Tuesday, September 24, 2013

The Longest Bathroom Makeover Ever!

I don't even remember when we started this project, but it was a looong time ago, I can tell you that! :)  And I don't really have any "before" pictures.

The biggest goal was to get rid of the boring, ugly wallpaper and make it look pretty.  Oh, and to spend as little money as possible.

I've learned something over the last few years.  There is no reason to live with ugly just because the "dream" room can't be a reality yet.  There is a dream for this room.  A claw foot tub, bead board, new ceiling, double vanity made from an old dresser, and to replace this giant, 70's mirror with double framed ones.  But that will have to wait for a good long while.  So, in the meantime.....

We stripped the wall paper off.  The first layer was a cinch!  The next?  Not so much.  Plaster walls do not like to have their paper covering removed!  Slowly, but surely, after many months of looking at walls that reminded me of the inside of a Bravo restaurant (without the cool factor) we finally have walls with no wallpaper and nice, clean white paint.


Storage is at a high premium in this house.  No wasting closet space on toilet paper!

The bad thing about clean, white walls though, is that old white trim and doors don't look so white anymore.  I was hoping a really good cleaning would fix that and I wouldn't have to paint the trim and doors too, but no such luck.  It's no telling how long it has been since they were painted.  I still haven't done the doors.  I like the fact that they look old, so I'm going to try one of those Magic Eraser things to just get them really clean.  The trim looks so much better, I should have done that ages ago!!

Now this very white room needed a little color.



I've had this shower curtain from Eddie Bauer for years and years.  Whatever I paid for it, it was worth it.  This is one of those times when I ended up being thankful that I didn't have the "freedom" to go out and buy what I wanted.  I had seen a yellow shower curtain that I wanted, but since it wasn't free, I tried to think of how I could liven this one up.  It's not that I'm bragging about what I did, but it's so much better because not only do I now have a curtain with yellow, I have these other pretty colors too.  Perfect!




I did end up buying more fabric for the curtains and some spray paint for the hamper.  My friend, who is a genius, helped me decide where to hang things and gave me the paint for the cabinet.  All the little pictures are from antique or thrift stores that I have collected over time, except for the hoops with fabric in them.

This was before the curtains were finished and all the fabric hoops on the wall, but it was the only one I had of the cabinet.  Just ignore that space heater.  There isn't anywhere to really store it in the "off season".




I love it now.  It's not perfect.  The walls are plaster. It's 100 years old house and we were not willing to try to make it look like it is brand new.   So don't look too close.  Just enjoy the bright, cheeriness of it.
(even though for the life of me, I could not get these pictures to be bright!  Just trust me.)



3 comments:

  1. Colleen! The first word I thought of was "bravo", too! Ha! (it must be a sister thing)

    Sharron... Bravo!! :) It looks so cute and so you! You may never want to do anything more!

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