Hello friends! I’m super excited to be stopping in today to share the latest progress at the beach house. While sometimes it feels like progress is slow, it only takes a few minutes to look back over the photos from the past several months to see that we’ve come a really long way.
The last time I shared an update, we had just finished installing the shiplap on the first floor minus the kitchen. We won’t install the shiplap in the kitchen until we are ready for cabinets and backsplash.
Today however, I want to talk about the bathroom. I shared the design plan a while back based on a rush decision to buy a light gray and white floor tile that B loved. It was going to be a little different than the rest of the first floor with more of a blue-green palette, but then I ordered samples of a few wallpapers and fabrics from Serena & Lily and it all changed.
The overall house design is still pretty solid and the samples I ordered only further solidified it because the samples were seriously DEAD ON with the paints and fabrics we had already chosen for the main living areas. It was like it was meant to be.

The (Updated / Revised) Design Plan for the Bathroom
The plan took me back to the bathroom however because it wasn’t feeling cohesive with the rest of the first floor. Because the house is small, we want the house to feel cohesive throughout so we’ve been keeping it simple with a navy blue and white palette mixed with warm wood tones and some soft grays.
The floor tile we ended up buying for the bathroom was purchased kind of on a whim. This isn’t something that I like to do and don’t recommend, but once we had it, we had to design around it. You can see the original bathroom design plan here.
With my new wallpaper and fabric samples here I started laying everything out and realized the bathroom plan needed to change.

I sought B’s input who was immediately drawn to the whale wallpaper. We started throwing ideas around based on the original plan. We looked at it from all angles including what we could modify and what would work without spending $1000 in wallpaper. I have to say that what we’ve come up with should be super fun!
After our last trip to the beach house, we got the bathroom floor installed. It’s a true gray with white “waves” in it. It doesn’t look like marble, it looks more like ocean waves or watercolor. Not what I would have picked, but B really loves it and I have to say, as the design progresses, it feels like we planned it this way.
The shower base and glass frame was delivered and the pan has been installed. We opted for a pre-fab pan for this project and even though the curved base wasn’t my first choice, the door is hinged which was a must for me. I didn’t want a door on a track.
For the shower tile, we are going with a large scale subway tile in white. This isn’t the tile we originally chose but with the floor tile and overall design, it’s perfect and the soft wave texture goes perfectly with the floor tile. To keep the look clean and simple, we’ll be keeping the grout white like the floors.
Remember the whale wallpaper I said B loved? We’ll be doing an accent wall with the wallpaper on the wall where the vanity will go. I’m not usually a “feature wall” kind of person but I think one wall will be just enough since this wallpaper is pretty bold.
I’ve already painted the walls white (Sherwin Williams Pure White) which is just a bit softer / warmer than the “Extra White” we’re using throughout the rest of the house. IT’s still a pretty pure white, but not quite as bright. I actually might prefer it over the Extra White now that everything is painted. (More of that to come…)
We chose this slightly softer white for the bathroom because the background / field of the wallpaper is more of an off-white and B was pretty adamant that he didn’t want an obvious line or color change from wallpaper wall to the rest of the room. (I’ll give him that one since he rarely doubts my crazy design ideas.) This room has actually been mostly B’s choices with some direction from me to make sure it all goes together.
The vanity is going to be a custom piece meant to look like a table with a vessel sink on top. I’m pushing for a wall faucet though we’ve not had the best of luck with them so I’m holding off picking out just the right one.
The vanity “table” will be natural wood (white oak) and I’m pushing for a gold faucet despite B hating gold faucets. We’ll probably meet in the middle and opt for black faucets and metals but I’m determined to get in some gold somewhere!
I have some fun ideas for the mirror (round) to bring in a touch of nautical without going too theme-y.
Because we will no longer be doing the board and batten around the bottom of the walls, I’m rethinking hooks and art but for the actual finishings I’m getting really excited! B and I keep joking that this little cottage is going to be nicer / cooler / better than our house!
Progress on the Bathroom


I don’t have photos yet of the current progress though not a whole lot has changed since these photos were taken. The only real noticeable difference is that we now have a toilet installed under the window.
The next step is running the plumbing for the shower and vanity and then we’ll do the vanity last. This room is moving along pretty quickly!
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