Tag: half bath decor

Our half bathroom is the FIRST thing you see when you walk in our front door.  It’s certainly not the ideal floorplan, it’s what we have, so I’m making the best of it.  This house was beautifully decorated in the late 90s early 2000s.  It’s obvious lots of care and time was put in decorating it but, unfortunately, 2 (at least) decades have gone by and it needs some love.

Last year, we painted the room, using one of my favorite paint colors, Swiss Coffee by  Valspar.  We got a new light fixture and mirror so the hardest work was done. It just needed to be made beautiful!

I’ve been eyeing peel and stick wallpaper for a couple years now, I’ve added it to my cart so many times but I’ve never pushed “buy”. Though peel and stick wallpapers are a fairly affordable option, they still tend to be more than I want to spend. I was completely inspired one day while I was shopping at WalMart when I saw this beautiful shelf liner.

The rolls are HUGE and only about $6 each!  I’ll be honest, when I bought this, I had NO idea if it would work as wallpaper but I decided I’d never know if I didn’t try. The rest is history.  I also picked up the marble to try as a counter top transformation (that is for another blog post, coming soon).

It was definitely easier to hang than I expected. The hardest part was lining up the design for the second row. I ended up doing a slight overlap in order to get the straightest line.  I was actually able to hang the entire wall in about 2 hours. I used a razor blade to cut along the wall (lightly as to not cut into the drywall).

Once the wall was done, I knew I HAD to paint the vanity. I could NOT stand the late 90s/early 2000s mahogany vanity for one more day!  Painting cabinets get a bad reputation but it really isn’t as hard or intimidating as it seems.

A couple years ago, I painted my built-ins and knew I could use the same technique.  Because this is a half bath, the vanity does not get a ton of traffic so I felt confident that I could paint it after priming and sanding would not be necessary.

While painting cabinets is not hard, it does take some time and patience.  The steps must be followed and you must allow proper dry time between steps.

The first step was to take the doors off and then clean the entire vanity with TSP cleaner.  Once the cleaner was dry, I was ready to prime.  I always use Kilz primer. It’s honestly so easy to use and does a great job.  It’s water based too so easy clean up. I allow the Kilz to dry for a full 24 hours before starting the paint. I used my favorite paint brush a Wooster 2in Shortcut Polyester angle sash brush for application of primer and paint.

Because I didn’t want to spent more money on this makeover, I used paint that I already had. One of my favorite colors EVER, is Sherwin Williams Iron Ore (7069). I’ve used it in my playroom and it’s just the perfect gray/black. I am a Behr paint snob. I won’t paint with any other kind of paint.  I love that it’s low odor and it doesn’t splatter when you’re rolling it.  I applied the paint using the Wooster 2in Shortcut brush.  When I did my built ins, I used a small foam roller to avoid brush strokes but with the detail on these cabinets, I knew I’d need to use a brush for a majority of the doors. Luckily, there are no brush strokes, again, that is because Behr paint is the best ( not sponsored, just love them).

I finished it with simple pulls from Home Depot. I have these pulls in other colors elsewhere in my house in brass and just love the simple look.

To pull together the look, I added a tall white vase from Crate and Barrel filled with palm leaf stems (the ones I have are out of stock, but here is similar https://rstyle.me/+jmN_Ii_4cNIrFnbN-AqYlw). Towels from Hearth and Hand .

Shop the rest of the look here .