Beige & Blah to White & Bright Bathroom Refresh

It’s about time I shared a decorating project on here! I’ll be giving our main floor bathroom a much needed refresh. The room is extremely dated and needs a complete renovation, but we won’t be able to start doing any major work in there until at least a year from now. There’s no way I can live with it for that long in its current state though, so it’s going to get an inexpensive cosmetic makeover with paint and a few accessories. I’ll show you the space, but first, here’s a mood board I put together with my vision for it:

Here’s the bathroom in its current state:

The walls are beige, the ceiling is beige, the vanity is beige, the shower is lined with floral-printed beige vinyl sheets (that’s not even real tile!!), the tub is beige, the toilet is beige… I think you can see the issue I have with this room. It’s very dull and there isn’t a window in this bathroom, and since beige is a light-sucking colour, the room needs as much brightening up as I can manage. When I’m done with it there will be no more beige in here!!!

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Vintage Vogue Cover Art

I wanted to share a quick update on a little project I did with my Vogue vintage cover art mirror that I have featured on the wall above my marble-topped bar cabinet.  I painted the cabinet glossy black and so I wanted the mirror's frame to match. Here it is after about four coats of spray paint and one coat of acrylic polyurethane to give it the same "lacquered" finish as the cabinet: 

It was previously a dark-brown stained wood as seen here in the 'before' picture: 

The illustration on the mirror is by George Wolfe Plank and it was featured as the Vogue cover for the April 1918 issue.  The new black frame makes the dress of the lady riding the peacock really stand out so much more than the brown frame did.  It's amazing what a little paint can do!  

Entryway Inspirations

I'm thinking about my entryway again (I first posted about it here) and I'm really bummed that the white lacquer parsons console table from West Elm that I've had my eye on doesn't ship to Canada.  I've looked everywhere for something similar, in countless brick & mortar stores and what feels like every single online furniture retailer.  I found several runners up, but nothing as perfect for the space or for what I have in mind.  So until I find something great, instead of spending money on something temporary, I thought I'd just paint my existing dark wood-stained demi-lune table.  Here are some images from Pinterest that are inspiring me: 

This picture captures exactly what I have in mind for my space - white lacquer parsons console table, bench underneath, large mirror (except that my mirror will be hung above the table).

This picture is getting a little closer to my vision...my mirror is gold-framed.

I was thinking of painting my table white, but black looks so chic!  And a black console table would anchor my black marble-topped bar on the opposite wall...

Sigh...This is the West Elm table that I'm coveting but it won't ship to Canada!!!

This looks very similar to my demi-lune table (only difference is mine has a middle shelf).  This picture gives me an idea of how the table would look black...

...and then I see something like this and I think I might like to try giving my table a coat of chalk paint and distressing it, make it look French provincial.  It would look so darling since the demi-lune shape is already very traditional, but  because of that it just wouldn't be the right style for the room it's in.

All images via Pinterest except last image via

Painting Project Update

I started painting the ceiling in my bedroom tonight when I realized that I didn’t write a follow-up blog post after all that painting I did during my week off work!  I didn’t end up getting every room painted as planned, but I kind of expected that would happen.  Regardless, I was impressed with how much I got done.  I finished the guest bedroom, my office, and the hallway.  I worked for 12 hours each day the first two days, and by the end of the second day, I was so sore that I had to go for a massage on Wednesday morning.  That massage was amazing.  Thanks to Joni from Totum Life Science for taking away my pain!  After my massage, I was prepared to go straight home and continue painting, but a friend of mine convinced me to go for breakfast with him and I was grateful for that – he reminded me that I was on vacation and that I should be enjoying it and not just working the whole time.  So that was a nice break.  But after that, I went right back to painting (I’m not very good at relaxing!).  Spent a few hours on Thursday doing the finishing touches and that was it for the week.  I may not have gotten started on my bedroom or the kitchen, but I’m proud at all I accomplished in just under a week.  But I can’t take all the credit!  Though I spent many hours painting alone (which I actually find quite enjoyable and meditative), I had help from three very good friends who took turns stopping in, and I am so grateful for them.  J

And now, the pictures.  Not the greatest photos, because I haven’t decorated the rooms yet, but at least you get to see the colours.  (I didn’t take any pictures of the hallway, because…well, it’s just a hallway.  But I promise you, it looks amazing.  When I bought the house, the hallway was this dark beige colour that sucked all the light.  Now it’s white and so much brighter.  Before I painted, I had a 100-watt bulb in the hallway light fixture and it still didn’t light up the hall; but now 100-watts is way too bright and I’m going to have to put in a 60-watt instead!  What a difference paint makes, huh??!) 

Guest bedroom.  The accent wall is the darker colour, all other walls are the lighter colour.

I'm going to put up grey suede headboard panels behind the bed.

Another view of the guest bedroom. 

My home office.  I don't even have a desk yet, but I've got this sexy chaise lounge! 

Painting Project

I haven’t done ANY home improvement projects since my June 2011 Project Wish List blog post.  The two main reasons are time and money.  I also have trouble focusing on one project at a time, and I want to do it all, but then I get overwhelmed and I don’t do anything.  I also have so many conflicting decorating/renovating ideas that I have trouble deciding what to do.  But I’ve finally made a few decisions and took a week off work, so I’m starting with painting the house.  The weekend before I moved in, I painted the living room, TV room and master bedroom.  Now I’m finishing the rest of the house.  Assuming I get through it all, I’ll be painting the guest bedroom, my home office, the upstairs hallway, the kitchen, and re-painting the master bedroom.  Phew!  That’s a lot of work!  I already got started yesterday (Saturday) – did the prep work in the guest bedroom and office (filling holes with putty, taping, sanding), and painted the ceilings in both those rooms today.  Hopefully the ceilings won’t need a second coat and I can get started on the walls tomorrow.  In the guest bedroom I’ve picked a blue/grey colour in two shades, darker for the accent wall and lighter on the other walls.  The office will be a light-medium purple, to go with the dark purple chaise I bought for in there.  I’m going to paint my master bedroom white, then eventually put up black velvet damask wallpaper on the accent wall where the headboard is.  I’ll paint the fireplace black, which is on the wall that is directly across from the wall that will be black damask.  Since the hallway is long and dark I’m painting it white to brighten it up.  I’m also painting the kitchen white for now, to freshen and clean it up, and I’ll probably add a backsplash at some point soon.  I’ve decided against painting the kitchen green, though, because the room right next to it is burgundy and I’m not sure that those colours will flow nicely together.  This is probably more than enough to keep me busy for one week!  

This is all the paint I'll be using this week.