Industrial Chic Bathroom

I’m going to admit something to you that I don’t just tell everybody. I went a little crazy during lockdown. Something about being stuck indoors for weeks on end had me looking at my home with new eyes. All of a sudden, the contractors' white walls started closing in on me, the boring fixtures that were in the house when I bought it were annoying me, and the days of solitude caused the real me to finally emerge.

Fortunately, day one of lockdown, my remodeler was here to do a little work. That little work turned into a lot of work, and the place looks entirely different.

One of the things I love the most is my industrial chic master bath. There is absolutely nothing special about my bathroom, it’s pretty basic. Personally, I don’t like investing loads of money in a bathroom because I don’t spend all that much time there, and let’s face it, it’s not like I’m going to be doing any entertaining in the bathroom, am I? Don’t get me wrong; I don’t begrudge those of you who do. If you want to turn your bathroom into a spa, more power to you. Me? I have a spa day when the steam from the dishwasher hits me in the face.

Little things can make a world of difference, paint being an economical biggie, so the wall color changed from a flat sage color that I was never happy with to “Foothills” by Sherwin-Williams in an eggshell finish. The light fixture had to go, and I wanted something unique. I spotted this one on the Lamps Plus website, and in less than a week it had been mounted.

I love the look of weathered old wood. I had (don’t ask me why) taken a finial off of the weathered fence of our old house before we moved. I gave that finial to my remodeler, Joe, and told him that I wanted the mirror framed with wood that looked old and weathered like it did. 

 I also wanted the ridiculous towel rack over the toilet (Who uses a towel rack over a toilet? It’s too far away from the sink and the shower to be practical. Let’s not even discuss it’s possible other uses.), and replace it with two shelves in the same weathered wood with brackets made of gas pipe.

It was Joe's suggestion to use that same gas pipe for the toilet tissue holder. I love it!

The leafy candle sconce that used to be on the wall was replaced with a blueprint of a hot and cold water mixer valve from 1893.

One of my dreams was to have a skylight in the bathroom in order to fill it with plants. I did get the skylight, but, it doesn’t let in enough light to allow me to fill the bathroom with plants, still I do have a lovely little corner of low light plants that are doing just fine.

 The rug, a bold choice, what is the final addition. I love the simplicity of everything, the clean lines, and every time I’m in the bathroom it makes me smile.

One final thing, the toilet is new as well, and I’ll be dating myself when I say this next thing... I love my new toilet! Comfort height, an elongated, self-closing seat, and skirted, making it a dream to clean.

I know I’m not alone in making changes. What have you done in the past year as far as improvements to your home?