Half Bath Reveal

There's nothing like impending parties of 20+ guests at your home to get you working on those home improvement projects that have been dragging along!

Our half bath is the only bathroom on the main level of our house, so it's the one our short-term guests tend to use.  It's just off the foyer and kitchen, and if the door is open, it's the first thing you see as you enter the house.

It was also the worst-looking room in our entire house!  I'm not sure if you're ready for this before photo.  The wallpaper is so crazy you can't even see the word "before".

Honestly, I'm not even sure what the worst part was - the wallpaper, mirrored cabinet, glittery sink, or Asian mirror and shelf.  What you can't see here was the ugly light fixture and the goldenrod yellow trim and door.

Our friends ripped the wallpaper down the first weekend we were in the house (love you guys!!!).  But we kind of lost steam there.  Let's see some close-ups of the details.

We did some research and discovered that vanities like ours are actually quite pricey (like $1000+)!  Tommy's grandmother really likes it, so we're gifting it to her.  I'm glad it'll have a loving home.

A few weeks ago we were up at the hardware store to buy random stuff, and kind of got carried away on a shopping spree, mostly for this bathroom.  They even had to call in the lift to get the vanity for us.

We removed the vanity next.  It came out pretty easily, but is now in our dining room.  Maybe it'll make a cool place to chill champagne?  Maybe we can get it out of here before the parties!

We also tried out about a million paint swatches, in every color from chocolate brown to orange to beige.  In the end, we went with Rainwashed by Sherwin Williams, the same color from the living room.  We like the color, it matches this level of the house, and we had an extra gallon hanging out.

Once we got the walls free of wallpaper glue and had them smoothed (we hired a handyman to do the drywall - given the time crunch we couldn't learn to do it ourselves), the painting and vanity installation went really smoothly - nothing too interesting to report.

The vent cover was black, and really dirty.  We initially shopped for a new one, but it was a weird size.  We ended up sanding it a bit, running it through the dishwasher, priming and painting it.  Good as new!  I love when we can reuse stuff instead of throwing it away.

The big problems started when we tried to install the new faucet and light fixtures.

It turns out that whoever redid this bathroom last time wasn't an expert.  The light fixture was installed using improper and unsafe methods, and the sink drain used a pipe size they don't even carry at the hardware store.  Tommy tried his best, but since it's water and electricity, we ended up calling in the experts.  They were perplexed as well, and I'm pretty sure they wish they had charged us more!

We topped it all off with a round mirror and hand towel holder!  Ready for the big reveal?

We are THRILLED with the outcome!!!  We almost walked out of our house at the showing because of this bathroom.  We love how clean and updated it feels, and the style perfectly reflects us.

As always, this project isn't quite done yet!  The toilet is a cream color that doesn't match.  It seems impractical to replace a functioning toilet, but when it goes, we'll get something in white.  I'd also like to hang some art on the blank walls.

But for now, I love love love this project!!!  Let's see a before and after again.

Interested in a buying guide?  The vanity, towel ring, faucet, and lighting are from Home Depot.  The mirror is available at IKEA.  I didn't think I'd like the slightly rustic patina of the mirror, but now that it's in the space I much prefer it to something plain.

How'd we come in budget and time-wise?  Thanks to the surprises of the plumbing and electric being weird, we spent more time and money than planned hiring the pros to get it working.  We were a little surprised at the cost of decent-looking faucets and lighting, but felt like we made up for it with the inexpensive vanity (with top included!) and mirror.  Overall, we're 100% happy with the results, and it got done before the big parties!!!