Extreme(ly Small) Bathroom Makeover

The remodel is proceeding at breakneck speed. All the tile is set but not grouted. I'm not sharing progress photos this time because I'm not there to take many, but my daughter snapped a few of the "befores" right before the tear-out commenced, and we will definitely have to do a "big reveal" for Delaney when it's all done. She saw the tile and gasped - and there's still no toilet or sink/vanity in place!

This afternoon I left work a little early and slogged down to a materials supplier (the countertop connection) just south of downtown, to find a granite remnant for the countertop. I met with the contractor, and we spent some time holding the door sample and floor tile samples against various hunks of granite. That's actually quite hard to do - the one I thought was PERFECT before he arrived with the cabinet sample was just slightly "off" and a hint too yellow against the wood. Others were too gray, too dark, too whatever to work.

While I was waiting for him to arrive (I got there first because I just managed to jump on I-4 ahead of the 4 p.m. downtown meltdown) I had looked around in the small, dusty showroom (this is a working shop, not a fancy, showy place, and everything in it is coated in stone dust). The guy also carries Silestone, and I didn't have my heart set on granite, so I browsed the other solid surface options. I looked at the Silestone display, and reached for the one I liked best, wiped the dust off, flipped it over and read the label. It was, naturally, Giallo Quarry, the counter I selected for my new kitchen. It is by far my favorite Silestone, and is so much prettier in real life than on their website.

I showed it to my contractor when he arrived and it looked fabulous with the door sample. So we took that sample out to test it against the remnants in the yard, and boom, he found the chunk of granite that would work in minutes.

I hadn't even noticed it because it was on the other side of a stack. He spotted it, it was right and it already has a finished bullnose edge. (A bullnose edge is a premium finish.) It's big enough to yield the top and the backsplash pieces, and I can't wait to see it cut and in place, because it's definitely dramatic - it has the warm, earthy amber tones that work with the tile and vanity, with lightning strikes of a contrasting gray/putty color that make it interesting and dramatic.

At the rate the work is progressing (these guys show up at 7:30 a.m. and don't take lunch) the room should be done Thursday, granite guy willing and the stars align. My daughter and I have agreed we need to give Delaney a Big Reveal Moment - she saw the torn out room ("Oh no, bathroom is broken!") and tonight she oohed at the new tile, but when it's all done and she can have an inaugural bubble bath in the pretty new bathroom with the non-leaking tub, that is an event!