Blank Slate: Man-Cave Bathroom Style

It’s about that time again. You know, the one where you find yourself buried under the oppressive weight of two million paint swatches? Yeah. I’m there.

The good news is that we’ve completed enough drywall in the station so that I can actually think about what to do with the tile, paint, and colors. The bad news is that I’m designing a bathroom for a man-cave, and, uh, contrary to the fact that I own really big powertools, I’m not a dude.

I was thinking maybe we should just replicate the bathroom as it was before the remodel. I like to call this “Prison Bathroom in Seafoam Green.”

DSC_0785

Okay, enough jokes. I acutally had to avert my eyes from the screen for a minute because that picture gives me a compulsive urge to take a shower and disinfect. Thoroughly.

Obviously we’ve made some progress since then. And if you’re wondering who the brave soul was that removed that toilet, which was not empty by the way, let me just say this: Not. It.

Since in a previous life this was a gas station there were actually two “facilities” which we combined into one full bath. As you can see, I was using household objects to represent our future bathroom fixtures for visualization purposes. The step ladder is in the place of our future commode, and the broom is currently standing in for a urinal. Hey, I said it was a man-cave.

DSC_0741

You can also see that I added a partition wall between the urinal and the sink. Because the longer I thought about it the more likely it seemed that some dumbass might try to do a trickshot and switch his aim from the urinal to the sink midstream.

DSC_0735

The blueboard is in place because I’m expecting to tile half-way up the walls (another design element inspired by the urinal) and under all of that dust the concrete floor looks something like this:

untitled

MysteryMan has given me free reign over the design of the room with 2 conditions:

1.) It must not be girly.

2.) I am not allowed to tile over the bathroom floor.

My personal feeling is that the bathroom should never be the same flooring as outside-of-the-bathroom, but I conceded the point this time because remodel-relationship survival is all about compromise. And holding out for the fights that really matter, to which I will just say this: Granite. Counters.

Moving on.

I’ve been picturing a palette in blacks, browns, and warm neutrals for the station. Usually I’m much more tactile when picking out colors and tile, but this time I decided to put together an idea board before I start buying samples.

It seems to be all the rage to photoshop all of your samples on to a white background, which actually is very helpful for comparison reasons and also an absolute pain in the ass if you’re trying to actually determine which product is what. I don’t know how many times I have to look at the product I like, memorize the number, scroll down and find the number in the list below it, and then scroll back up again to see the next item I liked and repeat the process, but suffice it to say enough is enough.  So I put my rudimentary flash skills to use to make this idea board slightly more interactive for you. Roll over an image for additional information and click on it to be taken to the product page.

[swfobj src=”http://diydiva.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/idea_board1.swf” alt=”Interactive Idea Board” width=”550″ height=”450″ align=”center” allowfullscreen=”true”]

If you don’t have flash on your computer you can view the static image of the idea board here.

I thought about bringing some green or another color in, but in the end I liked keeping it a bit simpler. We bought an unfinished cabinet that will be painted black and distressed, and after that I’ll be spending the rest of my natural life grouting the 7,776 one-inch tiles that it will take to do the two walls in the bathroom.

So what do you think? Is it rock-and-roll enough for a future man-cave? (Excepting the color “Pineapple Sorbet” which I will be telling MysteryMan is called “Kick You Ass Wheat, or some other similarly manly name.) Think I should add in a little more color?

10 Responses

  1. I can’t believe you’re working so hard on this bathroom reno when the previous one was fine. Really nice actually. BWAHAHAHA just kidding!

    I really like your mood board for the new bathroom. I think the scheme looks great as is. If you want more color in the bathroom maybe a manly poster with some strong reds or something would be just the thing to perk it up.

  2. My mom (and her husband, natch) put in a urinal when they remodeled their master bath several years ago. They still think it’s the best thing of the whole remodel. Theirs isn’t a full-on industrial thing though – it just looks like a little door in the wall that pops out. And it’s “green” so you get bonus points there.

    Anyway….. mood board looks good. Personally, I’m a “linens-should-always-be-white” kind of gal. Keeps things cohesive and you can bleach ’em if need be. And I would probably tone down the yellow in the paint a bit — don’t want it competing with that gorgeous floor. If it were me, I’d go with a warm grey and get some big ‘ole crusty rusty vintage sign to put on the wall. In general, I’m not a fan of yellow anyway so why am I telling you what I think?!? Ignore me and carry on….

  3. I LOVE the idea of the “crusty rusty vintage” sign to put on the wall!

    I also agree about the yellow paint, and think a light browny gray would be good (maybe in the same family as the brown shade in the tile?). Not sure how much light the room has and although the tile is GREAT (LOVE IT) it would be good to choose a light shade for paint not matter what color you go with (because the tile is dark and a good contrast is always sublime).

    I also really like the oil-rubbed bronze fixture matched with the black distressed cabinet, that is going to look AMAZING!

  4. LOL. love your posts. I like the colors… But I agree, be careful with the yellows. It could add a nice warmth. And if you’re going to add a color I agree with the red. Have you thought about stainless as an alternative scheme?

  5. Loving the suggestions from everyone. I’m in agreement on the crusty rusty vintage piece (where’s the crusty rusty vintage store again?) And Tiny’s idea of the red made me think maybe a vintage pin-up poster? We’ll have to see what I come up with.

  6. I like it. I’d probably go a tad deeper with the paint colour… I think you need something stronger to balance with the floor, otherwise the pattern and colour of the floor will just overwhelm everything else. Something like Glidden’s Warm Caramel could work, a warm brown to go with the brown tones of the floor, fixtures, and tile. A red accent would look great against that colour too.

    Like your flash-y moodboard, but if you want something easier, Polyvore does basically the same thing – clips items and allows you to click on them to see the source.

  7. Love it. Don’t add any more color. Also – I have that Kohler Memoirs sink in all of my bathrooms and I adore it. You will too. Very simple, classic, and a bit edgy without being fufu.

  8. I like it without another accent color. Maybe a smidge deeper with the paint color but you’d have to see in actually on the walls to really tell {picking paint colors drives me crazy}. It seems cohesive and easy. Neutral enough for you to add a variety of accents as the seasons of Mystery Man’s tastes change.

    Thanks for the flash, btw. Seems like it’d be a pain in the arse to do but it’s incredibly easy for the reader.

  9. Before you buy paint for any room, always look in the mistint section. You may be able to find something close to the shade you’re looking for and save a bundle in the process.

  10. I think I might go with a different color towel.. bright white is always good, plus it’s practical because you can bleach them and they look new again.. I think My hubby would love this place! You also must put a shelf in for comic books, handheld video games, or magazines for the boys to read while they are on the pot. 🙂 I won’t allow those things in my bathroom..takes away the girlyness!

    -Molly
    Antique Jewelry

Comments are closed.

I'm not interested in a mediocre life. I'm here to kick ass or die.

(formerly DIYdiva.net)