Redo of the Redo

So a little over a year ago,

I decided to do something with our upstairs bathroom.

As you can see from the photo,

it was kind of ugly.

I got it in my head to paint it peach.

But the paint was odd and it sometimes looked like peach,

and sometimes it was down right orange.

One day while doing some shopping,

Big E voiced the need for new towels.

I explained I was not able to find towels that matched the bathroom yet

(there was talk that towels didn't need to match the bathroom,

I challenged him to ask any woman in the store.... silly man)

And that's when he voiced his displeasure with the color.

He hated it.

Then I admitted that I too hated it.

So after some thought,

and a whole lot of time on Pinterest,

I went with grey.

It was the right choice.

I managed to find a new shower curtain that 

wasn't so "psychedelic"

as Big E referred to the old shower curtain.

I also found some Aqua colored towels

and a bath mat in differing shades of Aqua

so I have a lot of possible towel colors to use and choose from.

There's only a couple of upgrades that I have left on my list.

I'm hoping to change out the medicine cabinet from the

70's era mirrored monstrosity

to something more tasteful.

And I also have some ideas on shelving above the toilet

that will be pretty easy to do.

The Upstairs Hallway

In the beginning when we got the house, 

there was a wall 

separating the first and second floor apartments.

It surrounding the upstairs railing of the staircase.

We couldn't wait to open the area up.

The original wall color in the downstairs hallway was an off white,

while the upstairs hallway was a rather dark and dreary dark brown paneling.

We painted the downstairs hallway a light blue color.

You can check out that project here

I was not fond of the dark paneling. 

It sucked up all the available light.

And on the triangular wall above the stairs

was a lovely shade of baby poop mustard yellow.

So I decided to paint the paneling.

Painting paneling isn't really that difficult. 

The hardest part is the cutting in, as 

you need to paint down each of the grooves in the paneling.

And you want to make sure you use a good primer 

to help hide any staining, and give your paint a good base to adhere to.

Even with just the primer,

the hallway looked so much better and brighter.

I painted the upstairs hall the same color as the downstairs hall.

Right now I have to live with the ugly wire hanging by the stairs.

It was originally hidden by the wall that used to be at the stop of the stairs.

Once we replace the door with the new construction window,

the wires will be gone.

The curtains on the door and window were curtains my mom made for her dining room years ago.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with the hallway.

You can see where I'm working on the floor.

I've only been able to get the section between the steps and the bathroom scraped.

I'm still working on the other area of the floor.

There's still lots of updates coming!

The Secret Project: The Upstairs Bathroom

The following photos are the before shots

of the upstairs bathroom.

This is our only working bathroom while the downstairs bathroom 

gets gutted and remodeled.

The bathroom is ugly.

It's ugly, and it seems like it isn't clean, 

though I assure you it is, 

and that means it's a huge embarrassment when people need to use it.

So I came up with the idea to paint the paneling.

I met resistance from Big E, but he eventually gave in.

He didn't agree with me, he just accepted I was doing it either way.

The bathroom has the exact same formica on the walls

that is on the kitchen counter and backsplash.

And one of the previous tenants used that plastic window film

to winterize the windows, 

but they left the sticky strip of double sided tape behind.

It actually came off pretty easy with some scraping with a putty knife

and a little Goo Gone.

The room looked better just removing that old yellowed tape.

Afterwards, I washed down the walls with just some warm soapy water-

just using a little Dawn dish soap, nothing chemical.

Then I had to use medium grit sand paper to knock the shine off the paneling, 

and then use a damp rag to wipe the dust off the walls.

You can't see in these photos, 

but the wall inside the shower is actually damaged from the water.

That's what happens when you put paneling inside a shower.

(you an see that the tile doesn't go all the way up the wall)

Then I used a kitchen and bath primer to prime all the walls.

It took 2 coats to get really good coverage.

The room really brightened up and looked 100 times better

just with the primer!

The primer also covered the areas of damaged paneling.

I'm not sure how it will hold up with the water from the shower,

but it's still better than it was.

Big E grudgingly admitted it was an improvement.

Now he wants to paint the ceiling too.

I picked a peachy color for the walls.

These photos don't really do the color justice 

because the lighting isn't the best.

It took 2 coats of paint to get the best coverage for the paint.

I washed the mini blinds off in the tub with some warm water

and a little soap which cleaned them up pretty good.

I also got a new shower curtain to match the new walls.

Big E isn't a fan of the shower curtain, 

he thinks it's too psychedelic.

 But he also didn't think painting the bathroom was a good idea either.

The last thing I wanted to point out was 

the watercolor painting hanging on the wall.

It was painted by my very talented cousin for our grandmother.

The bathroom color was chosen to match this painting.

I think I chose well.

The bathroom turned out awesome if I say so myself.

I was unsure of the color once it was up, 

but it is actually exactly what I was looking for.

It makes the bathroom feel bright, warm and cheery.

The cost break down is:

Gallon of Primer- $20

Gallon of Paint- $15

Shower Curtain- $15

Picture Frame- $15

For a total cost of $65.00

I didn't go with the expensive paint because this room will be demoed in the future, 

I just wanted a quick fix to make it less embarrassing. 

I think I totally accomplished the goal.