Hey there, and long time no see! I had great ambitions of blogging all along our building journey so that you could follow along. Yeah, right. It was just impossible to keep up on the blog, building, and design work. So here we are – finished and moved in, and I’m back to blogging ;-). Now that my head is above water again, I want to show you the powder bath and utility room in our new home.

I partnered with LiLi Tile on this project. Although I was not compensated, the product was provided at no cost. The labor and installation costs were paid for by me. This post also contains some affiliate links.  As with all my posts, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

First off, here are the design boards that I made 10 months ago to guide my design decisions for these rooms. This first one is our main powder bath. My design vision for our bathrooms (and our whole home, really) was simple: black, white, and natural wood tones (with lots of textures thrown in later on through accessories).

So let me explain the details:

• Shiplap on the walls – painted BM French Beret for a deep, rich look
• A fresh and bold cement tile for the floors – I chose this crisp black and white pattern (Stella 1 from LiLi Cement Tiles)
• Wood vanity with floating shelf below to add warmth and character
• Brass faucet, mirror, and sconces for a little bling

I wanted the room to be pretty, but not fussy, and I think that’s exactly how she came out! Here are some shots of the actual bathroom:

As you might have noticed, the mirror changed slightly from the design board. I ended up deciding to use the round mirror in our upstairs bath (I’ll show you in a post soon) and went with an antique mirror that I already owned here. It doesn’t show as well in pictures because the glass is antique and doesn’t photograph crisply, but it’s so pretty!

Right next to this powder bath, we have a utility room for storing all that not-so-pretty stuff like vacuums, brooms, cleaning supplies and lightbulbs.

Here’s the design board for the utility room. You can see that I used the same tile from LiLi Cement Tiles to tie the two rooms together (they’re really very small, so I wanted them to feel related and continuous). I repeated with the brass accents in the form of the pendant light and the black cabinet hardware to dress up this little space.

Here’s the finished room – and by the way, both of these rooms are so small that they are incredibly difficult to photograph. I had to use a wide angle lens to capture a couple of these shots.

I have received so many messages on my Instagram posts from people who are in the middle of a building or reno project and thanking me for the design inspiration. It makes me so happy that some of you are able to take some of these design ideas I share and use them in your own homes! So just in case you are in the design stages of a new build, or even a reno, let me show you a cool way to choose tiles for your own project – and customize them to boot!

I happened to find a stock tile that I LOVE from LiLi tile. However, sometimes the stock tiles just don’t capture everything you’re hoping to add to a space through using tile. That’s where custom tiles come in very handy. LiLi tile has a Custom Tile Simulator on their blog here. It’s super simple to use, and super easy to play around with colors, patterns, and borders.

Here’s one example that I played with. First I chose a pattern:

Then I changed the colors:

You can also change things like grout color, grout thickness, and size, and you can even add borders! Then you can put it in a room environment and see how you like it.

Maybe it’s just me and my design nerdiness, but I love playing around with simulators like this, and this one is extremely helpful if you just can’t find the perfect stock tile for your project. It’s also helpful to see how the size looks in a simulated room.

So if you can’t find the exact tile ready made and waiting for you, try giving a custom tile from LiLi Tile a shot.

I really love how my powder bath and mudroom came together. I love the clean, simple lines and the uncluttered feel that the black, white, and natural wood focus has given to my home. The tile is only one element of the space, but it makes a big impact, so it’s important to get it right.

Thanks for stopping by today! I’ll be sharing more of my home now that I’m catching my breath and we’re getting all the details pulled together. So stop by often for updates. You can also check my Instagram account, where I share lots of details of my home. Have a great day!

SHOP THIS POST