Guest Blogger: Lesli from My Old Country House

Hi there! This is Lesli DeVito from My Old Country House Blog…I am pleased as punch to be a Guest Blogger during Erin’s little maternity blogging break…By the way, THANK YOU to those of you who gave of your HEARTS to Erins VIRTUAL BABY SHOWER...and if missed out, you can still stop by and leave Erin and Chris your “GIFTS”

ERIN AND I….LIKE MANY OF YOU…BONDED OVER A COLOR. AQUA. I love COLOR. I LOVE AQUA. I Love it in my Paintings… I love it in my home. AQUA. There is something very comfortable about those BEACHY colors…faded from love…the cast offs that often furnish beach homes, used and faded pieces that have already established themselves…classics…inherently soothing.

When I was contemplating what color to paint our newly renovated master bathroom this past Spring…I hoped that one of these colors would work with our Grey Master Bedroom. One of the colors in particular, “PALLADIAN BLUE”, has been on my radar for a while…and then, when I was in Los Angeles this SPRING, I fell in love with the wall color of A store called…

 
HOLLYWOOD AT HOME, LOS ANGELES CA

I COULD NOT WAIT TO GET HOME AND START PAINTING!!!

I THINK YOU WILL AGREE, THE COLOR WORKS!

New Bathroom..including new ceilings!

When doing any type of Renovation, especially in KITCHENS AND BATHROOMS…. a SURE FIRE way to save BIG BUCKS is to utilize the existing footprint. …moving plumbing is WHEN THE DOLLARS CAN START OT ADD UP! So, In this case, I looked EVERYWHERE to find a High Quality, Good-Looking Corner Shower unit which would line up with our existing shower drain. AND I DID IT!!!! I DID A “HAPPY DANCE” when the drains matched PERFECTLY!!!

I ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY AM IN LOVE WITH OUR SHOWER!!!

Shower- VIGO 47″ X 47″ NEO ANGLE SHOWER from BELLACOR. This is an item worth price shopping for. VIGO makes great products . This “KIT” came complete with everything except the faucets and shower head, and it was a fraction of the cost of buying the base and having glass cut.

SHOWER FAUCET- Listen up. ALL NEWLY INSTALLED showers must be PRESSURE BALANCE ones. But, the pressure balance showers do not work well in Big old Country Houses. In addition, the part that goes inside the wall was fine and did not need to be replaced. What I found out the hard way was that the external hardware for the NEW showers, often does not fit the OLD internal hardware. BUT, I after buying and trying and returning about 5 trim kits, I finally found one!! The MARIELLE BY PFISTER…IT fitS my American Standard internal unit…and I actually did another little happy jig the day I found it!!!!

The SUBWAY tile – from LOWES. gives the shower a Custom appearance and elevates the look.The tile comes in boxes of 100 tiles for around $21 by the individual tile for .22 cents each. AND You can return any tiles you do not use.Even if you just have 5 left! The decorative tiles around the center were a last-minute addition, I ran to Lowes to get some more caulk and these decorative tiles were on sale for 75 cents a piece vs the original $2.75. I thought they would make a nice addition and dress the shower up a bit. I LOVE them.

COLOR PALETTE…

 

 

VANITY – Imagine the happy JIG I did, when I went SHOPPING at my favorite used furniture store CIRCA fIN CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA F or a dresser to have made INTO a Bathroom Vanity and INSTEAD found A DRESSER ALREADY MADE INTO A VANITY!!! All I had to do was paint it, inside…’BENJAMIN MOORE “CORAL GABLES” AND THE EXTERIOR “COVENTRY GRAY”.

KOHLER ARCHER SINK – This sink by Kohler is the largest drop in sink when it comes to coverage of your vanity top. I knew the top would be just the varnished top of the dresser so wanted as much overlap as possible. LOVE THIS SINK! Under $200 at Lowes.

 

KOHLER DEVONSHIRE TOILET- I have said it before and I will say it again, I think it is worth the few extra pennies to buy a snazzier looking toilet. Come on, it is the “Anchor” of the room…and this new Devonshire uses less water, less space and looks pretty to boot! Price shop – we got this one at Lowes for under $300

 

POP OF COLOR: Many people do not realize that you can do a POP of color…ON another color…you just need to be subtle and LESS IS MORE. I found this frame painted this awesome kind of tangerine-peach color…works perfectly with the Palladian blue.

The floor is Hexagon Tile from Home depot…Post here.

I agonized, (sorta sounds stupid now) but I spent hours trying to decide whether to go with Brass or Polished Chrome in the master Bathroom. I finally chose the Chrome. Both are timeless, and both would look great but I just did not think that over time the Brass would keep me as happy as the Chrome does. again…so silly. But it mattered at the time.

MEDICINE CHEST AND TABLE- The medicine chest is from Pottery Barn and the little Demi Table is from our new Homegoods! It was $59 and while I intended to paint it, it looks so nice with the cabinet I am leaving it alone.

 

The Green Scalloped Mirror (pop of color #2, was a $15 Thrift store find that I spray painted Kelly Green. I LOVE this mirror!!!

IN CLOSING…You may or may not have notices that the Bathroom does not have a door….not usually the way things roll in a Bathroom. Did you know Doors use up 7 square feet of room space? It had always bothered me that our bathroom door had to be closed in order to stand at the sink and so WE decided to go with a barn door, which will slide across the wall next to the sink…we just have to hang that durn door and we are done!!!

Thank you for letting me share my THE MASTER BATHROOM!!!

I INVITE YOU VISIT MY OLD COUNTRY HOUSE…!  I WOULD LOVE TO SEE YOU THERE!!

…If you love color as much as I do…you will LOVE the “ROOM FOR COLOR 2013” contest currently on Apartment Therapy…and guess what…My room was selected! The number of “favorites” you get determines if you go to the finals..


http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/leslis-phoebe-holiday-room-194123

If you have a moment “FAVORITE” MY ROOM!!! and Thank you so much!!!