When I started out in this challenge, I wanted to give my brother, Neal, and his family a beautiful girls bathroom makeover as a gift.
Catch up on the bathroom progress:
Week 1- Girls bathroom Moodboard
Week 2- Bathroom demolition for beginners
Week 3 – We completed the bathroom renovation
Week 4 – We tiled a bathroom wall!
Neal is a front line health care worker. He interacts with COVID patients. He has been serving our community selflessly for a year. He deserves so much recognition for his hard work and putting his own health at risk.
His wife Asma is 9 months pregnant and has 2 daughters. I wanted to give them a very special gift. When we planned this makeover in December 2020, we thought we would all be vaccinated and COVID would be a memory by the time the challenge rolled around. COVID continued to play a big factor in this renovation as it has in your life. They ended up bearing the grunt of the work, unfortunately.
I can’t believe we made it. It was a sprint to the finish but with me, Asma, Neal and even my mom, we made it. It was a very difficult week – with Asma being 37 weeks pregnant and a potential COVID scare (that turned out negative after anxiously waiting for 3 days). The COVID scare put our whole family for a loop. In Toronto, the vaccine is not widely available (only to elders and healthcare workers). We had to isolate and test. This put us behind our schedule even further.
When I look at the bathroom now, I see that every aspect of this bathroom turned out more difficult, more time consuming, but also – MORE BEAUTIFUL than we imagined!
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Our Vision for the girls bathroom makeover
Our vision for this bathroom was to create a beautiful space for my nieces to grow into. We used neutral tiles and paint to achieve this, with cute pops of pink, floral and cats!
The Tiles
The Jeffery Court tiles were the central element of the makeover. We went with a neutral white and grey palette. My favourite tile is the Dream Hex tile on the wall. However, the hex tile was so time consuming to grout with all 6 edges that we did not account for in our timeline. The Balancing Act floor mosaic was a difficult choice for beginner DIYs like me. I do not have a lot of experience tiling, and broke so many tiles that in the end, we only had 3 tiles left to spare. This would be a better tile for a professional to cut and install. The field tiles are a classic and beautiful choice for the shower. Plus, with minimal grout lines, it’s easy to clean with kids. All 3 work well with different patterns and size because they are in the same colour scheme.
The showstopper green vanity
The Vanity is provided by Culter Kitchen and Bath. The Virdian dark green vanity in the Shades collection is so beautiful and the drawers provide lots of storage for the girls. I also love the pops of gold that flow so well with the lighting and mirror! Plus, with the addition of the drawers, the girls can keep their brushes and accessories well organized.
The floral watercolour peel and stick wallpaper
I am a fan of a bold wallpaper. The wallpaper was sponsored by Spoonflower. Spoonflower has so many beautiful options for wallpaper. It can be overwhelming! I searched for a floral wallpaper within the pink colour family using their advanced search functionality. I found a floral wallpaper in a smaller pattern and given the size of the bathroom, I asked the artist to blow it up so it would flow better. I was nervous asking her because she is an artist, and I would be asking her to modify a piece of art. It is easy to message artists through the mail system. I just clicked on her name and drafted my message within Spoonflower’s platform. Karolina was so gracious in doing this for us. Within a couple of days and a few iterations, she created the perfect wallpaper for this space. I love the peel and stick as it’s forgiving and easy to work with. This floral wallpaper can grow with the girls.
Heated Floors as a bonus!
Imagine stepping on to the icy cold marble floors in the middle of the Canadian winters! It’s one of my most dreaded feelings. Now, imagine having the floor heated! We really wanted my 3 nieces to have the heated floors as my niece always complains about that. These heated floors were custom made by warmly yours. Although Neal managed to install them, it was not an easy task, even for a more experienced DIYer. It was totally worth it, as I know my nieces will love this for years to come.
Finishing touches in the girls bathroom makeover
Caulking in a bathroom is so important to prevent leaks. I know my kids are always splashing water! We DAP Canada caulk to caulk all the edges on the bathtub and the vanity. We played up on the girls love of cats for a whimsical touch.
This renovation challenge was a time where we bonded, argued (as all siblings do) and pushed each other to our abilities. I hope you love it as much as we do! Make sure you vote for us! Follow me on instagram for more budget friendly DIYs!