Upstairs bath: complete!

This bathroom was (at first) one of my least favorite rooms of the house.  The maroon tile, faded cabinets, and the no-storage pedestal sink had me daydreaming pretty quickly about how to fix up this tiny space with huge potential!

Here were the “good” parts of the bathroom that I cheered about when thinking about a bathroom redesign:

• The bathtub and toilet: They looked to only be a couple of years old , if that.  (Most of the old houses we looked at had blue or pink tubs…yay for a clean white one!)
• The tile floor:  It was put in a little crooked, but hey, it’s white and we couldn’t go wrong with that.
• The window: Loved the tall window. The morning light is so beautiful through it. The best part is that it’s facing our garage and a bunch of trees from the second floor, so I didn’t have to worry about finding an itty bitty curtain or frosting the panes.

• The first problem Jeff discovered in the bathroom was the electric.  Basically, the electrical was so outdated that I couldn’t even use my hair dryer.  (That HAD to change!) In order to do that, he had to run the electric up through the basement, and to the bathroom on the second floor…which meant two walls of tile had to be broken.  We couldn’t, (and didn’t want to), match the existing tile without a lot of time and trouble, so I asked Jeff to apply unfinished beadboard, trim and moulding on all of the walls, and then we painted them.
• The wall tile:  The previous owner LOVED maroon more than any color.  It’s everywhere in the house.  (deep breath….it had to go.)
• The pedestal sink:  I actually thought it was pretty cute to begin with, but I know myself too well.  I need the counter space for my hair dryer, straightener, etc.  That’s just the way it is, so a countertop sink was a must.  Thankfully, my grandparents just bought a house (it’s so cute…they’re totally acting like newlyweds right now with their renovations!) and they needed a good sink, so they gladly took it off our hands.  Yay for family recycling!
• The faded medicine cabinets: They’re actually really nice wooden cabinets.  I’ve saved them for a later project. However, we already had the over-the-toilet storage from our apartment that I really loved, so we swapped them out.  The mirror above the sink was a $20 steal from Home Depot.  We were one of the first people to pick up the mirror from the extreme sale rack, and before we left the store, we had several people wanting to buy it from us!  It was the perfect size for the space, and really opened up the room.
• The paint color:  It was a neutral, but was still a bit dark, so we went a few shades lighter just to brighten things up!  The paint color is called Mother of Pearl (Olympic One).
• The lighting: dark old hollywood lights.  We needed to brighten this room up, so I chose “bright white” CFL bulbs to transform the room from a dull yellow to a bright, crisp and clean feel.

• I chose the light tiffany blue shower curtain to add a pop of color without overwhelming the tiny space (I also couldn’t resist adding a little sparkle with the hangers!).  So far I’ve been able to incorporate this accent color into every room to create a sense of flow and unity throughout the entire house.
• Jeff installed an awesome motion-sensored fan light above the shower that turns on when someone walks into the room and stays on until they leave.
• For the sink area, we needed “table top storage” the most.  Jeff and I looked everywhere for a sink that we really loved, but was also in our price range.  What we found were a lot of sinks we didn’t love at all…in every price range! It was a little discouraging to find poorly made expensive sinks that didn’t really go with our style.

A week earlier, I had been antiquing with friends, and picked up and old Sears sewing cabinet for $10 with plans to refinish it for the living room.  Turns out, it was the PERFECT size for the sink space! Again, I wanted to keep a sense of unity throughout the house, so I used (get ready for it…) CHALK PAINT! to refinish it.  Surprised?  Me either.  ;)  Because the sink base was so inexpensive, we were able to spend a little bit more on the sink and faucet to complete the look.

And that’s that!

Even though I planned the redesign, I give the serious credit to my amazing Jeff.  He really worked his magic on this project.  Running the electrical, installing the beadboard, sink, lights, fan, and all the little things, was no easy task.  I’m always amazed that he can take my vision, no matter what it is, and make it into reality.  We trust each other completely–I guess that’s what makes us such a good team! I’m a blessed wife, that’s for certain!

Finally…our bathroom before and afters!