After the painting is complete (full pics up soon), we will be taking charge of the bathroom on the first floor. When we first moved in, it was the only bathroom in the house that was completely functional despite it’s lack of visual appeal. Once our other 2 bathrooms were serviceable, meaning both the showers and both the toilets worked, we finally took it upon ourselves to get down to business (pun intended) in the downstairs baño. It’s the bathroom people use when we have guests over so I’d like it to be nice. I don’t want my friends and family wondering if they should get a tetanus booster after leaving my house. Right now it’s kind of rough in there.
In a fit of productivity, my sister went crazy on the wallpaper. It was a 40 year old, grimy floral print that just needed to go. The reoccuring issue with this house is that no one thought to put primer under the wallpaper. They just stuck it right on the drywall. The adhesive bonded the wallpaper to the paper front of the drywall so when the wallpaper came down so did the front of the drywall. MAJOR PROBLEM. We had a few choices:
- Replace the drywall
- Hire someone to skim coat the walls
- Attempt refinishing the walls ourselves
We went ahead and have been refinishing the walls ourselves. Please note this is not something you should try without doing a lot of research before. I am going to be completely honest and tell you that I was way too impatient not to do this my way. We picked up some DAP spackle that specifically says not to use it for skim coating. Once again, I’m incredibly independent/foolhardy. My sister spackled and sanded, then covered the walls with bonding primer. Then she repeated those steps. I’m going to repeat them tonight to finish it off. The walls are definitely improved. She did a great job of fixing the difference in thickness between the areas where the wallpaper ripped the drywall and the rest of the wall.
The walls are nearly completely smooth. I think they just need one more once over.
In preparation of having a bathroom I can be proud of, I also painted the gold mirror frame to freshen it up. What color? You shall see.
Our Bathroom Redo Checklist
Paint mirror framePaint cabinetBuy new hardware- Install new faucet
- Patch walls
- Paint walls
- Replace toilet seat
- Tile floor
- Create/buy bathroom art
After painting the mirror frame, I also painted the cabinet with some paint we had left over from the basement (Bone Folder by Martha Stewart) and sealed it for wipeability. The cabinet was a dark brown and it wasn’t working for me. I like bathrooms to be light and fun. I know you saw the sink. It’s hard to miss. I don’t think it’s in the budget to replace it right now and I’m not sure about using countertop paint on it so it’s staying – for now. I also bought some new hardware for the cabinets. I could not take the weird distressed brass/gold thing going on in there so brushed nickel it is! My aunt is going to show me the tiling ropes so hopefully we can pull this bathroom into modern times together.
Do you have any major projects on your agenda? Think I can tackle this?
Suburban Fervor 
Renovating bathrooms is a big job but I’m sure it will look amazing when you’re finished! xx
Thanks for the enouragement! Sometimes I forget there is a light at the end of the bathroom…tunnel.