OK let’s continue our house tour of the changes I made over the summer. In case you forgot the other rooms, you can find them here.
Also just off the main entryway, the front bathroom is sort of the go-to potty space during the day. Considering the visibility of the space, I really wanted to update it in a fun way. It turned out to be quite modern-looking!
Step 1: wallpaper. First I ordered something online that ended up being way too thin according to “my wallpaper guy.” I suppose I thought I’d just pop by the store and order something, but I ended up making a few trips to the paint/wallpaper store, lugging those heavy books back and forth. Ultimately I decided on a large pattern to make the small space open up. The old brown walls needed to be lightened, so it’s a white with silver pattern.
We were all set to start when I decided that the pocket door would break up the space in a big way and look terrible. So I asked my handyman to quickly take it out and put drywall there. It was about a week’s delay, but definitely well worth it.
It took several days for the guys to “float” the walls, prepping them for the paper, but the finished result is smashing. I love it.
Of course, it’s not always that simple. I had to find some kind of matching porcelain floor tile to fill in that little baseboard area that we didn’t have before taking the door out. It isn’t an exact match, but I can’t really tell the difference unless I really stare at it.
I didn’t want to decorate too much and clutter up the space. This is what it was like before (kinda busy):
I decided on simple red accents.
The piece de resistance was to be a funky 26″x38″ glossy red mirror that I saw on Belacor’s site. I ordered it. I waited months. It kept saying “order in process” but it never came… finally I got an email that it was discontinued. Huge bummer!
Ultimately, I found a white one on Appliance Connection and ordered that, with the intention of painting it.
First I tried taping paper over the mirror and painting it, but I wasn’t able to get far enough into the crack between the frame and the mirror and you could tell. So I needed to take it apart.
The back was hot glued on! I had trouble gently taking it off. I was mostly successful until the end, when I broke the mirror. Sigh.
So while the custom glass place was cutting a new mirror, I spray painted just the frame in the meantime. I put it back together and it’s very nice.
I found the accent towel and soap dispenser online from a UK website. I was really, really picky about these since they are the only real pop of color and I wanted the red to match the mirror (easier said than done).
The hand towel was huge, so my mom made two small hand towels out of it (thanks again, mom!). I ordered a red rug and seat cover as well, but they did not match so I gave them to a friend. (It’s difficult to return something from another continent!)
I ordered two 20×24 Room Essentials bath rugs from Target.com in a “ripe red.”
With the white wallpaper, the almond wall switches looked awful, so I had my handyman replace them. Interesting side note: we tried one of those sensor switches that would turn on the light when someone walked into the room, but because the glass shower door is directly opposite the entry, every time we walked down the hall past the bathroom, it would turn on… super annoying. So I returned that.
When the painters were here, I had them also paint this bathroom’s door and trim a glossy white.
I changed the light bulbs to be LED, which made an enormous difference. Finally, I hung up my favorite kitty art and I was done! I’ve loved it since.
