Finally.......... The Big Reveal

Hi there, everybody, are you ready for some BIG news?  I am SO EXCITED to announce that Debbie over at Debbiedoos Blogging and Blabbing is featuring my blog this week!  Please hop on over and tell her hello!  Her sweet e-mail was just the incentive I needed to push myself to finish my hall bath renovation in order to share it with y'all.... 

Well..... make that finish jUsT about everything.... 

There are a couple of areas still needing some TLC but I'll try my VERY best to hide them from public view.  :)

Let me begin with a little history.  When my house was built in 1993, I had the bathroom vanity area wallpapered in a hunter green and white striped paper that made the faint hearted feel dizzy, very very dizzy.  It wasn't the emotion I intended to invoke, that's for sure.  But we lived with it until I pulled that outdated stuff down 7 or 8 years ago and allowed my dear daughter to choose the color scheme for the room.......

She's the one in the middle hugging the Mona Lisa.............

She picked a bright periwinkle blue color and a colorful striped shower curtain and bath accessories that totally DID NOT match the traditional style of my house.  But hey, she had a great time with it and since two sloppy teenaged males shared that space with her at the time, it wasn't exactly wise to splurge on a major renovation.  Here's a "during" picture taken after the large wall mirror was removed.  Notice the outdated light fixtures and worn out bathroom faucets...  I had absolutely NO IDEA what to do with the mirror so I posted it on craigslist and made $60 off of it!  The floor had already been changed out from a very white SHOW EVERYTHING vinyl floor when this picture was taken.

Looking through the doorway into the tub area, you can see the newly installed ceramic tile that replaced a cultured marble tub surround.  The marble was cracked below the soap dish and I figured
it would cost as much to replace it as it would to have the area tiled.... 
Remember, I'm a single girl living on a budget..... Nuf said...

Geez, just looking at all those tools makes me tired.... 
Back when I removed the wallpaper and painted the area, the wall had no texture so we mixed some granules into the paint to texturize it.   BIG MISTAKE....  Please don't ever EVER make that mistake.....I had to do a lot of sanding and scraping to remove it. 

Over my two week Christmas vacation, I did a lot of the work.....  And my man Johnny was there hammering and drilling...... and critiquing my painting :)....... and working right alongside me. What a guy, can I tell you?  And the best part is that he LoVeS home projects, says he thinks they're fun!  I'm doing my best not to scare him off....  LOL     Thanks, baby, you're the greatest!

Is this not a total and complete transformation, ladies? 

The mirrors were purchased at Kirkland's, $59 each.  I made numerous trips back and forth and tried out four different mirrors before settling on these.  Not only did I want them to blend well with the color of the stain on the vanity, I wanted to tie together the brushed nickel and iron accents....  We hung them high to bring the eye up and highlight the nine foot ceilings.  We also plan to install crown moulding.  The fleur de lis towel rings were purchased at The Royal Standard, my favorite gift shop in the whole wide world.  Since Hurricane Katrina rolled on through, the fleur de lis has become the symbol of rebirth and hope down here in south Louisiana and it seemed fitting as I rebuild my life post-divorce....

We centered the mirrors over the sinks and that created a large space in the middle that needed filling.....  I debated between a gorgeous floral arrangement and tall apothecary jars and you can see which won out.   I filled one jar with bath salts (most definitely NOT the hallucinogenic variety) and the other with sea sponges and a pretty soap that was gifted to me by my sweet daughter.  The silver plated mirror, brush, and comb set was purchased last spring at an estate sale for fifteen bucks!  I've always admired those sets in the antique shops but never wanted to pay top dollar.....  I'm not sure of the age of this one because the comb appears to be plastic not bone, but I picked it up for a song and love it nevertheless.  The towels come from Wally World and I'm planning to add some washcloths to that basket once Wally World gets more of them in. 

But alas, that beautiful arrangement is ever present in my mind's eye.  Just have to share its classic beauty with you..... I've always LOVED white flowers and have dreamed of a totally white garden.   

Here it is.....

Isn't that about the prettiest thing you've ever seen?  After considerable google searching, I determined that the tall flowers are Serracenia, an endangered variety of lily.  The small flowers at the base are hydrangeas.  I'm thinking of ordering a smaller arrangement of the same flowers done up in an iron wall sconce/basket to hang between the mirrors.  Ladies, I'd love to hear feedback on that idea, certainly don't want to bring the

DiZzY

back with too much "stuff."

I originallly envisioned oil rubbed bronze faucets in this room but decided that it might date the room......  So I chose a classic style in brushed nickel.  Aren't they absolutely the most elegant fixtures you've ever seen? 

A word of advice.....  Stay away from the model showrooms when selecting bathroom fixtures.....  I visited a high end plumbing showroom and was told that I'd pay a minimum of $250 per faucet for the wide handlespread type.  I shopped around and my plumber told me about a friend who has a small warehouse with no model showroom overhead costs.  The guy was more knowledgeable than anyone else I spoke to, didn't rush me, was more than willing to open boxes and show me lots of choices, and he cut me a great deal.  The faucets are high end American Standard and he sold them to me for $165 each.

Shopping around really pays off....

Here's a shot of the new light fixtures.... 

Squint your eyes, please, and imagine pretty glossy white crown moulding....

One plus of hanging the mirrors high was that the openings where the original light fixtures were hung are covered by the mirrors.  We did patch them but didn't have to worry about doing a perfect job. 

My bathroom is small and I wanted to make it appear as large as possible so I chose a white shower curtain with just a touch of chocolate brown trim.  It is similar to one I found online at Ballard Designs at twice the price.  The Ballard one had a large monogrammed initial in the center and I'm thinking I'll have this one monogrammed with my initial or a fleur de lis.  It has a lining that is detached at the bottom so it could easily be monogrammed without an ugly backside showing..... Your thoughts, ladies????

I had the tile guy lay the floor tile on a diagonal to make the area appear larger. He repeated it in the shower surround and added a border of small tiles to dress it up.  It's a much nicer look than the cultured marble, isn't it?

While he was at it, I had him tile my master bath as well.  I used a larger 18" to 18" tile in there. See my Meet Molly post here to view it.

There's nothing like new towels to freshen up a bathroom, is there?

A bucket of towels keeps them handy and ready for use....  Even the potty got a nice new seat.   :)

Can't forget the matching tissue holder!  That white stripe on the wall is a shadow..... 

So there you have it, my new to me bathroom done on

a shoestring budget. 

Changing out the vanity knobs really made a difference but I'm still debating whether I should paint and distress that vanity.  I think it'd look awesome but once you do it, there's no going back.....

We still have a bit left to do, shoe moulding to nail down, that crown moulding and one more fleur de lis robe hook to hang, and a bit of patching......  You see, my friendly plumber suggested that we raise the shower spigot owing to the fact that my sons are six footers......

So in exchange for less shower stooping, Bryan agrees to maintain a neat and tidy bathroom, right??? 

He's just too darn cute to be a slob.....

Can you hear me, Bryan???   HELLO???  :)

Here's one last look at those classy faucets...........

Thanks much for visiting, my friends, and please drop me a quick comment as I love to hear from y'all...........

And kudos to Johnny....... He's THE MAN!