Yankee Drawl

Posted By jayna on October 14, 2011

When we moved in, the upstairs bathroom was placed on the short list of rooms that were in desperate need of a facelift. The cabinet and vanity were in great shape – gorgeous wood and excellent quality – but the room is so small that they were overwhelming and made it really dark. The toilet is awesome and new, but the sink top was a hideous shade of beige that screamed of the 80s. I tossed up an old shower curtain, grabbed some towels that matched and called it a day for a couple of months.

The grand plan was to pull everything out, replace the original one-piece tub and surround (which the old owners had painted in a desperate attempt to hide the insane amount of cracks), redo the tile floor with something a little less dirty looking and then put the toilet and vanity back. Days before demolition was about to start, the husband and I came to the realization that perhaps we should wait on the tub and floor. Things like me really, really wanting a gorgeous tiled shower and us not really knowing if we’re staying in this house or renting it out in a few months contributed to the uncertainty. Eventually, we came to the conclusion that scrapping the giant renovation for a few months would be the best choice. I will get my tile shower if we stay, but we’ll just do a simple replacement if we go. In the meantime, I did manage to convince the husband to help me out with a mini-facelift, to tide me over for those few months.

Tempting fate, a mere two weeks before my due date, we ripped apart the bathroom. I assumed that we had just invited an early birth into our lives, because really, what would be more fun than a newborn and a non-functioning bathroom?

On a Friday afternoon, out came the toilet, vanity, sink and cabinet. By the end of the day, the room was taped off for paint and I had sanded down all the pieces to the vanity and cabinet. Over the next few days, there was a lot of painting. And then, some reinstalling (complete with cursing). For the grand price of one new sink top ($130), one new shower curtain ($25), some matching towels ($5 -major score at TJ Maxx) and a can of paint ($22) . . . I have a completely different bathroom (and no baby yet!)

The floor is still dingy and dirty looking, thanks to the dark grout and textured tile, but I’m doing my best to hide it under a fluffy rug.

The sink is one of the coolest in-stock sinks I’ve ever seen, and makes me happy each time I brush my teeth over it. We re-used the mirror that was there, along with the light fixture, and really just need to replace the light switch covers with white ones.

I was so happy to see the old paint colors go. The top was a dull beige, not quite yellow and not quite white. The bottom (on the bead board) was a teal-blue that matched absolutely nothing. Now, we’ve got a crisp white on the bead board and a light, spa green on top. The shower curtain has greens, blues, turquoise and greys and the towels are a deep sea-green that matched the edging. Totally my go-to colors, the ones that make me happiest to see around the house.

Aside from the sink, my absolute favorite find for this room has to be the shower curtain hooks. A few weeks ago, I was complaining about what a pain it was to have to unsnap every single hook, just to take the liner off to clean it. Why, oh why, I lamented, couldn’t there be an easier way??

Ta-da! Found on a morning wander through Target . . . shower hooks with two sides! Genius.

(all the colors are wildly off, purely because I am incapable of taking a  good indoor picture that doesn’t have wonky colors from the lights being on . . . and the fact that the bathroom is approximately 11 square feet with no natural light.)

Categories: She's Crafty
Tags: Making It A Home, The Little Blue House