Master Bathroom Decisions

Well, we made it to Friday. It’s been a heck of a week around the Linauer household. Matt has had such a hard week, and it’s been a real strain on both of us. I’m going into the weekend feeling absolutely worn out, both physically and mentally, and I’m sure he is, too.

We’ve finally decided that his problems this week (which have been severe weakness, even to the point that he couldn’t pick up his water cup to drink on most evenings, and even when I put the cup to his mouth, he was too weak to drink through a straw) have been caused by something he’s been eating. So immediately, we’re heading back to a very strict carnivore diet for him to see if that will help.

When he eats a very strict carnivore diet (almost exclusively beef), these problems seem to go away and he gains strength. It’s tough, though, because naturally he would like to eat something other than beef. But when indulging in tasty other-than-beef food has such devastating effects, I think he’s realizing it’s just not worth it. So hopefully a change in diet will help him, and I’ll be able to get back to my projects soon.

So I don’t have any actual progress to share, and while I said I would probably do another reader question today, I didn’t think I’d be able to really give a reader question my best input today since I’m so worn out. Instead, I’ll just circle back to some of the things I posted about in the last few days, and share my thoughts and decisions.

My decision on symmetry with the shower and toilet area in the bathroom:

First let’s talk about this tile issue that I brought up a few days ago in this “To Tile Or Not To Tile?” post. Y’all certainly had opinions. 😀

I read them all, and I contemplated may good points y’all brought up. After weighing all of your input, I’ve decided to…..

NOT tile the toilet area. 😀

It’s really not a matter of me being tired of tiling and trying to cut corners. What pushed me to this decision were the comments from a few of you who stressed that even if I tile the walls in the toilet area, I still won’t have symmetry because I’m putting cabinets on the back wall in the toilet area. The cabinets are non-negotiable. I want and need those cabinets in this bathroom.

So as I started thinking about that point, I thought about a decorating/design rule that I have. If I want to design or decorate something in a certain way, but circumstances prevent it from being perfect (perfectly centered, perfectly symmetrical, etc.), then my rule is that I don’t make it “off” just a smidge. I make it “off” by a whole lot so that it looks intentional rather than looking like a mistake.

This is a decorating and design rule I’ve used forever, and yet when I was trying to think of an example where I’ve used this rule, I drew a blank. Even now…blank. But it is a definite rule that I’ve used on many occasions.

I guess an example may be that you want to hang a piece of artwork on a wall, and you want it to be perfectly centered. The problem is that there’s a vent or thermostat on that wall that prevents it from being perfectly centered, but you could move it over four or five inches or so and make it kind of, sort of, but not really centered. In that circumstance, rather than making it kind of, sort of, but not really centered, I’d make it VERY off center, and then fill in with other artwork and wall decor on the part of the wall with the vent/thermostat to bring balance to the entire wall.

That’s the only example that comes to mind. It’s not a great example, but you see what I mean. If I can think of any real world examples where I’ve used this rule, I’ll add them.

The whole point is that instead of making something just a little off, and taking the chance that it will look like a mistake, or an oversight, or an afterthought, make it way off and find a way to make it look intentional.

So since I can’t have perfect symmetry with the shower and toilet area no matter what I do, rather than making them kind of, sort of, but not really symmetrical with the addition of tiled walls and cabinets in the toilet area, I’m just going to make it completely different altogether, with cabinets and painted walls, and just let the consistent color (white) on either side tie the two areas together. I think both areas being the same color will give enough symmetry.

I mean, the main thing is that I don’t want anything drawing the eye away from the mural wall. And I think a white tiled shower on the left, and a toilet area on the right with white painted walls and cabinets, will achieve that goal as long as I don’t put any colorful artwork on that right wall of the toilet area.

So that’s my reasoning, and that’s my plan. 🙂 And while I didn’t make that decision in order to cut corners and get out of more tiling, I have to admit that I’m VERY happy that I won’t be tiling those walls.

Now about those vanity legs…

Y’all had some great ideas about how I could save money on our table-style vanities by just using two legs on each table. One idea was to use the legs just on the front, while attaching the back of the table to the wall. I looked at several examples of that on Pinterest, but I’m not particularly fond of that look. To me, those look like people have taken existing tables and cut them down to fit (which very well may be the case), whereas I’d prefer it to look like we had something custom built to specifically fit our space…with all four legs.

And even though ours will never be seen from the side, like this one…

Those back legs will still show since the walls will be white, and the vanity tables will be walnut. Even on this one, with the drawers that take up more space at the top, and the lower shelf piled with towels, you can still see those ark back legs against the light tiled wall.

So I’m going to go for it. They’re not cheap, but I’ll probably never redo our master bathroom again. This is my one shot. I mean, even if I change out the mural for something different at some point way down the road, I doubt that we’ll ever do any type of extensive remodel that will include new vanities. So I need to get what I want, even if it’s a little more expensive than I had hoped.

I did change mind on the legs that I selected, though. I had originally chosen this Sedona table leg…

I loved everything about that leg except for the foot. It’s just way too chunky for my taste. I like something a little more tapered, so I actually wound up getting this Federal leg instead.

I’ll admit that it was hard to press that “complete your purchase” button, but I think it will be worth it to get the look I want.