Yo! It’s me again. Here with another fun and fabulous room makeover post! (waits for the applause to die down)
At this point, you may be saying to yourself, “WTF, Jane? This is an AUTHOR blog, not a design blog” and to you, I reply, “nay nay!” I AM an author, it’s true. And in a perfect world, this blog would be chock full of fun writing stories and behind the scenes quips, but I started this blog as a way for my readers to get to know me. The REAL me. The dork ass geek behind the badass rocker girl persona I’ve so artfully cultivated.
I also have zero words in the hopper on the author front. So until I get my groove thang back, humor me. K??
Now, where were we?
Oh! My bathroom.
If you read last week’s post (you didn’t?! For shame! You can find it here) you saw my super cool mid-century modern makeover. Now, that was a good upgrade because my family room was an atrocious mess. My bathroom, on the other hand, was baller. It was red. Like blood red. Like a bloody bordello of bitchenness (does bitchenness have one n or two?) covered in ghoulish Halloween splendor. It was a statement. A conversation piece. A “holy shit I LOVE your bathroom!” bathroom. But, as much as I did indeed love it, it was just time for a change.
Why, yes! It DOES say “Eat, Drink, and Be Scary above my toilet! Well, it DID anyway lol.
The room was a cave. It’s a VERY small room. I had to shove myself into the tiniest back corner just to get this photo. I also have my washer/dryer (not pictured) behind me, so it’s tight quarters. Having a red room was fun for a while, but since my main goal of this ground floor reno was to brighten up my home, it had to go.
It started off as a small idea. “I’d love wainscotting in the bathroom”. However, it was a passing thought. I’d considered this for a while but never really allowed myself to get excited about it because of the work involved. Unless I wanted to tear out all my fixtures, adding wainscotting in this room would be next to impossible. There’s no way I could have easily cut around the pedestal sink and all the connections. I’m just not that skilled of a woodworker. Plus, there’s the tiny issue of the expense. YIKES! But, leave it to Amazon to make a girl’s dreams come true. Again.
First piece, going up!
Graham & Brown Paintable Prepasted Beadboard Stripes Texture Wallpaper.
No joke, dudes, this shit is awesome. As stated in the ad,
This Pre-Pasted Bead Board Wallpaper Gives The Beautiful, Streamline Effect Of Bead Board Without All Of The Work
The shit was not playing. For 25 bucks and a little elbow grease, I was off and running.
(NO this is no a paid advertisement. I just like my reviews to be thorough!)
I decided to go 1/3 up from the bottom and stop there. I drew a level line across the walls, and after that, I measured as I went, laying strips in piece meal, fitting it into all the corners and around all the pipes and connections.
As I’d never laid wallpaper before, there was a bit of a learning curve, but once I got started, it went pretty fast. It took me two days but when it was done, it looked so great, and I couldn’t even tell it was wallpaper. No joke, it’s amazing. If you ever want a cheap, weekend wainscoting project look into this stuff.
Choosing a color this time was easy. I knew the wainscoting would be some shade of white (yes, it’s fully paintable, too!), but I didn’t want to go bright white. I wanted something that was bright, yet still had a crisp, coolness to it. I also knew I wanted to paint the walls above something light and fresh.
Goodbye, Bordello of Blood. Hello, Farmhouse Fresh!
I was thinking a blue gray but, in the end, let my husband choose the color of the upper part of the walls since he absolutely hates the family room. (oops!). He liked Constellation by Benjamin Moore, which is a cool, light blue. I paired it with Distant Gray by Benjamin Moore for the wainscoting and all the trim.
Together, my husband and I added some chair rail molding over top of the wallpaper and swapped out the old Victorian light for a nice modern farmhouse fixture. After that, I found a set of beautiful reclaimed wood shelves and put them up behind the toilet.
Don’t mind the squiggles. I don’t know how to take panoramic photos. Obviously.
In the immortal words of Emeril Lagassé: BAM!
This. Bathroom. Looks. AMAZE.
And not only that, it seems like it’s twice the size it was before. The dungeon is gone, and the light has returned.
I love how the rich brown woods add such warmth to a space that’s so cool and clean. The wastebasket is the same deep wood tone, and the little pops of pink bring in just the perfect touch of whimsy, don’t you think?
All I needed was the perfect curtain to tie it together. I got some damask fabric on sale at Joann’s and whipped up a roman shade to add just the tiniest touch of modern. This material was a great find and the blues and grays are such a seamless match.
I made this shade. I’m not just a clever writer, I’m also crafty AF.
Those selves!! sigh.
Overall, I was a little sad to see my red bathroom go, but I’m so over the moon about this makeover. It’s such a HUGE change and I’m so in love with it.
What do y’all think? Should I have left it red and worked in more Halloween goodies or do you love the upgrade?
Join me next time for #RonaReno Phase 3, where rustic and coastal collide. Or what I like to call, CurtainGate2020. Please stay tuned ;)