One Room Challenge Week 1: The Modern Nautical Bathroom

You guys! It’s happening! We are jumping into the throes of the One Room Challenge, RIGHT. NOW.

For anyone who isn’t familiar, the One Room Challenge is put together by Linda of Calling it Home for design bloggers twice a year, challenging them to makeover a space in the span of just 6 short weeks, with weekly updates so everyone can follow along in real time.

For each challenge, there are 20 featured bloggers- a group of super talented designers that we’ll follow every Wednesday. And THEN, guest participants (raises hand!) get to link up as well, and you’ll get to see what we’re up to on Thursdays.

With those details covered, let’s jump right into the project we’re tackling here at J(M)V Style. A little while back we mentioned we had been thinking about our  Modern Nautical Master Bathroom. And then… nothing happened. We were excited about the idea of taking on this project, but we hadn’t made a lick of progress yet. Enter the ORC, the perfect excuse to set ourselves a timeline and Get. Things. Done.

Once Ben and I decided to take on the ORC, we had to look into the details of our ideas and see how to make this all a reality. But first, let’s start at the beginning. Today, this is what our bathroom looks like:

Try not to get overwhelmed by all the excitement happening in this space. It’s essentially a brown box. With mismatched towels, and awkward green details. (The size/shape also make it a little challenging to photograph, so we’re hoping to have the use of a different lens when reveal day rolls around).

There’s a lot to love as well, though. It’s plenty spacious for us, with a nice big vanity. In 2007, this whole bathroom was added on to the house, and that addition included an extra closet for the master bedroom. We were able to add a ton of function to that closet by installing an Elfa system last spring, and it’s been pretty great. We also removed the door to that closet, because it just took up a lot of unnecessary space. Even though the closet is pretty well organized, we don’t necessarily want to see it all the time. (Not that Ben’s sneakers and excess of flannel aren’t great to look at).

Our big goals are to remove the things that just aren’t in good condition.

The 12″x12″ beige tiles are just- to be honest- gross. And the green glass? It’s uneven. Plus, it’s not a great look with the beige. We’re also really excited to bring a lot of attention to the vanity area. The large unframed mirror screams “builder-basic”, and that light fixture has had three mismatched bulbs for the entire time we’ve lived here.. and I think that 3rd one has been out for a few months.. #shame. But honestly, it’s just hard to love that light when these exist!

And that vanity top… it’s just cheap. The sinks are part of the countertop, it’s just a weird line separating the counter and the sink portions. The fixtures also look really, really rough. And while the weird part of me enjoys chipping off the finish, that’s not necessarily the look I’m going for.

Ok, OK! Enough of the Before, let’s get to the plan!

We’ll update the tile with something simple and fresh: textured porcelain tiles for the floors. They have a soft organic stripe that gives a lot of movement to the tile, but isn’t too busy. And I think they’re totally going to kill it at the black-dog-hair-camoflauge game.

In the shower, we’re going to use these beautiful glass tiles that I think will go a long way in brightening up that shower alcove. We like that they’re subway-esque without jumping all over that bandwagon. We’re going to mix it up by running them vertically, and using the grey colorway as the shower floor.

We’re continuing our love affair with Sherwin Williams’ Silverplate (at 60% because apparently we’re just that high-maintenance) into this room to keep the house updates feeling cohesive and to tie this room into the master bedroom. On the painting front, we’re also going to give the vanity a big makeover by going dark blue. It’s going to pop so nicely with a new butcher block top and make the whole space feel rich.

We’re getting a little modern at the vanity, with these amazing lights, these super-sleek faucets, and these simple sinks, and then adding our nautical flavor with a DIY rope mirror, the super-fun anchor cup, and this awesome curtain to cover the closet opening.

Alright, enough talking- we’ve got a LOT of work to do! We’ll be back next week with (hopefully!) a lot of demo goodness and major progress on this room. In the meantime, make sure to check out the ORC featured bloggers below!

Jana Bek | Chris Loves Julia | Shannon Claire | Coco.Kelley | The Curated House
Driven by Décor | The English Room | From the Right Bank | Sherry Hart
Hi Sugarplum | House of Jade | Hunted Interior | The Makerista | Making it Lovely
Marcus Design | Pencil & Paper Co. | Megan Pflug | Place of My Taste | Suburban B’s
Waiting on Martha  Media Partner House Beautiful | TM by CIH