Powder Room Makeover

Do you want to see what we’ve been up to over here? All the major, can’t-actually-live-without-it construction at Lagoon Landing has been done for a while now. Things slowed down in terms of the details until we sold the White House because, well, the budget wasn’t big enough to keep going! Now that we’ve sold that house, we’ve been able to get into the fun things, like putting the finishing touches onto everything. The first room to really be done is our powder room.

The Before

Let’s take a moment to go back in time to the powder room when we first bought the house…

It was quite awkward and ugly… not to mention that the door would hit the toilet bowl when you opened it, and you stood to lose a kneecap if anyone were to open the door on you while you were seated on the toilet. And since this bathroom is right off the front door and opens into the living room, the toilet was in full view if the door was left open… ooh pretty, right?! Thankfully, if you can say you’re thankful to have to had to replace the entire plumbing system because it was rotted out and crumbling, we were able to move the location of the toilet and sink to better place the toilet out of knee bashing vicinity.

Don’t worry, anything that could be donated, like the toilet and sink, were donated to Habitat for Humanity. The walls and floors were removed too. And then we moved onto putting it back together.

Since we added the master bedroom closet to the left of this bathroom, we had to close in the window that used to be on that left wall. We installed a solar tube in this bathroom to get some light into the room, and it brings in tons of natural light. I love that our solar tubes also include a solar powered “night light” that automatically goes on when the sun goes down. It’s just enough light to keep you from having to put on an overhead light in the middle of the night.

It still makes me a little sad that we couldn’t restore the terrazzo floors in the house. Unfortunately, they had to cut massive channels into the floors throughout the house when re-piping the house, so there was really no way to save them. The likelihood that we could have had the terrazzo matched was about zero.

However, I do love the floors that we put in its place! Black and white marble hexagon are a fun, yet classic look that shouldn’t go out of style for years to come.

After installing the cabinet, toilet, sink and mirror, we were happy that it was complete enough to be able to use it, even though it wasn’t beautiful in terms of design in any way. Finally, this past week, we had the tile wainscoting installed! It’s just a simple subway tile with black pencil tile racing stripes that I picked up from Home Depot, but it made such a difference in the room. It just seems brighter and cleaner feeling.

While the cabinet was pulled out of the bathroom, I decided to paint the cabinet Sherwin Williams Tricorn Black. I used a new paint for me – Sherwin Williams urethane trim enamel. I have to say that I was impressed. It dried smooth and level, and didn’t take forever to cure. I painted the back of the door and the trim too. Please excuse the blurry, blown out picture, it’s the only one I had taken at that in-between stage.

Let me back up just a second here: see that light fixture in the photo above? The electrician installed it upside down and I never had the chance to ask him to fix it before he left. It bugged me every day, but not enough to turn it around myself (I don’t do electricity!). Well, once we had the tile put in and put the mirror back up, it really bugged me – it was WAY too low for the mirror to go higher to clear the chair rail – and I thought I hated it enough to have to replace it. Thankfully, my husband turned it over and it made all the difference. Now I love it because you can see through the globes to what’s behind it.

However, about that time, I decided that I really didn’t like the mirror now with the new wall tile – even after turning the light around. After stalking Facebook Marketplace for about a week, I found a brand new Pottery Barn mirror for $75 (it retails for $349!) that I loved, and knew it would look so much better in the space. (I’ll show it to you in a second.) But I needed to do one final thing before I could put everything back and call this room done: the “wallpaper”.

About three years ago, I saw a bathroom where the designer used pages cut out of a book to wallpaper a bathroom, and I fell in love with the idea. So, for Christmas two years ago, I specifically requested the book called Cabinet of Natural Curiosities by Albertus Seba. I knew it had gorgeous images that would be visually interesting and fun. (affiliate link – see below for my disclosure). The book can be found on Amazon for about $20 in used condition, which was perfect for what I needed. I have to admit though, once I got it for Christmas, and saw just how beautiful the book was, I ordered another to be able to keep one in my collection. As someone who loves books, it was hard to make that first cut, but once I got into it, it was easier.

All I needed was a razor, wallpaper paste ($20 at Sherwin Williams), a smoother ($3), and a cheap paintbrush ($3) to complete this project. I absolutely love how it turned out! And so, without further ado… our powder room!

The After

Although I’m not the first to use the pictures from this book as wallpaper, what I love is that no two rooms will ever be exactly the same. There are so many prints to choose from, and so many ways to put them on the walls. Some people choose to remove the white frame around the print. Others include the whole page, or use just the smaller prints. Or just the bugs, or butterflies… so many options!

Do you remember this little guy below? He was in our master bath when we bought this house, although his brass was pretty beat up. I added a couple of coats of spray paint, and he’s good as new. Don’t you think he fits right into this powder room? I love that I was able to at least use one thing that was original to the house in here.

By far, my favorite, most smile-inducing picture is of the “flasher bats”. My son says they are creepy, but I disagree. They are awesome! 🙂

Although I really thought we’d have to replace the light fixture, I was pleased to find that it was perfect. I love that you can see through the globes to the pictures behind.

I hope you love this powder room makeover as much as I do! By the way, none of this renovation was sponsored or gifted. Please know that if I’ve recommended anything, it is because I really liked/loved the product.

Thanks so much for stopping by! I promise I’ll post more updates soon – we’ve got an entire house to catch you up on!

Eliesa