What I have to work with...

You've seen my posts about my dreams of a new bathroom.  I thought I should post a couple of pics of what it looks like right now.  I see a picture in my head of what I want, but I'm not altogether certain it will work...

Right side of bath

I absolutely love my apothecary cabinet...but may need to sacrifice it for counter and mirror space.  I could probably move it to the living room or kitchen...but it makes me sad...

My sink area does NOT function well at all.  The faux drawer is a waste of a drawer and there is no shelf in the lower cabinet area, so all I can do is try to keep stuff organized on the bottom while vast amounts of space go unused!

I have pretties in the apothecary cabinet, and a few perfume bottles (I once thought about collecting them and then gave up on it!).  The bottom shelf holds a basket which stores my blow dryer and curling iron and hot sticks.  I have a basket on the floor in front of the apothecary cabinet (not shown in photo) that holds my towels.  It works ok...but there has to be a better way.

Left side of bath

The tub butts up agains the wall at the end.  This is the side of the bath I am MOST unhappy with.  For starters, when this bathroom was gutted, I knew absolutely nothing about bathrooms.  My contractor advised me to get a tub surround (even though there was no shower EVER in this bathroom).  The only tub surrounds I found at Lowe's and Home Depot was for a shower.  So...I bought it.  Instead of telling me about my mistake and making intelligent suggestions, my contractor CUT THE SURROUND DOWN TO SIZE and installed it!  No trim, no nothing except an ugly caulk line that I cannot ever get clean.

In addition to that, the "cabinet" at the end of the tub...it used to be a ceiling to floor cabinet with two doors.  The top door held linens and such, the bottom was for a clothes hamper.  I wanted this bathroom to be bigger, so I asked him to make it smaller, which he did.  I asked for a cabinet door on the outside with a removable shelf on the inside, which he DID NOT!  The only way to access the inside of this total waste of space cabinet is to hit the underside of the lid and pray you don't damage the sheetrock, since he also failed to install it with hinges!  So...needless to say...I don't use this cabinet at all.

As for dimensions...the bathroom itself is almost square.  The sides in the pictures are 83" each or 6.9 linear feet.  The two sides not pictured each contain a pocket door as they connect my bedroom to my daughters bedroom.  The door sides are 80" each or 6.6 linear feet with one exception - there is a small "buildout" wall behind the toilet that is 5" deep. 

The space from the outer edge of the sink cabinet to the wall on the other side of the apothecary cabinet is 53" or 4.4 linear feet.  The sink cabinet is 22" deep and 33" tall.  I would like this cabinet to be 36" tall.

The cabinet at the end of the tub (from the wall to the tub) is 24" or 2 linear feet.  It is 29" deep and 32" tall.  I would like to make this cabinet about 60".  My dream would be to incorporate a drawer (or 2) at the bottom deep enough to hold a rectangular laundry basket for dirty clothes.  I would like a cabinet with a shelf on the top portion, but I also want some way for the side facing the tub to be useful...or at least appealing and in sync with the overall ambience of the bathroom.

There is no window in this bathroom.  The only lighting is the 3 bulb fixture over the mirror, which I don't care for.  There is a "heater" in the ceiling that is never used and would be better served with another, more attractive, light.  Currently I have a linoleum type floor.  I would prefer tile.  I am looking for a pretty, but easy to maintain, countertop...like Corian.

As far as color schemes go...my favorite color is green - just about any shade of green.  I am also loving the dark plums and raisin colors right now.   I like brushed nickel, pewter, and iron oxide, so I'm open to most of that...just not bright and shiny fixtures that show a lot of smudges.  This bathroom is used A LOT!  And with two daughters, we go through hairspray like it's going out of style.  You can imagine how much I need a functional bathroom that is pretty but easy to keep clean.

Last of all, I need to give you an idea of my style preference.  I am a mix between country, cottage, shabby chic, and french country.  Not overly frilly but definitely feminine and airy.

So...any ideas?  Any help?  Any suggestions?  I'm open...please let me hear from you.  I am hoping to remodel this bathroom after the first of the year (2013).

K.  Bye, now!