Master Bath and Sitting Room Renovation!!!!

This blog post is long overdue!  When we bought our house the room we wanted to change the MOST was our master bath.  One thing lead to another and it ended up being one of the last things we updated.  I am glad we waited so we could take our time and do what we wanted and it was truly worth it!  Here are some before pictures.  Let me just say this tub...ugh the tub!  It is literally in the middle of the bathroom and blocks the area to get to the window.  Every single person that comes in has a puzzled look on their face and then asks the same question "What were they thinking when they designed this room?"  Oh and also the tub stopped working about a month after we moved in.

 Here you can see the back of the tub and to open that shade on the window you actually have to step in the tub and out and walk the 5 feet to the window...WTH!!!

 The shower was a little small and obviously outdated.

 The tile was so old and stained...ugh!

On the left you see the linen closet, which we ended up getting rid of, and to the right is the door to our master closet.

When we bought the house the light looked like this.  The middle light did not work and two of the three were without a shade....I mean seriously I can't make this up.

 Since we would be taking the master bathroom down to the studs we decided to go ahead and update the master fireplace on the other side of the wall and add some much needed storage.

 Here is a wider shot of the sitting area of our master.  To the left there are two large closets that we made into shoe closets and to the right is the fireplace.

 Now for demo!

 We moved the door into the bathroom over two feet to the right and made it a pocket door. We rarely close the bathroom door and the old door used to open up and actually hit the toilet.

 Here is the vanity area with new plumbing and electrical roughed in.

 We ended up having to replace all the insulation, some of the floor boards and relocating the toilet, fans and lights.

 I had these adorable french doors made to go into our new "toilet room".

I also had them build small cabinets to store toilet paper and stuff since we got rid of the closet.

We added our shiplapped walls and new moldings throughout entire bathroom.

 Oh and did I mention we still slept in our master with a plastic wall for over a month!

 The thing that gave me the biggest headache was the floor tile.  I picked out two sets of tile and both had issues.  They were either triple the price I was quoted or backordered.  Lucky number three was this beautiful marble basketweave.  I love the small scale and timeless look of the basketweave, but not a fan of the the black center dots most have.  Ryan and I knew this was a home run when we finally found it!

 One splurge was on this beautiful calcutta gold marble fireplace hearth.

 I had a custom wooden mantel made and added shiplap and the built ins.

Another big change was converting it to gas.  We have lived in our house a year and a half and only used the real fireplace once.  We LOVE real wood fires, but still have the fireplace in our living room to make them so this was a practical switch.  

When they finally finished the master bath, the twinkies were the first to break in the new tub!  

 This tub is in the place where the old toilet and part of tub was.

Here is the new toilet room.  MUCH better use of this dormer window space.  Again we have the french doors and added the small toilet paper storage cabinets.

 I am obsessed with this scalloped ceiling mount light we put in there.

We were able to expand the shower, raise the glass wall, add a long marble bench and update all the plumbing. 

I went back and forth over the double niche or two singles stacked and I am happy with the two singles stacked.  It takes up more room, but allows us to keep all our shower stuff in this space and not clutter up the bench.

 Besides picking out the floor tile, I spent the most time on the cabinet design.  I worked with an amazing custom cabinet guy in Charlotte.  He redrew our plans a few times and stuck with me until they were EXACTLY like the vision I had in my head.  The "feet" were Ryan's idea(probably the only thing he chimed in or cared about).

 Now this is the view when you first walk in our bathroom.  It is so light and clean looking!  I pinch myself because it looks exactly like the bathroom we dreamed about!

 There are so many reasons I love these cabinets, but here are just a few.  We are drawer people and I love that we have three sets now!  Removing the linen closet in here was one of the best ideas because it allowed for a lot more counter top space.  I searched for the perfect lights and mirrors that were not a perfect rectangle.  There are so many straight lines with all the tile and shiplap so I wanted something with some curve and movement.  The scalloped shades on the sconces and the curved mirrors are a perfect match for the lines of the shiplapped walls.  I also used different metal finishes.  We have polished nickel plumbing and polished brass hardware and lights.  Some people prefer to have everything in the same finish, but I think it is more interesting when it isn't the same.  I picked a hexagon knob for the cabinets and the pulls are also hexagon.  And then we went with a pale grey for the cabinet color and a solid white quartz top.

Last, but not least inside all the cabinets and drawers is organized heaven.  I made dozens of trips to the container store in order to get these the way we wanted.  Everything has a place and it makes me giddy when I open each drawer!   

Now for the final reveal of the master fireplace and sitting area. A sweet friend of mine painted the artwork above the mantel and our only wedding picture in the house is hung by the french doors.  I tried to mix textures in here- linen chaise lounge, acrylic side table, marble fireplace, wood ship lab, bamboo shades, fuzzy blanket and brass hardware and floor lamp.  I wasn't sure if we would actually use this space, but I read books to the kids on the chaise lounge daily!  It is so cozy and inviting.  I plan to do my morning bible study homework by the fire this winter(we will see if this actually happens hah)!

Here is a close up of the cabinet hardware.  Ryan uses the two cabinets on the right and I use the left.  Mostly store off season clothes and I have the iron and steamer and stuff in mine.

 I feel like this was wasted space before and now it is one of my favorite spots in the house.  Here is the other half of our master.  Very neutral and simple, but I love how it all came together!

Deck Renovation Part 2

I did the deck renovation part 1 a few months back, which you can read about here, and am just getting around to finally posting about the upper two levels!  As you can see from this first picture the old deck did not have a lot of depth.  We had our adirondack chairs up there and that was about all we could fit!

 From this picture during demo you can see how much room our old stairs took up!  Also the dead area of yard around the bottom of stairs was a bunch of overgrown bushes.  Our yard seemed so small before.  I can't believe we expanded the patio below and deck above and gained so much extra yard in the process.

 We extended the deck to 14 feet deep and 40 feet long.

We ended up having to rip up the third level to add the roof above the middle level and weather proof it.

The third level has double french doors off Ellie's room and the master, but we left the porch part the same size.  It was neat to see all the different layers put in up there to weather proof the middle level below.

Back to the middle level....

 The contractor told us this would be done beginning of September so I had all the furniture delivered then...as you can see here we were only half way done at this point.

 A lot of time was spent wiring all of the lights, fans, heaters, speakers and electronics!  The TV wall was my favorite part!  I tried to get creative knowing it would be permanent and something we would use often.  There is wood storage on either side, plenty of electrical outlets for tv, dvd player and cable box and cabinet space to store outdoor needs like blankets, controls and games.  I picked a gray granite to go on top so it could weather the sun and rain longterm.

 Ceiling up!

 Paint done!

After months of planning and construction it was finally done!  We had all the furniture and decor sitting in our formal dining room so when we got the green light that the paint was dry we immediately set it all up!

A friend let me borrow her laminating machine to laminate some pictures.  I really wanted the screened in porch to feel like an extension of our living area inside.  The pictures and decor really make it feel more homey and since they are laminated, it doesn't matter if it rains or is humid.

We have two wood burning fireplaces inside that we use often so having the wood storage close by and dry helps a lot.

 It is so peaceful out here.

 One of our best decisions was adding the heaters.  We have them above the main two areas up here.  They are easy to use and really warm the space up on cold nights.  There is nothing like curling up at night under a blanket with the heaters going to watch a movie!

The screened in porch is divided up into three areas.  The TV couch area, Dining area and then the middle which we aren't really doing much with yet.  Originally I bought two chaise lounge chairs.  I envisioned us reading a book or having coffee looking out at the water on them.  One arrived and we found out the other one was backordered for so long that we got our money back.  So for now we have a kids table and are leaving it empty.  

The dining area is used the most I would say.  We constantly eat outside.  I have had several girls nights, book clubs, cookouts and most recently the kids birthday party here.  We have a large table leaf and 4 extra chairs so we can easily seat 10 here.  

 Another big part of the design was it being part of our living area inside.  There is an entire wall of windows and two sets of double doors that we love to leave open during parties or nice days!

Although all the bathrooms and kitchen (and several other important things) need updating, I am so glad we decided to do the deck, patio and outside first.  We love being outside and enjoying our pond and view and this new three story deck renovation was well worth the time and effort!