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I am so incredibly happy with how this guest bath turned out. From that little idea in my head, to reality. By far the most remodeling we have done to any room in the house, and we have done quite a bit of it.

Let's first take another a quick peek at the bathroom before:

It was just so yellow before. Take a look at some more befores here and the mood board.

Then we did all the behind the scenes stuff. You know, plumbing and plumbing and more plumbing. For all your plumbing images needs, take a look here.

We also moved the window

Looks so weird, right?

We needed to make space for the new vanity that would go where the window was. We could have just left the window, but I really wanted a mirror there. For another type of house you could have done other things for a mirror, like a swing arm mirror or something like that, but for this house, we both felt it was best to go all the way and move the window over.

Here is how we shuffled the floor plan around:

          

Floor plan before                            Floor plan after

Here are the after photos. You know, the good stuff... Don't you just love a before and after post? I love it so much I dedicated a whole category to it!






Yes I made a little wreath and hung it on the towel hook. Because.






Our powder room turned full bath!

There are two main design elements, that I think make this room work and feel uncluttered even though it's a three piece bath now in a 36 sq ft space. First, we made the vanity shallow but let it span the entire focal wall which makes it seem substantive without taking up a lot of room.

The vanity is only 12 inches deep below the sink, and only 5.5 inches on the very shallow part - where the toilet rolls are stored. The sink comes out over the edge of the tabletop by a couple of inches.

The second element is the clear glass shower enclosure which makes the shower nearly invisible. Nearly. I think it works really well.



Here is the list of materials we used.

Paint color Silver Setting by Dunn-Edwards.
Deer head. What is a bathroom without a deer head? ZGallerie.
Nexus wall cabinets. IKEA
Light gray cement colored ceramic 12x24 floor tile,  Marazzi tile
Tahiti Unpolished Pebble Tile, Big Sky Flooring
Loft Natural White polished1x4in glass tile, The Glass Tile Store.
White porcelain 6x8 subway tile, Home Depot
Bath towels - aqua, Bed Bath & Beyond
Bastig knobs, IKEA
Grohe Atrio wall mount faucet, FaucetDirect
My son's artwork
DIY topiary. I posted about it here
Soap dispenser, Target
Green mini vase here, IKEA
Glass Votives, IKEA
Kohler Persuade Comfort height with Saile quiet close seat, FaucetDirect
Levelor mahogany roman shade, Lowes
Ron Bow vessel sink, FaucetDirect
American Standard Berwick rain shower head and lever, FaucetDirect
Possini dandelion pendent, Lamps Plus

I have to tell you, we learned so much about bathrooms and plumbing and digging up garage floors from this project. Almost more than I ever wanted to know.

It was fun and at times frustrating, but in the end incredibly rewarding.

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Want to see our other IkeaHackers.net feature? Our entertainment center with fireplace was featured in October last year.
Living room entertainment center with fireplace

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And the bathroom one more time side by side:



Have you ever been taking on a big remodel before? I love remodeling. Do you have secret storage for your tissue? Let me know if the comment!

Every Christmas we bake these cookies. They are incredibly crispy and have a nice spiced, sweet flavor to them. We use them for gifts sometimes as well.



Here is how we make them.

(This recipe is adapted from a recipe in God Mad - Let at Lave. The book I have is from the '70s or '80s and I can't find it online. This looks to be an updated version)

I have changed the recipe slightly. I have adapted it to American measuring units, Fahrenheit and available ingredients in the US.




Recipe
2 sticks of butter
1 cup of sugar (I used organic sugar from Trader Joes)
3/4 cups of dark Karo syrup.
2 tsp baking soda (I use the kind that is aluminum free from Mother's Market)
1 tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cloves
3 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup of slivered almonds
3 cups of flour. (I use Red Mills Organic unbleached flour)

Here is the same recipe in the metrics version:
250 g. butter
200 g. sugar (I used organic sugar from Trader Joes)
200 g. dark Karo syrup.
2 tsp baking soda (potash) (I use the kind that is aluminum free from Mother's Market)
1 tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cloves
3 tsp ground cinnamon
50 g of slivered almonds
500 g flour. (I use Red Mills Organic unbleached flour)

Oven: 175C for 5-7 minutes.


Combine sugar, syrup and butter in a pot on the stove. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat. Looks like the above.

Mix a couple of tbls of water with the baking soda, stir, then mix into the sugar/butter.


 It will start to foam like this:
 
Let it cool. The cooler you let it get before the next step, the easier it will be to form logs.

Mix the spices with the flour.


Then mix with the cooled sugar/butter/baking soda. Stir well. Kneed it with your hands, then add the almonds. Form two logs that are about 2 inches in diameter. Roll in plastic wrap and put in the fridge until the next day.

The next day you make a secure cutting surface by putting a moist dish rag or dish towel under your cutting board like this: (website only)



Then cut the log into thin slices.


Place the slices like this on a baking sheet that you greased (with butter) so lightly that you can barely see it. Only grease the baking sheets the first time. After that just spread out the grease that is already there between each batch with a piece of paper towel.

I work with two sheets at a time so I can prepare one sheet while the other one is in the oven.


Bake them at 375-400F for about 5-6 minutes.

Oh no, why is the temperature a range, you might think. In the past 13 years I have lived in 6 different houses and when making these the temperature has varied quite a bit.

Here is how I figure out the temperature with a new oven:
I set the oven to 375F and bake for 5 minutes. If they do not look done after that, it dial it up to 390 or 400F. If they look burnt after 5 minutes I dial it down. The cookies should be done in about 6 minutes at the most. If it takes you 8 minutes to bake them, then the oven is too cool and they will not get as crispy. They will still taste great though


Let cool on a rack.


Then let cool completely before putting them in air-tight containers. Then they will last 3 weeks. That is - if you haven't eaten them all before then...

And here is the money shot:


ISO 5000
Aperture 5.6
Shutterspeed 1/50