The Bathroom Has Launched...A Before and After Story

This will be the LAST post on my bathroom. For those of you that are sad about this declaration, I HEART YOU. For those of you skipping with joy {mom, husband, neighbor friend R}, I forgive you.

This journey really deserves a story. So, sit back, grab your coffee {a.m.} or wine {p.m.} and, as always, ENJOY.

The Story of the Wisteria House Bathroom

Once upon a time, in a house slowly being taken over by a wisteria tree, there was a bathroom. It was a pink bathroom. It was entirely covered in pink tiles. Its fixtures consisted of a pink toilet, a pink sink and a purple bathtub. There was a large hole in the floor, which required patching with plywood, which the lovely homeowners seriously considered painting pink. Because that would have been funny.

When the homeowners went to wash the bathroom window of the pink bathroom, the glass window pane fell out. When the lovely homeowners went to repaint the wood shutters you see below, the shutters fell off the windows and on to the plywood floor.



The lovely homeowners {uh, the wife} hated bathing in this pink bathroom. She wasn't sure if it was because of the stream of carpenters ants that flowed from behind the shower or if it was the lingering fungus in the bathroom tub that couldn't be removed with any kind of cleanser.

And so the homeowners scrimped and saved and saved and scrimped. And in 2007, they took their pennies and remodeled the pink bathroom. It became known as the blue bathroom.





The blue bathroom was lovely and it was new. But something wasn't quite right, which the wife described in great detail HERE.

So, after some hemming and hawing and hawing and hemming, the lovely homeowners decided that the foundational elements of the bathroom (the sink, the floor, the bathtub, etc.) were exactly what the lovely homeowners wanted. It just seemed like some simple changes could be made that would make the bathroom complete. For this blue bathroom is the one room you see directly when walking up the stairs. And this blue bathroom will one day serve as the kids bathroom {once the lovely homeowners have pinched enough pennies to put in a master bathroom}.

And, so, some changes were made:

• Removal of the dark framed picture. It didn't go with the light colors and dominated the room in a not-so-pleasing way;
• Addition of a towel holder over the toilet...to replace the dark framed picture;
  
• New shower curtain, shower mat and white towels;
  
• And, finally, a new paint color. Pewter by Benjamin Moore to be exact. It was spotted in the Seattle store of an uber-cool chick that writes the blog Revival Home & Garden. Check out the difference between the old {light blue} and the new {blue-gray} paint colors:
  

And the changes were made and the lovely homeowners decided that the {newly named} gray bathroom is perfect.

There are some caveats, of course. But would you expect anything else with these lovely homeowners? First, the broken bathroom window has been fixed, but is still waiting to be replaced. Until it's replaced, it is impossible to add the trim around the window. It's also impossible to decide on a new curtain until the window is purchased. So the lovely howners ask that you please try to look around these elements in reviewing the pictures below...

Love poster by Made by Girl. I love the yellow-kick of color.







Some details:


The radiator cover. When we moved in, they were painted entirely green and were chipping lead paint. We took them in to Ballard Refinishers, a great shop here in Seattle. They dipped them and powder-coat painted them. All of the radiator covers in our house look like this. And I LOVE them.

The plumbing fixtures for the shower, sink and toilet are all Kohler. We did contemplate some fancy-schmancy fixtures but, you know what? We saw these at Lowes and we really liked their simplicity. And there was about a $1,000 price difference for all of the fixtures. Pretty easy choice, wouldn't you say?

Sconces from Restoration Hardware; tile from Tiles 4 Less; Medicine cabinet from Restoration Hardware; Towel Rack from Rejuvenation. And, as previously mentioned, print by Made by Girl; Fixtures by Kohler {Memoir}; Paint {Pewter} by Benjamin Moore.

***Please let me add the disclaimer that I know there are many other important things going on in this world...outside of the color of my bathroom walls. But, c'mon, cut me a break. My little guy had a fever, my husband had to work...and other than our one jaunt outside this weekend to purchase THIS, we hung out in the upstairs portion of our house all weekend. I had cabin fever and, if you say anything, I will argue that I was delirious when writing this post.***