Dear Readers, even though we're still rolling ahead to the finals with our Smallest Coolest Competition, we're shifting part of our focus to Bathrooms this month, as we usually devote a month to each room of the home.
Recently a reader wrote in with the offer to send in pics of the ugliest bathroom in the world (hers). We, of course, said send it in. But we also now invite all of you to send in tips, pics and questions that will help inspire others to improve this difficult little room.
But just to fill you in on the status of Small Cool 2006:
1. We enlarged our finalist field by 2 and selected 12 finalists yesterday by reading your votes.
2. We also decided to look at the whole pool of submissions together (East and West), since there were more Eastern entries.
3. We then cross checked our findings against comments and whether the submission was earlier or later in the month and found consistency on all levels.
4. The 12 finalists are a surprisingly (and nicely) VARIED group, including rentals and owners, Easterners and Westerners, and homes of all sizes.
5. The finalists have been notified and you will get to see their new and improved submissions starting next Monday, April 10.
6. This week we will be rolling out our 6 Judges' personal choices for Special Mention.
More late on this AT.com station.
No--I have the ugliest bathroom in the world! I demand an AT contest that I can win!
I thought I read somewhere in read comments that there was a bathroom contest last year... anyone have tips on how to view it?
Heather -- I can't find a main page for the bathroom contest, but you can get all the entries by doing this:
1. Go to Google, and click "Advanced Search".
2. Type "my bathroom rocks" in the top search field.
3. Then go down to DOMAIN and put apartmenttherapy.com in that search box. Leave the drop-down set to ONLY. Click Search.
This almost always works better than AT's internal search function.
Heather C--
Archives >> Competitions >> "My Bathroom Rocks!"
Thanks Wende & Patrick...already thinking about stained glass in the bathroom and I haven't even finished unpacking! Curses! I need an unpacking fairy!
the alternative to Wende's method - if you feel like saving a click or two :)
"my bathroom rocks" site:apartmenttherapy.com
in the google search box.
ugh! we live in an age-old brooklyn rental with an equally age-old landlord and have a very, very ugly bathroom. from floor and wall tiles in clashing shades of salmon, to grout that recalls a subway platform, poor ventilation, zero storage, leaky ceiling. ugh ugh ugh. i guess there's a lot of pent-up bathroom rage here. it's been festering as i consider participating in the group cure.
anyway it's hard to know where to begin. probably with paint and grout. but i am absolutely puzzled as to what color could possibly complement http://www.figandplum.com/archives/bathroom1.JPG
">this tile
any ideas?
and for the record (don't judge!) here's the nasty floor, old paint drips and all.
(i know this post was a call for inspiration and that this comment is more of a cry for help. sorry!)
whoops! the photo links didn't show up. here's the wall tile:
http://www.figandplum.com/archives/bathroom1.JPG
and the floor:
http://static.flickr.com/37/122178169_d2f6582a02_m.jpg
What breed of cat is that?
Are there any commercial manufacturers of long tubs?
Most tubs these days are very standard in length (Short) it'd be nice tosee some that a tall person had lay down in.
o COOL!
I didn't know last year's bathrooms were archived
[click my name for link]
I think it would be hilarious to have pix of a different
awful bathroom for the crowd to dig into
each day or week
Finally, a group of contestants who'd WANT critiques...
and jess,
that orange tile shows alot of possibility to me
send it to Maxwell for a Good Questions segment!
in the meantime
paint comes off tile with a razor blade -- those flat single edge ones from the hardware store
Fred, how long is long?
Kohler does 6' tubs and you can search specifically for that size on their website.
It's a Siamese, probably lilac point.
jess, is that really the color of your bathroom or do you have an orange filter on your lens? YOWSA!
Anne - The tile is actually quite solidly a salmon as interpreted by crayola, with pink and orange but more pink. It probably looks more orangey in the shot because of my camera or monitor settings. The floor is a lighter version of the same color - light salmony pink. Call it "canned salmon."
Guido - thanks for seeing the hope!
Any suggestions for cleaning old bathroom tile? I love the tile floors and wall in my bathroom, but I've read that strong cleansers can damage old grout and my tile is pretty grey.
Sarahw
- allow me to be the first on this thread to recommend Mr. Clean Magic Eraser-it's so much fun you will go through your apartment looking for more dirty surfaces. Target makes a generic now, too, but I haven't tested it yet.
ONLY thing that cleans my bathtub white.
Jess, I actually like your tiles, though it looks like the floor is not in great shape (just like my tile floor). Anyway, I say look on the bright side: you have black tile trim, which goes with everything. Black also works really well as a sort of neutral -- harmonizing colors that might not otherwise work together. I say forget about matching the salmon, just find another strong color that you like and perhaps add a few more black accents.
do you think it would be bad to paint it brown? i think a nice chocolate brown would be kinda nifty with the salmon. but something *completely* immature in me is wary of brown in the bathroom.
jess!
now you're talking!
do something demented to make this bathroom fun instead of dowdy.
if you need to workshop it,
tape up a piece of brown paper or a brown shirt or sheet or SOMETHING to help you visualize. I think brown'd would be a fun way to go with canned salmon.
I *am* a little disappointed that the tile is not
flaming orange tho
: )
Jess -- Chocolate brown walls, and a shower curtain with a mod pattern that includes the brown, the salmon (and/or a lighter shade of the salmon), and a bluish green or greenish blue.
Jess, brown would be swell if you didn't had black accents already.
Besides, your bathroom is small (right?), do you want to make it even tinier with dark values?
Since it looks like the last time it was updated in the 40's, it would make sense to look into Art Deco patterns/color combinations of roughly same era, and just follow that up with contemporary fixtures in polished stainless or chrome (nothing dull, like aluminum or wood).
I would go with cool gray, may be with a greenish or purplish shade in it. Barbra had a house in Malibu that she sold about 10 yrs ago, done in authentic Art Deco- your combo of salmon, grey and black was prevalent.
But first, before any paint selction etc you should solve your ventilation and ceiling leak problems, or all your eforts will be ruined.
thanks wende & tat! this is great advice, so helpful. tat, by barbra do we mean barbra streisand?
you're right - smallness was my other reservation with the chocolate brown, and i hadn't considered a grey. that's a definite possibility. i worry slightly that the cool grey light reflected from the wall will make us look grey-tinted in the mirror. but i don't know.
as for fixtures... we're not in a position to do those just now (or fix our ventilation or ceiling problems we rent and our landlord will not do more than the shoddy job he's already done). it doesn't bother me to have to revisit the paint job in a couple of years, and if it's either do that or do nothing i'd rather paint.
When do we get another coolest bathroom contest?
Yes, that Barbra. (and what a house that was! complete with porcelaine borzois flanking the dressing room and huge Tamara de Lempicka painting, that kinda thing)
The greenish tint: if you use incandecent light sources,or even warm white compact fluorescent-you're fine with you complexion.
jess, could that be your lendlord finally decided to replace the toilet to matching color? (click on my name)
O.My.God.
if he thought it was free, that's a distinct possibility. i'll keep my eyes peeled for any installation of salmon toilets that may occur. i could use that $250 reward to fund some apartment therapy!
I'm in the middle of a gut renovation and I'm currently focused on the Bath. Below is a link to a PDF of the bath plan in progress.
http://www.awardshow.name/temp/bath.pdf
It is very small, aprox. a 6.5' square that opens onto a very narrow hallway. Fortunately we have 12' ceilings that open the space up (however, due to complications I won't bore you with, we had to drop the bath ceiling to 11.5'). I've put in a very wide 42" pocket door that basically moves almost the entire wall, and I will be mounting a 6.5'w x 8'h mirror on the oposite wall of the hallway to open the space up more. The sink is a Hastings Domino 75 (my big splurge), and the toilet is a commercial Toto model with flushometer. The bath hardware is a mix of several brands, sticking to a chrome cylinder theme. The link to the illustration does not yet show the accessories (towel racks, etc. by USE:) that stick to this chrome cylinder theme as well. The hanging pendant lamp indicated in the drawing is a shell lamp (small size) that my wife found at DWR (her splurge).
I'm struggling with the over-mirror lighting. The budget has already been blown, and I'm trying not to go over $400, preferably not over $300 for this specific item.
Right now, the "Llisa Wall Light" is at the top of my list, at a fairly resonable $365:
http://lightingbygregory.com/Merchant2/graphics/00000001/vibia/8032_grande.jpg
Other contenders have been the Artemide "Basic Strip" at $110-
(which is a little wide, at 36")
http://store1.yimg.com/I/ylighting_1888_34781713
And George Kovacs' "Bath"-
(A little small at 24" and only avail. in brushed ss, while the bath is all in chrome)
http://store1.yimg.com/I/ylighting_1893_4539040
I'm all ears for other options.
Theme - Modern/Simple, Chrome, (probably a Cylinder)
Thank you for any advice.
please enter me in the ugliest bathroom contest! mine is the worst and my house is old so please write me back! that way i'll know if ya' got this letter. plus this computer is not mine, but i always watch your show and love it!!!! my #14323525226! thanks, tx lady
Jess, I have the same color bathroom you did. I didn't think anyone in the world had those colors besides me.
I just got through painting them. I called Benjamin Moore and they recommended a special primer. Can't remember the name, but you paint it on, wait 1-2 weeks and paint your tile. It looks amazing! A whole new bathroom. I finally got rid of the Godawful orange and black.
Do yourself a favor, and get rid of the ugly black. Nothing goes with it and it screams 50's.
I painted my tiles Benj Moore Sea Urchin (creamy tan) and painted the black tiles a creamy white.
People thought I was crazy but I bought self adhesive vinyl tiles, threw a big rug over it and the bathroom actually looks great.
My advice, and I just butted in here-get rid of the color.
Believe me I tried everything to match that salmon and nothing does.