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Room Reveal: Half Bath Makeover

This room is both one of my favorite and most frustration inducing rooms in our home. I don’t know how that’s really possible, but it is. Let me explain.

When we moved in, this was one of the first rooms on our list to redo, and we knew we needed to gut it.

I wish I had a better before picture than this, because the full glory is totally missed when you can’t see the filthy stained brown carpet we had to pull out. (seriously people, carpet in a bathroom? Who makes that decision??) you can kind of see it, there to the right, in this next picture if you look hard.

We wanted to do this room quickly because it is small and we thought it would be quick, but also because it is the only bathroom on the first floor so therefore the one that all our guests use. (Read: I was embarrassed to let anyone see it in the state it was in. Oh you have to go? Can you just hold it please? Thanks.)

So we started tearing out everything, down to bare walls and plywood floors. We took of the floor to ceiling wallpaper (thanks dad!!) and put down laminate wood flooring to match the kitchen and hallway (thanks Brett’s dad!). My father in law also helped us remove the huge vanity and mirror and install a new pedestal sink. Brett switched out the 70’s hollywood lighting fixture for something a little more modern, and we painted all the walls this inky blue color I just love. I thought I had some photos of this stage, but I can’t seem to find them, dang it. But anyway, here is the half-bath now.

So obviously the before/after is dramatically different. We literally replaced everything except for the toilet, which is why its one of my favorite rooms. So why so frustrating?

Well this bathroom is so tiny that it is very awkward to decorate, and I just can’t seem to find a look that I love to give it that finished feeling. The problem I keep having is that when you walk by the hallway, you see a big blank wall next to the toilet (that currently only has a way too small clock and a roll of tp residing on it- uhg). So I feel like I need to do something there. But if I do that, the room feels so lop-sided, with one big blank wall opposite the mirror/sink/toilet side. But the room is so narrow that I can’t fill up every wall with artwork or it would be overwhelming. And there is too little space to add any storage on that side to balance out the weight of all the porcelain on the other side. Sigh. I literally go over and over options in my head. Here you can get a better idea of just how tiny the space really is.

So currently that is how the room sits but I don’t anticipate it staying like this. Some things we’re considering are possibly replacing the towel rack/storage above the toilet or building storage into the wall next to the toilet (once we got it up, we realized that although it’s an improvement and gives some much needed shelf space, we really aren’t crazy about how it looks). Building would be a semi-big project though, so for time/budget/we-have-other-projects reasons, I’ve also considered applying vinyl graphics to the corner area (the corner in the right of the pic above) that would wrap onto both walls and give a little interest and balance without taking up any space. Or ideally, we’ll do both…

We’ll see where we end up. Decisions, decisions. Here are a couple more photos just for fun. And sorry about the iffy pics. Photographing a itty-bitty room like this is not easy at all.

What we’ve done in here so far:
• replaced flooring
• removed wallpaper
• painted walls
• removed vanity and mirror
• installed new pedestal sink
• new mirror
• new lighting fixture
• installed baseboards
• some decor

Still to finish:
• one missing piece of baseboard where we ran out (oops)
• paint door and trim
• new doorknob/hardware (or paint current?)
• decor/art ideas
• possible built-in storage

So that’s that. For now. If anyone has any brilliant ideas or good examples or inspiration on our space/decor issues, please do share! Until we make a decision, I’ll just have to stare at the before/after photos to remind myself of how far we’ve come in this room and stop obsessing over what is still left to do to finish it. This process is a journey for sure, but this is where we’re at today. So one more time :)

And there you have it. Half bath. For now. Happy weekend!

-Dawn

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