New Paint in the Bathroom

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, My parents have the best kids. (Or in this case, kid. Joe gets no credit for this one.) I painted the downstairs bathroom for my mom yesterday.

(Ignore the weird ceiling line due to bad photo compositing.)

The existing state was a previous paint job I did for her...pale warm gray on the bottom half with the same colored vertical stripes above a mid-horizontal border of white. The stripes were done with a small roller and I kept the raggedy edges for a casual hand-drawn look.

Recently they got a new black vanity in the bathroom and we wanted to freshen up the look. We chose a medium charcoal gray (True Value's "Undeniable" #36D5).

After I painted the medicine cabinet and the bottom wall in the dark gray, the top portion seemed to be crying out for a touch of the dark as well. I did a free-hand vertical line in the center of each pale gray stripe, varying the pressure on the brush to create a thin-thick rough-edged effect.

I added a horizontal wiggly line across the bottom of the top stripes to it all together. At that point the hard edge of the charcoal gray against the white border seemed too harsh. I tried to use the hand-drawn technique on the edge of the gray, but that just looked messy. I finally decided to make a wiggly line in the paler gray to soften the break between the gray and white and that was the perfect final touch.

Weekend: Paint and beads

I had a very productive weekend! But there was no paint on beads, just paint on walls!

I've been thinking about painting the dining room and upcoming guests were the catalyst for finally doing it. I bought the paint Friday night, took the cat to the vet on Saturday morning, painted for a bit, got a haircut, and returned to painting until late while listening to a week's worth of Stewart and Colbert on the laptop's crappy speakers. Today was Clay Day, then it was back to Lowe's for paint for the kitchen which seemed terribly undone compared to the bold new dining room. Best of all, having a paintbrush in hand and the serendipitous discovery of the half-filled can of the baseboard color finally motivated me to finish the baseboards that have been partially painted for about five years! I posted on the PPCG blog, spread grass seed on the bald patches in the yard, and after all that, managed to squeeze out a few more beads and get them listed. And it's only 2 am!
I'll post photos of the refreshed room once it's back in order and my new picture frames are up on the wall.
But here's a sneak preview to tide you over...

And here's a new pile o' beads...

Home Improvements: Remodeled Bathroom

The bathroom was lengthened by about 2.5 feet past the doorway which allowed room for a 60" wall-to-wall counter instead of a small 24" vanity. Beadboard on the cabinet fronts and walls. I am probably going to paint the walls and ceiling a pale, pale silver gray to provide contrast for the beadboard.

 

I found the white ceramic tray in the cookware section at Marshall's, and the flip-top bottle to make the mouthwash prettier. Now I think I need to make a hairspray cozy! 

(But now, let me give a testimonial for John Frieda's Frizz-Ease hairspray. It's designed to help curly hair stop frizzing in the rain, by blocking moisture. However, it works in reverse too...if you have straight hair that goes completely limp in damp weather, this spray helps lessen that problem.)

 I thought this little bird pedestal was cute and since it fit with my white ceramic theme,
and it was only $3.99 on sale at Michael's, I bought it!

 Plastic trays to keep the drawers clean and the items inside orderly. 

The drawer pulls have not yet been attached.

The exhaust fan has the retro-with-a-brushed nickel look I used as a guide for my design choices.

The toilet paper holder has room for quite a few spare rolls.
The top bar twists up to create a straight bar to slide them on.

 

 The towels and bath mat are aqua blue, so when I saw this clock, I had to get it. 

Its main purpose will be to show me how far behind schedule I am every morning.

This cheerful gerbera shower curtain and this floor towel rack have been ordered to complete the look!

The new closet was part of this remodeling project also.

Home Improvements: NEW CLOSET!

My upstairs remodeling was just finished yesterday. The small bathroom was enlarged to allow a full vanity with more counter and storage space, and the so-small-as-to-be-useless "bedroom" (8' x 8'!) next to it was turned into a walk-in closet.

A hall linen closet and the little room's closet, which sat between the bath and small room, were eliminated to provide the expansion space for the bath. (The new storage in the bathroom vanity and the former main closet in a different room will provide more than enough space for everything that was in the eliminated linen closet.)

Now...aahh...all my clothes can be in one place instead of in this closet, and that closet, and the other closet, and still downstairs on the laundry rack.

Space...the Final Frontier!

 (Ignore the curves and disconnects...that's from the photo stitching program.)

Here's a sneak preview of the new bath. More pictures will come after I do the decorating.

Tutorial: Sun-Dappled Wall Paint Treatment

I posted instructions for an interesting wall treatment that I figured out how to do. (I don't have steps for the process because I did it back in 1995 when I put a sunroom addition on the house.) But, the process is very easy and looks pretty cool.

Home Improvement: Or, my mom has great kids!

I love paint! Nothing can make a more dramatic change for less $. And it's so easy. I highly recommend Purdy Paintbrushes! The edge on them is so sharp, you can paint along the ceiling edge and along the baseboard without taping!

My stepdad was out of town so my brother and I went to my mom's to paint their bedroom. It was plain white and she had an idea for a yellow and blue room. Look how nice it turned out! New white blinds and white curtains are coming next. And at some point in the near future, a border of a faux painted chair rail, a rope trim, or wallpaper border will go in the white chair rail space.

The colors we used were Valspar 4010-6 Baritone Blues and Olympic Belgian Waffle B14-2. (The Belgian Waffle is actually a nice buttery yellow though it looks more beige here.)

We painted the space between the bedroom entrance and the bathroom all yellow so it's like the bedroom has its own foyer. 

Joe and I were rewarded with a trip to the Pizza Buffet at Greco's! Yum!