our new bathroom

I've been putting off sharing photos of our new bathroom because it's not quite done. I imagined a big reveal once the finishing touches went in -- art on the walls, real window treatments, etc. But it's becoming abundantly clear that it's going to be a while yet before everything's perfect, so I thought I'd go ahead and share what we have so far, since we're really actually quite pleased with "not quite done".

New Bathroom Tour

Our new upstairs bathroom is a Jack-and-Jill style bath that features two sinks, a soaking tub, and a walk-in shower. It sounds luxurious -- and it feels that way to us too! -- but it's actually a fairly efficient space that was squeezed along the back of the upstairs, behind the landing and a portion of the second bedroom. Let's start our tour at one end of the bathroom and work our way down its length...

At one end of the bath, adjacent to the door to the second upstairs bedroom, is the walk-in shower. The Mongolian slate is from The Tile Shop. We still have plans to eventually add a glass enclosure, but for now, this works.

We adore our new soaking tub! I saw a photo of it somewhere several years ago and never found anything that I liked better (that we could ever hope to afford). It has a seat and foot well inside that allows you to sit comfortably and soak in water up to your neck. We use an antique Chinese stool to climb in and out. When not in use, the stool fits neatly into a cubby under the counter.

A detail behind the soaking tub. The wooden bowl was a Christmas gift from my sister (sourced from Target), which I've filled with three natural sponges. (Tip: they're much cheaper at a home improvement or paint store than they are at places like Anthropologie or Restoration Hardware.)

A view along the length of the bathroom. We love the wall of windows and the cut-out between the tub and sinks. The original plan was to install glass shelves into the opening, but I actually like the drama of filling the space with a pottery vase full of dried grasses. (But ok, the real reason we nixed the shelves was cost.) Window treatments? Look closely at the blinds and you'll see that they're temporary paper ones. We're still trying to decide what we want to do as a permanent solution.

The Mongolian slate and the high-capacity tub were definitely not "green" moves, but we tried to compensate with a couple other choices in the bathroom. We added bamboo floors (see below) and Paperstone countertops, which are made from recycled paper. The sinks are from Kohler, as are the fixtures, which (like the tub) I fell in love with very early on in this process. After years of squeezing over one tiny sink together, it's a pleasure to have two sinks in our bathroom. That gorgeous soap dish is actually not officially a soap dish, but a porcelain bowl by 16 Hands potter Silvie Granatelli.

This storage area also creates a shallow wall that helps enclose the toilet. There's a cabinet on top, drawers on the bottom, and yes, that's an appliance barn in the middle. With an outlet installed in the back, the appliance barn is a nice way to hide electric toothbrushes, a beard trimmer, and other items that would otherwise clutter up the bathroom.

As I've said (and as you can see), we still have a little work left to do. But we're really pleased with the "bones" of the bathroom, and nine months after we've moved in, we're still feeling utterly pampered and really lucky to get to enjoy this small but sumptuous space everyday.