One Room Challenge Week 4: Baseboards in a bathroom
I have just completed week 4 of the One Room Challenge™. If you’re stopping by for the first time and are not sure what the ORC is, you can read all about it here. A big shout-out to Better Homes and Gardens who is the official sponsor this year as well! This week, I’m bringing up the topic of baseboards in a bathroom. Who knew this topic was such a hot one?
One Room Challenge
A Little Background
For my ORC, I am renovating our main bathroom. You can read about the whole masculine design plan here.
What happened this past week?
First of all, the pretty is being installed! This past week, the floor tile and the tile for the bath/shower walls were installed. The very first 'pretty' that I chose for this bathroom renovation, was the flooring. With the bathroom only being 75 sq feet, I knew I couldn’t go crazy with a pattern. When I went to Deerfoot Carpet and Tile, I looked at a number of tiles and samples (some with colour and some without). As I thought about this design plan, I was leaning towards a black and white bathroom design. Almost immediately when I saw the tile (shown below), I knew it was the one! Although the tile is not black and white, I knew that I was going to incorporate some black elements into this space.
A great big thank you for Deerfoot Carpet and Tile for supplying the tile for my bathroom! Seriously, if you live in the Calgary area and are in need of great service and a variety of flooring and tile options, please check them out!
Baseboards in a bathroom
It seems like baseboards in a bathroom is a pretty hot topic. This exact topic came up in a design group that I belong to and let me tell you, there were some pretty strong opinions on this matter. I also happened to post the question on my Facebook page and people were not shy to give their opinions! First of all, did you know you had options for baseboards in a bathroom?
MDF baseboards
Let’s start by saying this is a hard no. Every. Time! MDF is never a good option in a bathroom. The minute MDF gets wet, it swells. Take a look at the image below. Enough said.
Wood baseboards - Pros
Choosing wood is a good option for baseboards in a bathroom. Wood baseboards will not swell when it gets wet. You can continue the look of baseboards that you have throughout your home into the bathroom. Wood baseboards can be stained or painted giving you lots of options to complete your space.
Wood baseboards - Cons
While you can continue the look of your wood baseboards into your bathroom, what I don't like it is that they still are a pain in the ass to clean. In my own home, the profile of our baseboards throughout our home are 1/2" in depth. That means that there is 1/2" ledge to wipe off every week. Do you think they get wiped off every week? No matter what kind of paint you use, there always seems to be dust getting stuck to the wood baseboard. It's not just as easy as taking a dust rag and wiping them off. That dust is stuck on! Wiping off these bad boys means using a damp rag (and being on your knees). Ugh.
Tile baseboards
I mentioned above that this topic came up in a designer group that I belong to. This was such a fun conversation to watch. You see, I’m a fan of tile baseboards in a bathroom. While I love to use Schleuter® to finish off the edge of the tile, this also can be a bone of contention (as some people love Schleuter® while others detest it). My tile setter is a huge fan of Schleuter®, as is my painter! Nothing says a nice, clean edge like Schleuter®. There are so many profiles and choices these days, including their Schluter®-FINEC
Baseboards in a bathroom
In the end, I always review with my clients the pros and cons of each option. I like to educate them with the knowledge and let them decide. It really is a personal choice and I believe both can look nice.For my ORC, I didn’t ask anyone in my house what they thought. Why didn't I ask anyone you may be thinking? Who do you think cleans the baseboards? Who do you think even notices the baseboards? See why I didn't ask anyone in my family for their opinion on this matter? Remember, this is going to be our son's bathroom and I know there will be some hot, steamy showers happening in this space! I also want to point out that while I am drawing attention to the tile baseboards, once everything else is installed, you most likely won't even see those baseboards!While I knew I was going to go with tile baseboards, one thing you may not know is that you need to let your tile setter know how high the baseboards should be. In keeping with the same height as our other baseboards in our home, I had the tile baseboard installed at 4” high (which is what the rest of the baseboard height is in my house). Here are what my tile baseboards look like - with Schleuter®.
The transition between our hall and the main bathroom. The blue floating shelves are not installed yet!
Here's a little sneak peek video of how the bathroom is coming together after week 4.
I know, I know....some people hate the tile baseboards while others like it. For me and my home, the decision was all based on function. I was not going to be wiping any more dust off the wood baseboards. I went for simplicity with the function over the 'pretty'. I would love to hear (and see) what you have done with baseboards in your bathrooms!
What's on deck for Week 5?
On deck for week 5 is (taking a deep breath):
- Vanity install
- Countertop Install
- Plumbing install
- Electrical install
- CLEAN
- Start to install décor items
I look forward to sharing this space with all of you!
