“True Blue, Baby I Love You”
Update vanity with tile wall.
Happy February 1st, friends! I feel like January always seems like the L O N G E S T month ever (especially if you live in the northeast or any other frozen tundra) and then February arrives and I’m like, “Wait, where’d January go?!” BUT….I’m not mad about it. I see February as the winter home stretch with spring on the horizon; I mean, the days are at least getting longer, right?! Ok, enough dreaming about spring!
I’m bringing you phase two of the basement remodel this week…the guest bathroom. Believe it or not, we started this bathroom makeover back in the spring of 2020 when we were in the thick of COVID. While my healthcare job was overwhelming and beyond busy on one hand with all of the COVID craziness, the normal weekend work I would have had was different and I found myself needing something to do in place of that and other usual weekend obligations. The bathroom needed attention and I felt like it was a small enough project to be able to attack over the course of a weekend or two. I didn’t want to do anything major; new paint, an upgrade to the vanity and some new accessories and that should cover it. LOL… famous last words.
Original vanity and hardware
The original picture isn’t great as far as being able to tell the original wall color, but it was a beige-like color and without any windows (remember, its a basement bathroom) to provide any natural light, it just seemed so dark and drabby to me. Add to that the outdated wood vanity and the bathroom was just depressing. I knew I wanted the vanity to be navy, but we started with the walls to make sure I would like the two together. We opted for Benjamin Moore’s Classic Gray which provided just a bit of gray tint for it not to be white, but kept it nice and bright (you’ll see the walls in pics later). It made such a difference and I was excited to get the navy on the vanity; that is where the real magic would happen! I started out with Rustoleum’s Chalk Paint in navy and when I opened the can, I was immediately thinking, “No, abort mission!”. It just looked off to me, more black than blue, so I tried it on the back of the vanity door to see what it looked like. With each stroke, “ABORT! ABORT"!” became louder and it became a lost day…I couldn’t paint cabinet with that chalk paint. Wrong color. Wrong sheen. Just wrong, but if I have learned anything with remodeling, renovations or just decorating its to go with your gut.
Vanity in Benjamin Moore’s Hale Navy
Friends! I have talked about my love of navy in prior posts, but this vanity upgrade may have started by love affair with it. It just came out so good and was honestly so easy. I removed all drawers and the door as well as all hardware first and then lightly sanded with a low grade paper just to help the paint adhere to the cabinet, but it really wasn’t necessary as the wood just soaked it all up. It only took two coats and a few touch ups here and there where the wood had extra detailing. I got both coats done in one day and just waited to put the new Cabinet Hardware on until the following weekend to really let it dry in case I ever wanted to swap things out in the future; this way, the hardware wouldn’t stick to the new paint and cause any damage when being removed.
Vanity in hale navy with updated hardware.
I let the vanity sit like this for a few weeks while I kept thinking the room still needed something. I ended up buying a peel & stick wallpaper to try just to see if I liked the look of it. I had concerns about wallpaper in the bathroom, but figured it was an easy way to see if I was right about this vanity wall needing something more. This wallpaper from the Home Depot was the color I wanted to try and was a good dupe for grasscloth, which is expensive (I didn’t want to spend the money just yet in case I didn’t like it) and I invested about an hour to get it up. It is a small wall, but wallpaper, especially when it is peel & stick, can take a bit of time (along with a lot of patience). While some DIY’s are easy, wallpaper is not one I would recommend if details and patience aren’t your thing :) I kept the original light fixture and mirror up for now and again, wanted to sit on the look for awhile. While I did like the color of the paper and knew that the guest bathroom wouldn’t get used that often in terms of overnight guests, I didn’t think grasscloth was a good idea in a bathroom…I just kept thinking “ewww” with showers and moisture - LOL!
Peel & stick wallpaper added as an accent.
Annie Selke glass tile sample.
The bathroom sat this way for a bit (ok, months) as renovations for the basement kitchen continued. By this point, the Interior Designer turned friend, Brendan Flanigan, who I had been working with on the kitchen, was now given another project…I needed other options for this bathroom wall and had zero time to look myself. COVID was a roller coaster at work, which was the reason I reached out to Brendan in the first place a few months prior. I ran out of time to create and source everything I needed and wanted to get this basement done (more on Brendan coming up when we get to the complete basement reveal), but I did share that I thought wallpaper needed to be tossed out and that I didn’t want to paint the wall a different color (hmm…in writing this, how did I not come up with tile…you win this one, B$). The bathroom turned into phase two when Brendan showed up with this Annie Selke Glass Tile sample and would require the contractor to install it. It was well worth the wait in my opinion; the glass won’t be an issue with showers and unwanted moisture like it may have with the wallpaper, its easy to clean and wait…its stunning!
While I have a few more items to get (hand towel holder, towel hooks), I love the almost completed look! I added this new larger mirror as well as a new vanity light fixture that better suited the space in terms of size. I then got busy adding other accessories and decor items; see below for a few photos of how I’ve styled the space so far…if you don’t have a sense of humor, my choices may not be for you (and maybe you should lighten up-lol). Potty humor for our guests as well as my love of Troy, inspired my final looks! Many of you may recognize the Ladies Entrance framed photo. That is a shot of the famous sign that hung outside of Marty Burke’s South End Tavern for years that my mom was able to get and have framed for me just before the sign came down…its one of my favorites and I love it in this bathroom because everyone who comes to the house gets to see this piece of Troy history. IYKYK, Troy is always in style :) xoxo-ShelleyB.
Room accessory shots; links above.