightful surprise, and they were in pretty decent shape. My contractor said as soon as he saw the hardwood he thought “Becca’s going to want to keep these” and yep, he was right!
Renovation
After the plumbing was finished, they patched up the floors and refinished them with this stain in red chestnut – a beautiful rich, red toned wood stain. This stain is the closest match I could find to the stain on the original floors throughout the home, and I just love its rich, warm hue.
Next, our contractor also changed our original door into a pocket door. This was another non-negotiable for me because I knew it would buy a lot more space for us in this bathroom. There was a full wall behind the door that was unusable space because it was always blocked by the door. Not only did this give us more space to work with, it also made the room feel much bigger! We used this unlaquered brass pocket door hardware (that locks!) and I love it.
Next up, we painted the trim in Benjamin Moore’s Mount Saint Anne. It’s such a beautiful muted blue with a hint of green and gives of such a calming vibe. I love how it makes all the original millwork pop! I selected this color as it was a pretty perfect color match to the wallpaper I chose.
Design Details
Speaking of wallpaper…this is easily my favorite part of this project (except for maybe the sink, but we’ll get there!) I wanted some kind of landscape scene that would reflect the area we live in – which has a lot of farmland, rolling hills, and lots of wildlife. This wallpaper has a little whimsy with the frolicking deer & rabbits in the grass, but is not so whimsical that it won’t grow with my kids. I was a little nervous it might feel too busy, but it feels so incredibly serene in this room! Plus wallpaper draws your eye out towards the wall, so it makes this small space feel so much larger.
Okay now we have to talk about my other favorite fixture in here – the trough sink! I’ll be honest, this was a splurge purchase, but in the end I’m so glad we went for it. Not only is it a thing of beauty, it solved two main issues in this bathroom.
First off, with four kids, I knew we would need to maximize sink space. Just imagining four kids trying to brush teeth huddled around one sink in the morning rush was enough to stress me out! Typically the move would be a vanity with a double sink, but a vanity would have stuck out way too far and made this space feel tight. (Also not ideal for four kids jostling through the morning rush!)
This sink is massive at 48” across so plenty of sink space for my kiddos. Plus, it’s wall mounted and completely open underneath, which really helps this room feel much larger than it is. Another huge plus! The sink is from Vintage Tub & Bath, which has been a favorite of mine for antique inspired kitchen & bath fixtures for a long time. We used some of their fixtures when we renovated the farmhouse too!
The gooseneck sink faucets are also from Vintage Tub & Bath, and are in a brushed nickel finish, which has a warm undertone to it. I love this finish paired against the wallpaper & trim paint, plus it goes well with the unlaquered brass elements in the bathroom. We also used this strainer in brushed nickel as well for the sink to match the faucets. Lastly, we added two of these stools so my kids could easily reach the faucets!
Storage solutions
Now you may be wondering, with this wall mounted sink…where’s all the storage?? And I get it, because I though that too. The bathroom originally had these very interesting (lol) very massive set of drawers. Not only were they oversized and hard to organize, they barely opened & closed so were just not functional at all. We removed the old drawers and our contractor custom built smaller drawers to fit their place.
Unlaquered brass drawer pulls can be found here!
We now have plenty of storage capacity for both smaller everyday items (toothbrushes, toothpaste, etc) but also lots of space for towels and linens too. Our contractor did also build a small shelf to mount above the sink so you have a place to place soap bottles, toothbrushes, or anything else you want easily within reach.
Another thing I had to consider is where we would hang towels for all of these kids…since we switched to a pocket door, we no longer had space to hang towels on the back of the door. Also we didn’t really have room for a towel bar anywhere..which is impractical with several kids since it only holds one towel anyway. Remember I said we gained a whole wall of usable space by switching to a pocket door? Well wouldn’t you know it’s a perfect place for hanging towels!
Our contractor made a super simple row of hooks using some trim and installing these brass hooks to it. It’s practical, allows for plenty of towels to hang, and also gives this wall some interest. I love these towels because they have a little loop for hanging – easy for kids to hang them up and also keeps them looking uniform. Above the towel hooks we installed an antique mirror I found on FB marketplace to complete the wall.
The tub & shower
As you now know, getting a shower into this bathroom was a non-negotiable. We briefly looked into adding a tile shower/tub combo, but we just didn’t have the room for it. Plus, I loved the original tub and wanted to keep it anyway. So we landed on adding this shower enclosure and bath faucet from Vintage Tub & Bath in brushed nickel. We also used this drain and these supply lines to complete the look.
I love the old world feel of this setup, as it reminds me of so many of the bathrooms I’ve seen in English cottages either on Pinterest or in design books! Something else I love about this setup is the secret storage. When we removed the old mirror hanging on the wall in the bathroom, we discovered a niche behind it – there must have been a medicine cabinet there at some point along the way. Instead of covering it up, we decided to add some beadboard & trim and use it as a shower niche! Perfect spot to store shampoo, conditioner, soap, etc.
As for the shower curtain, I currently have two of these textured curtains hanging along with two of these liners. I will definitely need to add a third curtain and liner so that the tub is completely surrounded when we use the shower, but since my kids mainly take baths at this point it’s not a rush. But wanted to mention in case anyone is planning on using a shower enclosure and wondering how many curtains to get!
Finishing touches
Next to the sink, we placed an antique standing mirror, which was a FB marketplace find. Since the sink is hung on the wall with the sloped ceiling, it was not possible to hang a mirror above it. I thought a lot about this and was worried it would be awkward, but you really don’t notice it, especially with a mirror right next to the sink.
Above the toilet, I added a couple pieces of vintage art I found at an antique store. They match the color scheme of the wallpaper really well so are such a nice complement to this room!
On either side of the window, I added these scalloped detail scones. They are so sweet and add a bit of a fun, whimsical vibe. They are pretty small sconces, so I actually used these appliance light bulbs since they are small enough to fit. Even though they are small, they give off a nice soft light. They are also incandescent – I know how old school of me – but as much as I try to love LED light bulbs I usually find they are too harsh.
To cover the floor by the tub & sink, I got this washable rug. It’s a William Morris print so gives a node to the English style – and of course, it’s washable. Important for a bathroom!
Not exactly a design feature, but we did also add this exhaust fan above the shower to help keep the humidity in check especially with having wallpapered the walls. It’s pretty low profile as far as vent fans go and it’s not too noticeable.
So there you have it, our kid’s cottage bathroom reveal! Fixing up this home has been such a fun project – I have loved getting to design ever aspect! While this was our last major renovation project in the house, there is still so much I want to do to design the interiors, so stay tuned. And we have barely even touched the outside of the house or property (which also needs a lot of love!) So there are many more projects to come! This post is sponsored in part by Vintage Tub & Bath.
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