Guest Bathroom Update

I have never been a real “black and white” décor person, but something about our guest bathroom made me want black and white tile. Perhaps it was the nasty rainbow of colors that previously inhabited the small space along with gross linoleum, yellowish shell shaped double sinks, and layers of wall paper (original circa 1982 orange, green and brown flowers - and not in a good way). YUCK.

The demo felt so good... it was part of the house that I hated most. I couldn’t wait to be rid of the enormous L-shape vanity – which weighed a ton and nearly killed me getting it out of the house.  Scraping linoleum is unfortunately not an unfamiliar task for us, but as much as I hated scraping it up, I love the end result a hundred times more. We also pulled down the off-white track lighting above the sink area and replaced  it with several can lights (I'm still trying to figure out what kind of fixture I want in the commode area... more to come!).

 

These pics are from my phone, and we were both deliriously tired (hence the very odd pose and face of Mr. Husband, but at least you can kind of get an idea of what I'm talking about. 

 
We got rid of the wallpaper when we first moved in and textured and painted the walls "Light Silver Sage" from Restoration Hardware to hold us over until we figured out what we really wanted.  The beadboard wainscot went bye-bye, we had the black and white tile from Home Depot installed on the floor, and added large white subway tile from Daltile on the walls where the old beadboard used to be. The blue walls didn't last too long, because I knew how fraken awesome it was going to look with some gorge dark grey (Tricorn Black from Sherwin Williams) walls! - oh, and I also painted those built-ins the same color grey as the walls and they look lovely now.

I found two sink chests at a Seconds and Surplus store for around $200 each, and they really make the tiny bathroom feel much more spacious than the ole’ L-shape. Handy Mr. Husband installed them himself – I assisted of course… and after 3 trips to Lowe’s for various plumbing and fixture pieces, we were in business!

Drum roll please.......

So, I guess its not technically monochromatic... because like I said, I've never really been a black and white gal. I had to throw a little color in there - I'm loving the chartreuse rug (sorry, I can't find my color online any more, but you can get the charcoal color here) and hand towels from West Elm.

I had previously purchased the two mirrors from Homegoods (around $45 each) to coordinate with the nasty L-shape countertop (that was before I decided that I just couldn’t stand to have that in my space). The color wasn’t right, but I really didn’t want them to go to waste. I think Mr. Husband could see my wheels spinning and more money flying out the door, so he took it upon himself to paint those bad boys black and that did the trick! Of course, if I had a limitless budget I probably would pick up a couple of these venetian beauties.

Even without the fancy mirrors, I love our guest bathroom and we did a good job staying in budget! I’m still working on the finishing touches, but don't worry, I'll keep ya'll updated.

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Pimp my Laundry Room

I got a wild hair the other day to give my laundry room a little facelift. Its not that I spend a lot of time in there, but I walk by it everyday and cringe at the florescent lighting, and yellow walls with remnants of floral vine wallpaper that I half ripped off when we first moved in. We also use the built in shelving as a pantry because we ripped the actual pantry out when we remodeled the living room and kitchen areas, and that whole thing was a complete disaster/eyesore.

It was one of those "enough is enough" moments. I scavenged the left over paint samples that were living in our garage until I found something that gave me a little inspiration: fifty two shades of grey (names I didn’t even look at because I was in such a craze). I cleared the pantry shelves and decided to paint the back walls of the shelving the darker of the two grey colors. These pictures are from my phone, so apologies for the poor quality… but you can see a little bit of the jank wallpaper, disorganization, and Mr. Husband’s dry cleaning that likes to hang out in the laundry room instead of his closet.

While that paint was drying I decided to run to Michael's and buy some baskets (50% off that week!) to get that nast of a pantry organized and looking pretty. I found a group of baskets in a dark brown color in varying sizes – 4 large tall, 1 large short, 2 medium short, 2 small shorties – all for less than $50!

By the time I got home, I was ready to tackle the remaining wall space with the lighter shade of grey. It turned out a little darker than I would have liked, so I decided I would paint some lighter stripes on the back wall – which is what I see every time I walk by the room. I read a few different blogs and took most of the advice (I didn’t use frog tape because I already had regular painter’s tape at my house).

My wall space is 94” and I wanted the stripes to begin and end with the color I had already painted so I needed an odd number of stripes. I started with 5, but thought almost 19” stripes were too wide so I went with 7 stripes at almost 13.5” each.

  I measured from the top down and used a straight edge to draw the lines connecting my measurements. Then I got busy taping that bad boy up, using a credit card to smooth down the tape and get rid of air pockets. Using the color already on the wall, I went over the edges of the tape where I would be painting the new color to seal the space in between the tape and wall… this will help prevent the stripe paint from bleeding under the tape and I won’t have to do too many touch-ups on the lines.

Then for the stripe color...

I went back to my garage to see if I could find a lighter color that would work. I was a little disappointed in my options, but found one tan'ish color that could possibly work. My initial thought was "yuck," but I decided to keep painting and finish at least one stripe before heading to Lowe's. Maybe its the grey painted under it, but this "tan'ish" color turned out to be a lovely yellow creamy butter, and i L.U.V. it! Plus, all of my work taping the wall really paid off... the lines are perfecto!

My attention then turned to the jank cabinets above the washer and dryer. I couldn't have this beautiful wall, and organized shelves, then turn around to see a brown mess of cabinets that I hate. Mr. Husband actually gave me the idea to remove the cabinets doors, and use the shelving for my storing my project supplies (his way of getting me excited about clearing all of my things out of his office). We had some left over white trim paint from having our sofets re-done outside, so I just pulled the doors off, gave the base a light sanding and layered a few coats on there. Already looking better - minus the popcorn ceilings which I'm really hating myself for not removing with the rest of it through the house when we moved in!

and with some progess....

...and finally done!

And the other side of the room with the panty...

I'm so thrilled with the results, especially considering the fact that I probably only spent about 3 days working on it. Maybe now I'll actually do the laundry! maybe...

Resources and Paint Colors:

Darker Grey - Sherwin Williams, Serious Gray

Lighter Grey - Sherwin Williams, Uncertain Gray

Butter Yellow - Sherwin Williams, Kilim Beige

Baskets - Michael's

Yellow and Grey Shelf Liner in above washer/dryer cabinets - Home Goods

Detergent and Dryer Sheet Jars - Target

Galvanized Metal Lookin "WASH" Letters - compliments of Holly over at Life As A Thrifter, here

Three-tier Storage Stand - compliments of The Crafting Chicks, here

Wine Rack Storage - Pier 1, here

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Too Early for a Christmas List?

I'm thinking that its quite possibly the earliest that I've ever started a Christmas list, but what the heck... At least Mr. Husband won't have a difficult time picking anything out this year!

For those of you who don't follow Laurel-Dawn on Abode Love, you should! She is so talented, adorable, and her house is amazing. She is also an amazing artist and has just opened Laurel Dawn the shop. You must visit!

I've already sent Mr. Husband the link to "flowers for lady" with the important message that we must have it before we have our Christmas party at the house (you should buy something – but not this original – it has my name written all over it!!).

She also does this beautiful lucite (plexiglass) framing that really displays her art in a wonderful way.

I hope you fall in love with her, and her work like I have!

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A Deer of My Own

I recently decided that I need really want a deer head in my house after reading Ten June's post on her own DIY deer head project. I thought it would be fun to try to make my own, but I wasn't sure I could get mine to look as much like a deer as I wanted. My solution: cheat.

I took a trip to Michaels where I found a pre-made paper mache deer - perfect timing with Christmas right around the corner! It was the perfect size and shape, so I snached it up along with a wooden plaque, some spray paint and a piece of scapbook paper and got to work. Thanks to Michaels for their great rewards member (free) discounts!

What You Need:

Pre-made paper mache deer ($9.99-40% coupon = $5.99)

Wooden plaque ($9.99-40% coupon = $5.99)

Spray Paint

Scrapbook paper

Mod podge

Scissors

Super glue (contact cement or the like)

Pretty things to jazz up your new friend

I used my scissors to cut the head (sorry Bambi) off of my Christmas deer from Michaels. Then I traced the shape of my wooden plaque on to my scrapbook paper. 

Take the plaque and the deer head outside to give them their new paint job. I got fancy and stuck a stick into an old planter to hold up my deer head while I painted... which worked beautifully!

Once the plaque is dry, use the mod podge to stick the scrapbook paper to it. Carefully try to roll any air pockets out of it. Once that dries, you can glue your deer head to the plaque (I also stuck a long nail in my plaque to give a little support to mine as well). Ten June used hot glue on hers so feel free to try that out if you don't feel comfortable using super glue! 

Thats pretty much it! I added a little beaded garland to mine for more color, but Mr. Husband kind of prefers it without so I didn't glue the garland down. Now I just need to find the perfect spot for him!

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