We knew when we first bought our home was that we were very quickly going to renovate the first floor guest bath. This was a room that would be utilized a lot, and to be honest, it DESPERATELY NEEDED A MAKEOVER! LOL! It had this HUGE mirror that went across the length of the room, along with gold hardware, green countertops and fake wooden floors – YIKES! We 100% ripped out EVERYTHING in this room and started from scratch.
Side Note – I really like the fact that I was actually pregnant in this picture, but I had no idea at the time. 🙂 Learning about little Miss Madeline’s arrival switched my focus upstairs to her nursery, so this room did not get changed as fast as I originally planned – lol! However, after A LOT of work, we are now the proud owners of a “pretty powder room.”
Before (below) – Gold hardware, gold lighting, brown door and trim, brown floor boards, no molding, a cream lighting switch and a very dated cabinet with a green countertop – EEK!!!
Another view of what we were working with….. Don’t forget to notice that every door and piece of trim in the house was originally an oak color…..It is all white now, and all of the gold door handles have been changed to a more updated bronze color! Yay!
All of this went away, including the floor (HOORAY!)…..
I knew that I wanted a “pretty powder room” with some sort of wallpaper (check out my Pinterest page to see the pictures that most inspired me). I am typically not a huge wallpaper fan because it can be quite expensive and can also look overwhelming in a whole room (in my opinion). However, I do love the way it looks in a small powder room. I also love wainscoting, so I thought that I would do the top half of the room in paper, and the bottom half in a fresh, white wainscoting.
I found this wallpaper below and LOVED IT!!!
Now, I will warn you about something…. If you are going to use wallpaper, this is one area where you can really tell if you spent money (sorry to say, but it is totally true). In my opinion, Thibaut makes the most gorgeous paper!!! I am sorry to report that it is super expensive, but once you have seen “nice” wallpaper, then more cost effective papers look sort of cheap (so sorry, but I believe this to be true). While I love to save money, this is one area where you will really get what you pay for. If you are thinking of renovating a bathroom, I would recommend saving money in other areas so you can spend more on the paper. You will be so happy that you did!
Here is an in-process shot of the wainscoting being installed by my sweet husband…..He did this after our new hardwoods had been put in through Floor and Decor.
Bradley also had to patch portions of the wall after that HUGE mirror had been removed…..
The room instantly started to look bigger once the white went in! Also, notice that the door and trim are now white – YAY! My sweet hubby also installed some beautiful crown molding for me, which is one of my favorite additions!
The room really started to transform once the paper went in…..VOILA!!! Even though this room is quite small, it still took TWO DOUBLE ROLLS of paper (we didn’t use the whole second roll, but we still had to purchase two). Make sure that you measure properly when you are ordering paper, so you don’t accidentally run out during installation!
We found the cutest little cabinet with a grey marble top at Menard’s. The faucet is from the “Victorian” collection by Delta. The toilet was purchased at Lowe’s, and then the handle was also from the “Victorian” Delta collection. The soap dispenser and trash can were actually both found on CLEARANCE at Home Goods (which is a fantastic place to find items from your home), and the mirror was also an inexpensive find at Home Goods.
Here is another look at our new pretty powder room! 🙂 I LOVE how the trim is now white, and the door knob is bronze. I think it really looks nice with the dark floors.
Bradley also installed the new light, as well as the new floor boards, wall trim and crown molding. Thank you, sweet husband!! XOXO!!!
The final product:
YAY! This room was a major success, mostly thanks to my sweet husband. We always get a lot of compliments when guests come over, which makes me very happy (especially since I know what it looked like when we first bought the home). 🙂
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