Last time we talked about the hall bathroom, we hashed out the plans we have for the space (read more about that here). This time, we’re talking finishes and fixtures. Or as I like to call it, “the fun stuff”! While searching for the perfect brick-ranch-fixer-upper, I collected a pretty hefty folder of inspiration photos. When it came to the bathrooms, here are a few of my favorites:

It’s easy to collect photos of bathrooms that make you swoon. But when it comes down to actually narrowing all of your inspirations and being realistic while staying on budget … it can be murder! Never in a million years did I think that picking out tile would be so complicated. So. Many. To. Choose. From. Where is Candice Olson when I need her? But then we wouldn’t be staying on our budget, now would we? Haha! Oh, I wish… Okay, back down to earth.

As you can clearly see from my favorite inspiration photos, I love white. It’s crisp. It’s clean. And I love it.  But when it comes down to it, cleaning a bathroom surrounded by white subway tile … after a year or two, could and would become very old. Aside from that, though I love the crisp, white photos, Greg loves dark wood and warm colors.

One thing we both like is classic, clean lines. Seeing as how we are planning on using similar, if not identical, fixtures when we are ready to tackle that master bathroom (for the sake of cohesiveness), I really wanted to have a bathroom that we would both enjoy.

With inspiration photos in hand (or in our iPhones I should say), we headed over to Morris Tile Distributors, Inc. here in Richmond. With the largest local inventory, we knew that we would definitely find something we loved. A 7,500 square foot designer showroom… who wouldn’t find something? And sure enough, we did. We decided on this lovely ceramic tile called Sabbia Dorato by American Olean.

Going into the tile-picking-out-process, I wasn’t too keen on ceramic tile. But this isn’t your normal ceramic tile. It has a lovely marbling design that makes it look more like marble than ceramic. We also love how each tile is different. It has touches of both warm and light tones. It also has a touch of grey – meaning it would flow nicely from the hallway paint color. Another thing that made us go gaga over this tile is the finish. It isn’t super shiny like a lot of ceramic tile. It has a dull, almost sand stone look to it – which we l.o.v.e.

Once the tile was picked out, the other elements of the space came together rather quickly. And so, without further ado, here is what we feel to be the perfect marriage of our styles:

1. We’ve already gushed about how much we love this tile. Check their website for distributors in your area. For those of you in the Richmond area, you can find this at Morris Tile Distributors.

2. For the countertop, we decided to bypass granite and go with Quartz. We chose quartz for a few reasons: it’s harder, less prone to chipping and you don’t need to seal it. We have yet to pick out the exact piece, but we do know that we are going to go with a milky, white color.

3. The bathroom vanity  was a bit larger than the standard size (83″ to be exact). So we opted to get one custom made through our local Home Depot. As far as design, we are going with the classic shaker doors in an espresso finish. The dark finish (which is what Greg prefers) will really warm up the space and pull out the dark tones in the tile.

4. We chose simple, clean lined light fixtures in a satin nickel finish. Keeping the design very simple will help give the bathroom a more modern touch rather than super traditional.

5. White linens tucked in the open shelving of the vanity will tie in nicely with the white shower curtain and give that crisp white element that I love so much.

6. I know this may sound really odd… but I love this toilet. It has really classic lines and the molding detail really makes a statement rather than just being an ordinary toilet.

7. These faucets will look great paired with the nickel light fixtures. I call this look “Classic Contemporary”. It’s classic because it had sort of a “molding” element on the base while the overall fixture is very square. You get the best of both worlds without going too far one way or the other.

8. As far as accessories, we want to keep it simple, uncluttered and classic. These Apothecary Jars will look stunning between the sinks. Now the only trouble will be deciding what to fill them with! So many choices…

9. We actually had the same shower curtain in our apartment and we loved it. So we are bringing it in again in this bathroom (this time an extra long one).

And there it is! The perfect marriage of crisp whites and warm woods… or what works for us. Wish us luck as we start the instillation process!

Inspiration images from here, here, here, here and here.