Upper bath colors and finishes

We've worked some more on cabinet ideas and come up with two these ideas with more symmetry, and which should let us get Ready-To-Assemble (RTA) cabinets that are CARB Certified, meaning they meet California Air Regulation Board standards for air quality (that is, low formaldehyde emissions) if we don't go with something more expensive or custom.

With this one we might put a glass shelf underneath the cabinets:

In the image below, I do like the practicality of shelves here but not so much the look of them. However, I think the bottom cabinet-heavy configuration is what we will probably choose since we don't really use the few drawers we currently have and probably won't not until the kids get a lot older. I want things out of reach of little hands!

Here is what we have on colors and finishes:

-vanity is (probably) natural maple or possibly bamboo

-counter is white quartz or maybe recycled IceStone (also white but with some small flecks)

-two sides of shower are white acrylic and door is glass

-back wall of shower (opposite the mirror) is green iridescent Sonoma jade glass tile 1x4"

-backsplash under mirror is same green iridescent tile

-floors are white linen Daltile Fabrique (w/grey streaks)

Here is the Fabrique with the Sonoma on top (we're choosing the one in the lower right corner).

So what do we do on paint color for the bathroom? Super pale grey or grey-green? Or just white? Or something else?

And how do we trim that funny L-shaped wall next to the shower? (No, it's not really going to be a gate; either the software program is too dumb to let us put in a half wall in front of the toilet, or we are!)

And how do we trim the window wall? Both that wall and especially the half wall will be seen from the front door!

This bathroom will feel more contemporary and light than other parts of the earthier more craftsman-inspired (but-still-a-Cape!) home, but I don't want it to seem like it's from another universe.

We thought the half-wall might be topped with a piece of the counter material, or maybe of matching maple. But do we do a wainscoting of some sort halfway up that wall? In what material? Or maybe not up that L wall next to the shower but yes on the back window wall? We could continue the Fabrique from the floor halfway up the wall and top with some of the jade, continuing the line at the level of the backsplash.

A designer friend said she didn't think so much Fabrique would look good continuing from floor to wall. I wonder if a wall will look naked just painted, assuming we're not using any kind of statement color.

The Sonoma jade doesn't come in any trim pieces -- just different sizes and and also in Silk finish, their matte finish). Not sure about the availability of Fabrique in trim pieces or anything other than 12x12"

Baby is up from nap so here goes the post!

I dream of two bathrooms

For the upstairs bathroom, we're going for a more contemporary look. As mentioned in this earlier post, we like the idea of green glass tile for the back wall of the shower, two acrylic white walls, and a clear glass door. We hope to pick up the green glass as a backsplash and maybe some trim on the walls but probably not spring for the cost of tiling the bathroom wall.

We looked at some plain glass tiles at the first tile center today, and they would be fine, but they didn't wow us.
Oh, and the saleswoman we spoke to forgot to give us pricing on these or on the Fabrique Blanc Linen porcelain tile, though I see I can find it online for $3.90/sq ft.

As I mentioned in my earlier post about the main level bathroom, I then went back to another tile store to check out some Stone & Pewter and other potential glass tiles.

Near the front of the store were beautiful panels by Sonoma Tilemakers.
I snapped these photos even though I assumed the Sonoma tiles would be on the pricey side, but the saleswoman said they weren't too bad for as gorgeous as they are.

We eagerly await her email with pricing, because we both really love Sonoma's Vihara line in Jade, both the iridescent and the more matte "silk." Here the both are on the right of the big Fabrique proposed floor tile, while on the left we have the other top contender, the Wisp line of Stone & Pewter glass tiles in Allspice.


Both of those brands claim these two lines of glass tiles contain 70% recycled material, and Sonoma has "Greener Every Day" page that talks about their use of solar power and carbon offsets.

The floorplan of the bathroom is this:

The pretty green tiled wall is the one on the back of the shower that will be reflected in the mirror above the vanity.

The wall in front of the toilet is a half-wall (knee wall) so that the toilet won't be visible from the front door. Don't believe our home-grown rendering here where the best we could do was to put up a gate. It really will be a regular half wall!


But we'll have to figure out how to trim this little wall: if we should leave the white Lustrolite panel inside the shower as planned and then just have a painted wall for that vertical part you see above and continuing to the half wall in the backwards L. Not sure what paint color that would be. Another option is to tile that whole shower wall and continue the tiling to the part outside the shower and to the half wall.

Here is the room as it stands now, visible from the stairs. The half wall isn't there yet.


Maybe the half wall will be capped with a ledge of whatever type of countertop we go with, possibly a white quartz. Now that we're in the market for a white, I'll have to check my notes from out trip to Amicus Green Building Center on the price of Ice Stone, which is made in Brooklyn using 100% recycled glass and cement from Pennsylvania.

We have been looking at some pre-fab vanities that come with white marble, but I don't really love that Carerra look, and I suspect the vanities probably all contain medium density fiberboard (MDF). Restoration Hardware confirmed to me in an email that theirs contains MDF. This post makes me want to steer away from big stuff from them, even if I do have their hardware in my kitchen right now. The author advised me to consult Green Depot to ask about safe furniture. I'm sure we're going to make some mistakes and have to cut some corners, but I am not about to knowingly bring added formaldehyde into my home!

We're thinking instead of a pre-fab painted wood vanity that we might ask our kitchen cabinet maker to price out a bamboo vanity in a light/natural stain (not too yellow). We also haven't figured out exactly the pantry-like linen "closet"/storage to the left. We don't want it to feel imposing as you walk in, but we do think that is the right spot for more storage. Over to the right, it would cut off reflected light from the window, and we don't really want to put it in between the sinks because of the toilet. We may just set the cabinet back to a lesser depth or have open shelving on the top.

Ideas?