Powder Room Renovation

This is a project that ate up a whole bunch of our Saturdays this summer. It's been done for a few weeks but I've been waiting to take pictures until I finished decorating the shelves, which STILL isn't done. I want a chrome or silver Eiffel Tower to go where the picture is now. Wouldn't you know, all my trips to TJ Maxx, Home Goods, Ross, etc, BEFORE I was looking to buy one and I saw tons, now that I want one, there are none to be found. Anyways, onto the good stuff!

Ta-Da! I love it. I'm usually a 'light, airy, white' kind of person, but this room gets zero natural light when my laundry room door is closed (as in the 'after picture) so I decided to just work with that and go a little moodier with the colors. Here are some other 'before' shots:

top left: in the middle of re-finishing the vanity doors (using this tutorial,) Top right: We are never lacking helpers, look at Kate double timing that brush and roller. Bottom left: Renovations get sooo messy, and tend to spread their way out over the whole house. Bottom right: new tile!

And that's about it! This room is small and hard to photograph, plus, I'm just not all that good at pictures like this. Here is a breakdown of what we did for those interested.

-Removed wallpaper, painted walls & put up bead board wallpaper, chair rail and crown moulding. (bead board WALLPAPER guys. It's awesome. I wouldn't use it in an extremely busy area, as it does scratch and dent fairly easily, but in here I think it will be fine. Also, I think I'm going to use it on the ceiling in the upstairs bath. Perfect for that!)

-Replaced the mirror. Originally we intended to cut down the old one and frame it. Guys., listen, we got this mirror for 24 dollars at Home Goods. You can't buy the supplies for that. Much less the cure for the headache trying to square up a home made frame will cause. Check out stores like that before stressing too much over getting your old mirror off the wall in one piece to cut it down.

-Replaced light, sink/counter, and faucet.

-Refinished the vanity with the tutorial I linked above. Use the gel stain she recommends, I think it's basically foolproof, it was seriously the easiest paint job I've ever done. Just make sure to take the time between coats. It just looks so rich and pretty in person.

-Tiled the floor and hung some floating shelves. I like the shelves okay, but use your own screws! The ones that come with it are terrible, and you will strip them before you can really get your shelf secured down tight.