A Hotel-Inspired Half Bath
Today I’m sharing Gretchen’s half bath, inspired by the Detroit Foundation Hotel. Since our travel is limited lately, now seems like a great time to bring in all of those travel-inspired designs and decorations. This is entirely Gretchen’s design and work. I was just lucky enough to be on text train and look at all of the beautiful options and the gorgeous results. Keep reading for the details.
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The Inspiration & Background
As previously mentioned, the inspiration for this bathroom refresh was The Detroit Foundation Hotel. The Detroit Foundation Hotel is a boutique hotel located in the old Detroit Fire Department Headquarters. You can check out all of their lovely photos on Instagram here. You can also book a stay when you are ready by clicking here.
Half Bath BEFORE Photos
Here are some before photos of Gretchen’s main floor half bath. This bathroom is off the kitchen and mudroom. (It is also close to the dining room that we refreshed as part of the One Room Challenge awhile ago.)
The Vanity
The refresh began with the vanity. We headed to a local stone yard (Stoneway Marble, Granite, & Tile) to choose and order a slab of granite. Gretchen chose a black honed granite. While waiting for the countertops, she then removed the cabinet door fronts and drawers and took them outside where she cleaned, primed, and painted the vanity with spray paint in a flat finish (and had a small can matched to the spray paint color). Gretchen reconfigured the cabinets and had the plumbing moved so that the sink and cabinet were centered on the vanity. She then installed lovely champagne brass hardware and a coordinating towel ring. Even the toilet flusher matches and is a beautiful champagne brass. Anyone who has tried to coordinated brass in all of its various finishes and shades from different stores/companies knows what a huge feat this was.
The Tile
We talked about several options for the marble tile, including layout, size, etc. In the end, tile in a herringbone pattern was chosen with a border of leftover rectangular marble tile from the kitchen. The marble tiles all align with the width of the vanity, making it somewhat of a feature wall and also visually separating the vanity area from the toilet. You can see in the photo below that the electrician wired for the sconces before the tiling began.
The Mirror
Gretchen ended up with a beautiful LED mirror installed over the tile! As she and I often do, she tried a few options that she already had. But returning to the hotel inspiration photo, it had to be the LED. This mirror seems like a great price for the size and is from Costco. You can find it here. Or, if you aren’t a Costco member, you can find a similar one here.
The Sconces
Oh THE SCONCES! You may have noticed from the above photos that this was perhaps the trickiest of the design elements in the bathroom, complete with multiple ships and returns. BUT, sometimes, it is WORTH IT to keep pursuing until it is just right. The sconces are a classic yet glam addition to this half bath. Once we talked over mixing metals instead of trying to match the champagne brass on the lighting, we were on our way. But, a lot of it also came down to the light temperature. The sconces needed to match or at least be close to the light temperature of the LED mirror. Even though Gretchen was able find sconces that matched the other brass hardware in the bathroom, the lighting almost always looked yellow compared to the bright cool light of the LED mirror. The sconces that she ended up purchasing allowed for ordering the bulbs separately in a cool temperature.
The Artwork
The framed Detroit postcards above the toilet were given to Gretchen from a friend. The photos on the opposite wall were taken in Detroit by Gretchen’s dad (who was also instrumental with the art project in this post) who is an architect and professional photographer. She had them printed on thin metal here.
The Paint
Why yes- that is Benjamin Moore Frostine, one of our favorite white paint colors! I love it with the LED lighting. Of course, there were swatches first, though.
Half Bath Finale
Okay- I think that’s it! Didn’t it turn out beautifully? Well worth the wait!
Half Bath Sources
