It started when I noticed paint peeling on the ceiling. I scraped it and painted it Extra White Sherwin Williams ceiling paint. Then my perfection issues kicked in and I put joint compound on the uneven spots. Then I left it. For two years, I think. My brother-in-law had cut two holes in the wall to look for leaking pipes. It also was bright bubblegum pink, from my pastel phase when I chose every wrong color imaginable. Can you believe that after I painted it this time, I missed that pink? My inner five-year-old took over once again.
So by the time I got around to priming the joint compound patches, I needed to do more patches. Then after I primed and painted those spots, the rest of the ceiling didn't match! Can't anything ever be easy? The trim was painted Sherwin Williams Extra White in semi-gloss acrylic latex. I painted the upper walls Benjamin Moore Wythe Blue. Did you know that that's not blue? It's listed in the green family on the Benjamin Moore website. It's sort of muted, darkish aqua. I like it and it coordinates well with the Martha Stewart Milk Pail in the kitchen. (I had already painted the bottom, fake-tile portion a white semi-gloss, whose name I don't know). The goal is more sophistication, I have to keep telling myself.
It's such a horrible, small little room that it's hard to make it look good. The corner shelves and vanity are homemade jobs. Note the animal-print curtain on an angle below the sink. Sorry, don't do animal print. Never have, probably never will. I don't even wear it. I have nothing against it, I just find it tacky for myself. I'm Plain Jane that way.
The previous owner had a small towel bar on the side of the bottom step in the basement, a few inches from the floor. Haven't the vaguest idea what he used it for, but I recycled it and placed it above the bigger one. I wanted to use hooks but thought they wouldn't dry well in this room with no insulation or fan. I also toyed with the idea of putting the towel racks on the door but didn't think towels would dry well there, either. I didn't have room on the vanity for a convenient spot for the hand towel rack.
The other problem was the window treatment. This window has the best view of the garden, so I'd like to leave it bare. However, my modest guests are uncomfortable with that so I opted for a cafe curtain (from Ann & Hope) on a pewter tension rod (Country Curtains).
I don't know if you can tell in the before pictures, but the light fixture above the mirror was a light strip, Hollywood-style with round light bulbs (I don't know what they're called). I replaced it with a Pottery Barn one. The shower curtain was angled inside the tub due to the placement of the window. That didn't work for me, so I raised it above the window. That puts about four inches of it inside the shower curtain.
I noticed that the subfloor was starting to rot due to water escaping underneath the too-short shower curtain and liner so I bought extra-long ones. I also put three coats of polyurethane on the window to inhibit peeling.
I have three beautiful shower curtains (one of my obsessions): a blue and white, pink and green, and aqua and pink. I decided to go with a plain white one to simplify and unify this tiny room. I wanted a nice waffle-weave one but at the extra length, the cost was prohibitive. This was from Target and is good enough.
You can't tell from the before picture but I switched out the blue-framed mirror that was here and replaced it with a wooden one I got from the trash at a church where I used to work. I just love recycling garbage.
The room is so small I have to put bath towels in a Shabby Chic basket under the sink. Also, I'm waiting to have a fan installed before I replace the overhead light.
Here's when I moved in:
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| Bubblegum pink! |
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| Benjamin Moore Wythe Blue looks very much like Martha Stewart Milk Pail. |
