Last week, I shared some photos that are inspiring my kitchen renovation, which is all part of my slightly ambitious plan to entirely redo my apartment this summer. A lot of people weighed in with their opinions, assuming that I would not listen to them and just go ahead and do what I wanted to do. Not the case! Due to all the warnings about marble countertops, we are going to switch to a quartz countertop instead.

Emma Beryl from Home Polish had brought over the quartz as a choice from the beginning, but I liked the marble and was willing to risk it. After listening to a few of you express your marble regrets, I was reminded of the white couches that we bought for the house three years ago. “They are Sunbrella fabric so they will wipe clean,” I told you all. Turns out, they don’t wipe as clean as I would like and they drive me and Mike a bit mad.

So, thank you for the reminder. Quartz it is.

I have a feeling people are going to have similar opinions about our bathrooms, so I’m both excited and a little scared to share with you our thoughts so far. My goal is to modernize both the guest/girls bathroom and the master bathroom, as well as add some additional storage space.

Currently, our master bathroom has a pedestal sink which is totally impractical. I hang my hair appliances over the towel rack, next to the toilet, which is not only ugly, but seems a little bit dangerous. We have a big tub which nobody has ever actually taken a bath in. Mike and I are both exclusively shower people. Nothing would make me happier than a walk-in shower. Our bathroom is also designed in a what I will call a “tuscan style” which has no relation to anything else in our apartment whatsoever.

Our guest bathroom doesn’t have a medicine cabinet, which is ridiculous when you live in such a small space. We have a small skinny cabinet next to the mirror (see picture below), in which I precariously balance make-up and band aids and Neosporin on top of each other, just waiting for the one compact or nail polish I put back in incorrectly, so that all my toiletries coming tumbling down like a bathroom version of Jenga.

Also, it’s worth noting that I currently have all my stuff in the girls bathroom cabinet, which I assume they will take over eventually. The guest bath also has these hideous handles on the tub that look like it was originally meant for a nursing home.

And the shower heads in both bathrooms are too high, so that I have to stand on my tippy toes to make sure my hair gets properly rinsed. God knows what’s still in Mazzy’s hair, now that she showers and rinses herself.

So, as I was saying. More storage. More modern. Less Tuscan. Less geriatric.

11 photos that are inspiring both bathroom renovations:

1) I am in love with this tile.

Source: Futurist Architecture

2) I like the contrast of white tiled walls with the dark hexagon on the floor.

Source: Apartment Therapy

3) I seem to have a thing for blues and teals.

Source: Sunset

4) I also seem to like brass fixtures.

Source: Crow Decor

5) I love clean clear glass showers.

Source: Studio Matsalla

6) I keep gravitating towards floating sink storage with drawers instead of a cabinet.

Source: One Kin Design

7) I like bringing in a wood element with all the tile.

Source: Novelle Vie Haiti

8) I love the wire-y looking reading lamps used as sconces.

Source: Arch Daily

9) I like black accents and contrast

Source: Inside Out

10) I love how modern and clean this looks

Source: Residence Style

11) Once again, Mazzy had to make sure her favorite bathroom was on my Pinterest board for consideration. Not sure we can pull this look off.

Source: Lushome

Emma decided that we would use the blues, brass fixtures and more fun tile options in the guest bathroom and keep the simple, more modern,  sophisticated looking options in the master bathroom. I know everyone loves the shower curtain in the girls bath, but it’s time to let it go. We are going to look into ways to remove the handles on the tub, without the expense and hassle of completely removing the whole tub, and then install a glass door. We’ll use a wallpaper on the portion that isn’t tiled to keep it young and fun.

For the master, we’re going to create a storage unit specifically for hair appliances, with outlets on the inside which I could not be more excited about. We are going to do white tile on the walls, a dark hexagon on the floor and a beautiful glass walk-in shower, which means I will never have to replace a moldy curtain liner again.

Anyone have any words of wisdom from your own bathroom renovation? What should I watch out for?

If you’d like to follow my home decorating journey on Pinterest, you can follow along here!