Inspiration Born from a Vintage Tub

When it came time to discuss the design of the master bathroom, I had one requirement:  I desperately wanted a vintage clawfoot tub.  In all my previous bathrooms I never had a tub, let alone a vintage clawfoot tub.  While this may seem like a simple request, there was a lot of back and forth between my husband and I, our interior designer, and our contractor over that one piece.  For quite awhile we were not sure that the tub would fit in the layout of the bathroom.  We did not want the tub to encroach on the vanity too much, and my husband and I wanted it to make sense in the space.  You wouldn't believe how many times my husband was in the space with our measuring tape hemming and hawing over this decision.  While it's position in the bathroom is a bit close to one of the vanity sinks, I'm so thankful we decided to go for it and include it in the layout of the bathroom.  I love how serene it appears situated beneath the bank of windows.    

Full disclosure:  there is a huge pile of my children's bath toys currently in that tub at the time of this picture. My son loves to use the hand-held faucet and only OCCASIONALLY gets way too much water onto the floor.   While my children use this tub more than I do at present, I dream of the day when I can more frequently use this tub as a space to find peace and relaxation.  

Situated just in front of the tub is a beautiful vintage rug that our interior designer, Kelly Robson of High Street Market, chose for us from her store.  If you are a lover of vintage rugs, I would highly encourage you to head on over to her shop and check out her selection!  They are beautiful!  I love how the various shades of beige work so well with our trim color, Benjamin Moore's "November Rain."  The pops of blue, green, and orange provide a nice introduction of color into the space.  I love the worn feel of this piece contrasted against the more polished and pristine floor tile.     

Our vanity, pictured above,  is located just to the left of our clawfoot tub.  When designing the double vanity for the master bathroom, we again worked with Village Handcrafted Cabinetry.  Village constructed all of the custom cabinetry throughout our home, and I could not recommend them more highly.   Jeff and I wanted to make sure we had enough space for storage, so we decided to include the extra cabinet space situated on top of the vanity.  The upper cabinets are just enough extra storage without being too large for the space.  

These cabinets were painted the same color as our trim, Benjamin Moore's "November Rain."  We also used the same counter top as our kitchen counters (Mystery White).  I love how the sinks are sunken into the stone counter top, and the vintage faucets are the perfect compliment to the clawfoot tub you get a sneak peek of through the reflection in the mirror.  The faucets are polished nickel and are the "Astur" faucets from Ferguson Enterprises while the light fixtures above the mirrors are called "Calliope Short Bath Light" from Visual Comfort & Co. To see a full picture of the vanity look below.   

In addition to the tub, we also included a free standing shower.  The tile you see pictured on the floor, backsplash and in the shower are all Carrara Marble.  This was one of our "splurges" for our home to elevate the master bath a bit from the rest of the bathrooms in the house. The backsplash and shower have the subway tile shape while the floor has a small, hexagon shape.  The hardware in our shower mimics the hardware used for our two faucets and continues the thread of a classic vintage touch throughout the space.  I love the way it all turned out!  For a look at our shower space see below for a picture.  

When I think of where I would like to take this space into the future, I would love to incorporate a bit more subtle pops of color through decor pieces and the addition of some window shades.  If you've been following along on our renovation journey, you will notice that all of our "finished" spaces still lack any sort of window treatments.  To be frank, we were so over making decisions regarding our house (and lacking the necessary funds!) that we decided to wait on any kind of window treatment.  That being said, our neighbors might be getting a bit more than they bargained for if they were ever to look into our windows!!  I look forward to the days when I can choose some country-cottage styled patterns to adorn these windows to help soften the space and provide some much needed privacy!  But until then, I will continue to enjoy the soapy chaos of toddler bath time in the tub that inspired it all.