Monday, September 20, 2010

Powder Room...Part 1


Isn't it beautiful???  It needs some accessories and a few finishing touches...but the bulk of it is done!!

Ah the never ending home remodeling!  Vision after vision after vision, and ideas on top of ideas!!!  But I promised Sonny as part of my new years resolution to finish ONE PROJECT AT A TIME.  Which is hard for me because my mind goes a mile a minute and I'm always thinking about the next best thing.  SO.....in keeping with my promise....I have remodeled our powder room!!  Wooty woot! 

I love me some Young House Love and I get so inspired by their house and ideas.  But when I saw their half bath and those tone on tone horizontal stripes....I didn't just get inspired.  I coveted!  I wanted it.  Take it out and plunk it in my house.  So I admit that I blatantly ripped off their idea, but I give them full credit.  Plus....with 2 under 2...I don't have time to come up with my own ideas!  Haha!  Thanks YHL!

But I have to warn you that this project was a pain in my rear!!!  I tried to be cool and save money and blah blah blah (plus...the bulk of this I did ALL BY MYSELF.  It really was a labor of love, done over a couple of weeks, due to working during naps and after bedtimes).

So here's some before pics.  Yes I remembered to take them! (After Heather texted me and reminded me....hence the no builders mirror and half a light fixture.)  The bathroom had never been touched since we moved in so it really was just builders basic.  And the potty seat really gives it that extra something, don't you think?





So the first thing I did was refresh the whole room with a nice coat of white (night one and two).  I used the new Martha Stewart Living line of paint at Home Depot in the color "popcorn."  Umm....I think I shall repaint my whole house using these colors.  I love this line!! Not only does it cover divinely, have low VOC's (seriously...I didn't smell the paint at all!), and have wonderful colors....but on the back of every chip she has suggested colors for ceiling and trim.  Genius!  Again....No time to come up with my own ideas! 

After freshening up the old dull wall and ceiling with my Popcorn fabulousness...I started on the marking and taping of the horizontal stripes (nap to mark and draw the lines and night 3 and 4 to tape).  YHL has a very nice formula to figuring it out....but I kinda went the way of trial and error with a tape measure.  I knew I wanted the darker tone to be on the top stripe and the bottom stripe, which means I'd have an odd number.  I started with estimating 5 stripes total, then divided the height of the room by 5.  Since my room (from the top of the baseboard) was 105", 5 stripes would be 21".  Way to big. So then I tried 9 stripes....11.666666"....too hard to measure.  7 stripes equaled an even 15" each....sounds great.  Not very scientific or efficient...but it worked for me!



I would recommend using a ruler with a level to keep the lines consistently the correct distance apart.  There's nothing worse that getting around the room to connect the line and you're off.  AAARRRGGHHH!! Then tape over the lines, remembering that you want to tape the OUTSIDE of the area you want to paint the stripes.  That's why the middle stripe in this pic looks smaller.  Make sense?  And the reason why it took me 2 night to complete the taping is because I have a great trick to keeping those paint lines from bleeding.  Sonny and I have done alot of tricks and design with painting and have found this is the best way to get that crisp line that is so coveted.  MOD PODGE!!
That's right folks...our good friend Mod Podge.  I always have a good supply of this around the house because it is so useful for many things from lining drawers with paper, decoupaging whatever, gluing puzzles together (haven't done it since I was 12....but still..you could), and it's great to have for crafting with the kids.  But it's also great for clean lines!!  Just paint a light coating of this on the tapes edge and it seals that paint line to create a nice, crisp, edge.  It's GLORIOUS!!!  Also, I've found that it prevents that horrid peeling or "chipping" that happens when you let the paint dry and then peel the tape off.  I left this tape on for a couple days (reason why to come) and it still came off so sharp.  Fabu!  So....Mod Podge....if you don't have some....GET SOME! Oh yeah, and use one of those craft sponge brushes.  If you use a regular brush you'll get brush strokes.  I figured this out (notice the brush). 

Then came night 5...the night I thought I would be done.  I had some leftover living room paint in a very light tan that I was going to mix with some leftover Martha popcorn white to create a lovely tone on tone.  This was my attempt to save money and be awesome and say "oh this color...its custom...yes I'm that fabulous." 


See the tiny little chopstick sticking out of the can on the left? Ahhh...so sad...
 Since I am in no way an expert at this stuff.....a couple things happened that were very wrong.  First, the tan paint was 5 years old and possibly not sealed well by my lovely husband.  It had separated and really could have used a good shaking up from the kind folks at Home Depot.  Second, I didn't have a proper stirrer....so I used a chopstick.  Don't judge me.  Third...I added the white to the tan...which was a poor idea.  It takes a little drop of dark to change the white...but a whole lot of white to change the dark.  Lastly, after adding the whole 1/3 of a gallon to the tan and stirring vigorously....I realized i really should have taken the can to Home Depot to have them shake it up.  But it was 8:30 at night and I just wanted to do it and get it done!! (sigh) So I pressed on....and that was a mistake.  To conclude part one....I will say that sometimes...it's really just best to go with your gut.  I should have stopped as soon as I opened the old paint can...but just kept hoping it would get better.  Such a mistake to keep going....but I pushed on through.  More to come during this week...as it's still kind of a work in progress...

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