Hall Bath Project

We've been in our current house for just a couple months short of a year, and we haven't made too many changes. The first thing that had to go was the awful drying blood-RED, badly-done faux finish on the walls in the kitchen, which we did almost immediately. Since then, we've painted and decorated both of the girls' bedrooms, and that's been about the extent of our decorating. We barely even have any photos up on the walls! All of a sudden, I started feeling the need to make something more like us! I mean, luckily, the house was a nice, blank slate so it's been more than liveable (aside from the crazy RED kitchen), but I was just ready to make an improvement somewhere! That "somewhere" turned out to be the hall bathroom. We don't have much (ok, anything) budgeted for re-doing rooms, so I knew I had to be frugal, and I knew I wanted to do something SOON, so I started somewhere that was small but noticeable. Since it's the only bathroom in the house other than the master bath, lots of people see it.

Here's a little reminder of what it looked like just one week ago.  I knew I had these pictures from one day when I tidied the house up really well and took pictures of everything to show friends & family who hadn't seen the new place, so I didn't bother with "Before" pictures.  Now I wish I had because this is just not detailed enough and there's been a lot more wear on the cabinets and trim since then!  I'm going to also use some similar photos from the master (which has all of the same paint, cabinets, hardware, lights, etc) for details below.




So, there you have it. A nice, boring, blank slate. We did buy a fun paisley shower curtain that I really like (and I have another plan for it!), but otherwise, this is what it used to look like.

I was pretty sure that I didn't want to do anything totally "kiddie" - I wanted something classic and mature, but also fun and something that the girls would like, since it's their bathroom as well as the bathroom that guests use. I asked some friends for ideas, and one of them suggested some mermaid prints on Etsy. I liked the mermaid idea, but the prints were a little too young for my vision. I started looking for more prints, but I ultimately just found ideas and ended up making some of my own, which was fun. I had seen a few ruffled shower curtains recently, and thought that would go pretty perfectly with what I had in mind. I knew I was going to re-paint the cabinets white. Yes, they were already white, but they aren't exactly quality cabinets, they weren't holding up well and the previous owners had touched them up here and there with a different white paint, so I kind of hated them. I just needed to decide on a wall color. I decided to go with a light-medium bright aqua. I definitely HATED all of the gold in the bathroom (in the whole house, but that's another story!), so I wanted to try spray painting the knobs and door handles Oil-Rubbed Bronze. Brad was skeptical, but I figure spray paint is pretty cheap, so it's worth a shot because all of that new hardware adds up to a lot of money! I followed this tutorial that I found on Pinterest for that.

My good friend Jesi recently upgraded her "builder basic" home with lots of ideas that looked great on the cheap, so I went to her for advice about repainting cheap cabinets. She suggested deglosser and Valspar (Lowe's) Kitchen & Bath Paint + Primer, and I chose a white called Snow Capped in the type she suggested for the ceiling and cabinets. Armed with my advice from friends and from Pinterest, I made a shopping list and the girlies and I headed to Lowe's for paint and the other various supplies that were required.

Back at home, I started off painting the ceiling in the Snow Capped paint. It seemed to go on really well, but I don't think I've ever NOT had to do two coats of paint on a room, especially this flat, cheap, builder beige color, so I completely assumed I'd be painting two coats. To my shock and awe, it really appeared to be fine after just one coat. I then started in on the walls - I decided to do all the cutting in, corners, and places that couldn't be rolled first. Seriously, I spent HOURS on that. Even in a big bathroom, there is just not much wide open wall space that can be rolled, so I probably did at least 3/4 of the work with a brush. Once it was time to roll it, it took no time at all. All the while, I was giddy knowing that it was covering so well that I was NOT going to have to do two coats! Brad says it may have been overkill to use the Paint + Primer, but it was worth every penny ($28/gallon) if you ask me!! For the cabinets, I washed them, sanded the edges, wiped them clean, applied deglosser, caulked the edges and meeting points of the wood (which took no time and made a HUGE, HUGE, HUGE difference) and then used one coat of Valspar Snow Capped . The difference, even though the color is very similiar, is striking!

I could have spray painted the light fixture, but not only did I hate the gold, I hated the style. So I did my research and found a great deal on one through Amazon Warehouse - still pretty basic, but brand new Oil-Rubbed Bronze, just repackaged in a different box, and free 2-day shipping with Amazon prime! Woo hoo! There are lots of pricey versions of the shower curtain I had in mind, but I found one on Amazon for $17.64, again with free 2-day shipping! And the other "big" thing that I wanted to replace was the faucet. I just can't stand the cheap, cheap, cheap one that we currently have, plus a little piece of it is broken off. Again, Amazon didn't fail me! I saved $48 (more than 50% off) over Lowe's price with another Amazon Warehouse find and, yes, free 2-day shipping!

So here are the photos! :) I love how it turned out!