10.28.2010

Re:Decorate: Bathroom


So, now that all of the dirty work for our bathroom is almost complete (more posts still to come), I am working on the decorating part which is way more fun!

The shower curtain has been tricky. I haven't been able to find anything I like. In addition, I want an extra long shower curtain that hangs from the top of the ceiling. That has been difficult to find as well. The bathroom is predominantly neutral (gray, black and white) with yellow accents.

I was searching for fabric in order to make a shower curtain and then I stumbled upon this awesome duvet cover at Anthropologie. I thought it was perfect but way out of my price range. I went back a few weeks later and found it to be on crazy sale. The duvet cover (normally $300) was on sale for $60. Not too shabby. In addition, it happens to be the perfect height and width for a shower curtain. All I need to do is take off the back of the duvet cover and add some holes for the curtain rings. I'm so excited!

10.27.2010

Doodle Art




These amazing installations by Heike Weber have decorated galleries all over Europe. I wish she would come decorate my house. Heike uses permanent marker and acrylic paint to create these beautifully doodled patterns on floors and walls. It is truly amazing (and also kind of trippy). I could see Johnny Depp's house looking like this.

spotted on The Jealous Curator.

10.26.2010

Jonathan Adler Calendar



One of the best (and hardest) parts of my job is designing calendars. It is so much fun to concept, but it is also difficult to consistently think of something new. I was searching some of my favorite blogs today and was surprised to see the Jonathan Adler calendar featured on Design Crush's 2011 Calendar Roundup. I worked on this last January and it is so exciting to finally see it produced.

This calendar is a lot of fun. Complete with bright and bold Jonathan Adler patterns and quirky icons. Find out the top nude beaches of the world in August, discover how to make a balloon poodle in February, or pick our your favorite mustache style in October. I will be ordering several for my friends and family. You should too!

You can buy one at here at Paper Source.

10.25.2010

Re:Model: Bathroom Part 3






Apologies for my lack of bathroom updates. I promise, we haven't been living with our bathroom in utter disarray for this long. I just haven't updated you on our progress.

What a difference tile makes. Our bathroom finally began to look like a bathroom again once the shower and floor were tiled.

For the bathroom wall tile, I wanted to go with a medium gray ceramic tile. I liked the idea of using larger tiles for the bathroom wall and going with the smaller tile for the floor. I was amazed at how hard it was to find gray tile. It took lots of searching, but I was happy with the end result. We tiled all the way up to the ceiling in our shower to give it some more height. It really helps to create the illusion of more space in our small bathroom. Although we used larger ceramic tile, we needed bullnose tile to trim around the outside and to frame the window in our shower. Thanks to our good friend Jeremiah for helping us with the shower tile! It looks amazing.

I wish I could say our floor tile was as easy as the shower, but alas I cannot. I wanted to do small hexagonal subway tile on the floor. I also thought the white tile would brighten up the space quite a bit. The look is great, but the installation is not so great. The tiles come attached in 12x12 sheets which gives you the impression that it won't be much more difficult than laying regular ceramic tile. That is not the case. Jeremy wishes I could have just picked out normal tile. The small tiles, although they are loosely attached, still shift and move on the mortar as you lay them. It is also very difficult to get the floor level with all of these smaller pieces. The other problem was all of the mortar seeping up through the gaps in the tile. We tried to clean out the excess seeping through so it wouldn't show when we grouted, but it was still problematic. We ended up changing our grout color from a dark gray to a lighter gray so that it would more closely match the mortar color and show less. In the end, it looks great (except for the problems that we notice). Jeremy did a great job with a difficult task and the overall affect is very nice. This was the one time we were thankful for our small bathroom. Thanks to our good friend Michael for helping us grout the floor!

A nice cold beer was much needed after this night.