29th Avenue: A Boring Bathroom Gets a Dark and Dramatic Makeover

this idea

Capree Kimball

Last fall, with two little dogs in tow, my husband and I picked up and moved to Portland, Oregon to fulfill our lifelong dream of living in the Pacific Northwest. (Yes, we left our light and airy dream kitchen back in Utah — I think about it often. RIP) We were quick to get our roots planted in our new city, though, and have started transforming our 1920s bungalow into a Scandinavian-inspired dream home, starting with a full-blown, down-to-the-studs bathroom makeover!       

Capree Kimball

This bathroom wasn’t horrible, necessarily, but it had suffered a hasty DIY makeover at the hands of its previous owner that left it with poorly installed plumbing (re: a toilet that leaked into the basement every time it was flushed), sketchy surfaces (cracks and mold and stains for days), and, well, no style — at least not our style! So, we did what anyone would do: we completely gutted it and started from scratch… Clearly the most obvious solution!

Capree Kimball

Now, full disclosure, this is our one and only bathroom so we wanted this renovation done as quickly as humanly possible (not that portable toilets don’t have their benefits), so we hired a contractor. I KNOW. What about DIY-ing the whole thing?! Next time, friends. Next time. Also, the rest of our house is full of future DIY projects so stay tuned for more “29th Avenue” makeovers and ideas!

Capree KimballMeanwhile, I got to work planning every possible detail and scouring Pinterest for inspiration. Inspiration like this:

and this:

and, yeah, even this:

OoOooh! Dark and dreamy and dramatic and brass-filled and Scandinavian-esque! Everything I want for our 29th Avenue bathroom, basically.

After I had a clear picture of what I wanted for this new and improved version, I hit up Lowes.com and a few other favorite shops and got to work tediously weighing the pros and cons of every possible fixture, finish, and modern bath product on their sites… because decisions are hard sometimes, ya know? Finally, I honed in on a line of super modern Kohler products, some over-sized subway tile, and, of course, ALL OF THE BRASS.

I’m going big and I’m going home, y’all. Check back later this week to see how everything turned out!

[Bathroom inspiration images: 1. Design Sponge 2. Domino 3. Michael Graydon 4. Michael Graydon 5. Christopher Sturman]

This project is sponsored by Lowe’s and I’m excited to get their help renovating our bathroom. However, all opinions are mine alone.