If you’re new around here, thanks for stopping by and welcome! I am Lauren Caron, an interior designer and the founder of Studio Laloc, an interior design firm based in Seattle, Washington. On the side my husband and I are remodeling our home that I’ve given its own hashtag #ourseattlecraftsman. We’ve renovated our kitchen, scullery and now we’re on to the Powder Room. This is my first foray in participating in the One Room Challenge partnering with Better Homes & Gardens, and I’m really excited to be a guest participant. I hope you stick around and follow along as we make our 70s bathroom into a modern day jewel box! If you missed last week’s post please check out it via the link below!

WEEK 4 POST

Week 5 was cancelled to pay respect to the lives lost due to police violence and the systematic racism that our country is built on. The horrifically tragic death of George Floyd has finally sparked a mass uproar globally. While I can not even begin to understand the pain that the Black community feels or has experienced, I have been listening, reflecting, and making an effort to learn how to move forward.

What I’ve learned thus far in the infant stages of my journey is that we (myself, white people of privilege) have not been doing enough to change this system. It is on us to wake up to the reality that we’ve been a part of the problem and until we do the work on ourselves, the system won’t change. ‘Doing the work’ happens in many ways from education and voting, to utilizing our purchasing power, voices, and connections in support of POC.

While it feels strange to jump back in to everyday life, I think we can certainly say that moving forward, the normal we used to know, will no longer exist. And hopefully, I certainly hope and feel this is true, it will be for the betterment of Black lives. Because finally now that many of us finally have become aware of it, that Black Lives were treated as though they did not matter. But of course they do.

I know these are only words until they’ve been backed by real action, but I hope you will take my word for it that I and Studio Laloc stand in solidarity with Black LIves Matter.

Tiling

Last week we were able to get the bathroom floor tiled after much concern that it wasn’t going to happen. At the last minute though, our tile setter pulled through and was in on a Friday to set the tile and completed the project on the next Monday.

I have received a lot of questions about the source of the tile. The tile we used is called calacatta gold 1” hex, mosaic field tiles. I found my source via google. The website I purchased mine from is called Tilezz.com. This source like many of the online tile sites I believe is selling remnants. So you have to make sure you order your complete batch at the same time and that you order extra just in case you end up with any tiles with imperfections. In our mosaic field tile, for the most part it all looked pretty great. But on the 2 x 12” tiles that we ordered, there were a few pieces that seemed to have black sharpie marks on them.

The next step for tile was to clean and then seal. Since the tile needs to dry 8 - 10 hours before applying any sealer, I cleaned it and let it sit overnight. Then I sealed it and let it dry for several hours, again before I stepped foot in the room.

The cleaner I use is from Amazon, I use the same sealer brand for our counters, but the sealer I used in here was made for grout and particularly porous substances. It was also ordered from Amazon.

Cleaner / 2. Sealer

Paint

As soon as the tile was ready to be walked on, I laid out cardboard to cover the floor and got started on priming. The funny thing is, I actually had already primed the entire room the week before with a tinted primer by Benjamin Moore, but when Farrow & Ball offered to send not only the paint but the primer as well, for me to use on this project I couldn’t pass it up, and decided it was the perfect time to try the Farrow & Ball primer. F&B believes in using their entire paint system, and I can definitely understand that from a business perspective, but I also wanted to find out first hand to see if it’s worth the hype.

With one coat of F&B primer applied, I was now able to begin painting with the paint color. This is where you can really tell if the full system is worth it. When I painted the scullery I did not invest in the primer and I can see now, that I should have. Because it literally took me 4 coats of paint to completely cover the walls with Dead Salmon and that’s 4 coats for the walls and ceiling that were ALL beadboard, which also means they were ALL hand painted! And in case you’re wondering, I did have a layer of primer on those walls before I started painting! It just wasn’t F&B primer. That was a lot of extra time and paint spent, where I could have painted one coat of primer and maybe two or three (in only a few spots) coats of paint.

This time around I think I’m all set, aside from a few touch ups with 2 coats of paint! The color is seriously magic too! I love the depth and richness of it so much. Perhaps even more than I thought I would.

The Backsplash

Now that the room is painted and the tile is complete. We were able to have our stone fabricator stop by to template the cabinet for the countertop and the backsplash. He and I had a few discussions back and forth regarding the shape of the backsplash. Because they cut the backsplash portion of the design by hand, he wanted to make sure we came up with a design that would suit my wishes and wouldn’t be too risky to cut. We came up with a design similar to my kitchen backsplash. It will have an ogee edge profile, but also an ogee shape. The shape of the powder backsplash will be essentially the kitchen backsplash, but flipped on its side. Pictures below. I think it’s going to be really beautiful!

The planned profile for the Powder Room

Accessories

In other news, a few small bits and pieces have been decided as well!

If you follow along on Instagram, you may have caught that I want to have sanitary handles on my toilet seat, similar to House of Brinson’s toilet in their one room challenge. I searched high and low for these little pieces of jewelry. And yes, for the price of them, they are jewelry. One of my go-to vendors was able to sell them to me, but they wanted $425/set for them?! I was actually offended when I heard that price. With a little more hunting, I was able to find that KB Authority sells them, for a lot less expensive at $126/set. Still expensive, I know.

Other hardware elements for the room are the tissue paper holders and towel rings. I went back and forth between using a set I bought months ago from Potterybarn, (that just didn’t wow me when I received them) or ordering a new set. I also have an antique hardware hook that I believe was made to be a curtain tie-back that I think could make a great hand towel holder. It’s more ornate than the other items, but mixing in antiques is always a good idea. However, for the more functional utilitarian items I ended up ordering a set from Build.com by Alno. In the past I haven’t had the best results with Alno, but also I wanted to give them a try since these are not the same finish as the ones I ordered in the past.

Vertical Tissue Paper Holder / 2. Horizontal Tissue Paper Holder / 3. Towel Ring

Art

I really wanted to add something interesting in terms of art for this room. Because it’s going to be so sassy with the wallpaper, I figure it needs to have artwork that is just as intriguing. I like the idea of people stopping to really look at the artwork when they enter the room. Bathrooms are private spaces, but public use baths are quite interesting in that they are both public and private. These rooms are a moment in your home that you can grab a person’s attention, where they’re left to their own thoughts.

I am planning to have an underlying theme in this space. I wanted this space to have a strong fierce, almost sexy vibe; from the wallpaper, to the serpents that bring to mind the tale of Adam and Eve, and the risk that Eve took when she bit that apple… to the tile, written in French that reads: “A secret to two is a secret of god, a secret to three is a secret to all.” Which remarks on how sharing a secret may risk the very concept of secrecy all to itself. To finally, the jaguar mask. A souvenir I purchased at an artisan market in Mexico City last year, which in the Aztec culture symbolizes a powerful warrior. It may all be a stretch, but there’s some underlying mood in this space where the art certainly adds to it.
Also shown in this picture is the antique tie-back that I’m considering for a towel holder, one of the pulls for the vanity cabinet and the doorstop. The pull and the doorstop are both from House of Antique Hardware. Outlet and switchplate covers (not pictured) are from Rejuvenation, it looks like the ones I’ve ordered are no longer available so this is the similar style, here.

THE TO DO LIST

Demo Bathroom - Complete
Remove Pebble Dash from Walls - Complete
Reset plumbing to accommodate new fixtures and design - Complete
shift toilet waste pipe over 3” - Complete
Set electrical placement of overhead light fixture, wall sconce, plugs and switches - Complete
Remove existing window and swap with new - Complete
Create inset for medicine cabinet - Complete
Install insulation - Complete
Sheet rock walls and ceilings - Complete
Mount tongue and groove beadboard paneling - Complete
Set trim around window - Complete
Mud seams and smooth coat over sheetrock - Complete
Fill nail holes in beadboard - Complete
Prime walls & ceiling - Complete
Order door - NA/Complete
Order paint - Complete
Finalize window treatments & order fabric - Complete
Make window treatment -
Install floor tiles - Complete
Install door - In progress
Install baseboards and trim
Paint paneling, trim & ceiling - Complete
Install medicine cabinet
Wallpaper above paneling
Modify vanity cabinet drawers to accommodate sink & plumbing
Install plumbing fixtures
Install countertop and backsplash
Install hardware fixtures - toilet paper holders, towel holders, etc.
Photograph room

Remember to check out the other One Room Challenge Participants and to follow along on Instagram! And to check out Better Homes & Gardens who has partnered up with ORC as this year’s media sponsor.