Friday, February 6, 2015

Bright Eyes

Did you come here today hoping to feel better about your bathroom situation?  No?  Well I think you're about to anyway.  

When we bought this house there were a lot of things that we loved, the location first and foremost- the neighborhood is so wonderful and Matt's commute to work takes 5 minutes {can it even be called a commute at that point?}, we loved the overall charm of the house and the beautiful landscaping, but you know what wasn't so great back when our house was built in the 1930s?  Bathrooms.  

This bathroom has obviously undergone renovations since it was built, but it pales in comparison to the miles of gleaming countertop and absurd amount of storage that are seen in new builds these days.  


Here's what we were looking at, dark and very modest in size- it's a 7'x7' square.  Thankfully, it's still bigger than our bathroom was in Boston so I didn't completely feel like I was in a warp zone whereas I would have if we moved to Oklahoma and didn't get any space upgrade.    



The most immediate thing that needed to be addressed was the paint color.  The trim, walls, and ceiling were all dark gray which made it extremely difficult to apply make-up in here. There is a window, but it's not privacy glass so the shade is always closed. 

I'd walk out looking like I had reverted back to my high school Ashlee Simpson punk phase {Avril Lavigne was too hardcore for me} wearing an amount of eyeliner that should definitely be reserved for parents who have to think you're cute.  Husbands shouldn't have to suffer.  


After living with it like this for about 4 months I was at my breaking point with the emo bathroom.  I scheduled a painter then went to Lowe's and got a few test pots, all in very very light gray tones, we ended up going with Valspar's Tempered Gray.  


The painter came 3 days in a row and after he'd leave for the day Shep made sure to go in and inspect his work. Drop cloths and plastic wrap merit long hours of sniffing. 


Hello light and bright...


So much better.  Don't you feel like you can breathe in here now?  And just so we're clear, I don't always think small spaces have to be light in color.  I like how dark rooms can have an almost jewel box like effect, it was just so impractical for this bathroom.  


There wasn't a mirror on the wall when we moved in, I found this gold one at Homegoods.  I wanted a big one to open up the space as much as possible.  


The bath mat and hamper are both from West Elm, in a space this small even the most utilitarian things need to be aesthetically pleasing. 


The piece next to the sink is also from Homegoods,  it fills a need for now, but we plan to replace the pedestal sink with a proper vanity.  I could write a full paper on my disdain for pedestal sinks, but we'll save that for  another time.


I asked the painter to leave all the trim {window, baseboards, door frame} the original dark gray color, I love the contrast.


This is actually not the only bathroom in the house, there's another full bathroom upstairs that we will eventually make into the master and then this one will be the dedicated guest/powder room.  That's a big {and exciting} project though so for now we use this one.  









The door got a nice little upgrade too, the interior side was painted the same color as the walls and the "mushroom" knob was swapped out for a lever.

Before photo to the left and after down below.

So there you have it, is this the sort of bathroom that dreams are made of?  No.  But unless we were ok with having an address like "Winding River Rd."  this is what we get for now.  Sass.  


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