Decorating Fun | Operation Home

I warned you, though. Well, maybe “warned” is a bit strong. I didn’t really warn you. That was a lie. I did, however, state that I usually don’t plan a room from start to finish in this post for the guest bath. Rather, I plan as I go. And now I know why. Ya see, this blog is a total learning experience for me. I’ve always loved other bloggers mood-boards so I thought maybe giving one a shot would help me in my guest-bath-quest. But, alas, a mood-board person I am not. At least not when it comes to compiling ideas that I plan on actually sticking with. Or maaaaybeeeee, a mood-board would work if I actually had the items in my possession (and knew that I could follow through) BEFORE I posted it for all to see. Yeah, that’s it. Noted.

Anyways, I’ve been shopping around for stuff for our guest bath makeover, and I’ve gotta be honest… I’m at a standstill with this….

Here’s why I should’ve done more research before posting this mood-board:

First, the painted fixture… I’ve decided not to paint it. Not for lack of trying, though. I went to Lowes, Home Depot, and Hobby Lobby and between the three I brought home 4 different kinds of spray paint and two jars of multipurpose paint in various shades of sage/aqua. I compared and hemmed and hawed. But in the end, I just wasn’t comfortable with any of the options available to me. The colors just weren’t right. Some were too green, some too aqua. They just didn’t settle well. They weren’t the pretty, mid-centuryish tone in the pic above. And I didn’t want to mess up our new fixture with a “meh” paint color or experiment with mixing only to be disappointed. So, I’ve decided that I’ll mount the fixture in all it’s galvanized steel glory (…not that that’s actually done yet or anything. Soon.). And I know that I’ll always have the option to take it down and paint it later if I’m absolutely, 100% certain that painting it is the right choice.

Next, I absolutely adore the striped shower curtain from West Elm. But it’s only 74″ long. Because our ceilings are 9 feet high, our tile-work extends higher than in our previous house, which means that if the rod is hung at the correct height, 74″ leaves about a foot of flood insurance down below. High waters are not recommended in any capacity… pants, curtains or otherwise. So, I’ve been on the hunt for a longer alternative. When I started this process, I naively assumed that this would be an easy feat. I mean, stripes are classic, right? Yes, they are. But thick charcoal and white stripes in a horizontal orientation are apparently not.

I’ve searched for regular 84″ window curtains with a similar print, but the cheapest I’ve found were around $90 per panel. And I’d need two. So, no. No, that won’t happen. I’ve looked for bedsheets. No luck. I found a duvet from Pottery Barn Kids, that could be adapted, but it’s $61, plus another$12 for shipping (has anybody noticed that their shipping charges are RIDICULOUS??), so I can’t justify that. I’ve looked for fabrics in similar prints but the only ones I’ve found have 3″ charcoal stripes which are too narrow/busy for what I was going for.

So, basically, if I was set on bold grey stripes I had two options:

1) I could break out my dusty sewing machine and try to sew stripes with white and charcoal fabric panels. Problem? I can’t even sew a straight line. And straight lines are imperative if I want to avoid unsightly puckering.

or…

2) I could paint stripes on plain white window curtains. The issue here is that bathrooms are moist. Between steam, splashes, and pee (I have a toddler. And the shower curtain is right next to the toilet) this sucker would need to be washable and moisture-tolerant. Thus, I don’t have confidence that a painted curtain is the right way to go in here. So, onward…

Now, here’s a confession… the mood board above isn’t the first one I came up with. This is the first…

Notice the similarities? Reds, soft blue/turquoise (my paint of choice would have a smidge more green than the paint sample above… more on the turquoise side for sure), greys and whites, bold pattern with a classic feel and rustic touches. This board boasts a round mirror… but I’m still preferring the pallet wood mirror in my top mood-board above. I also included two shower curtains because I wasn’t sure if I wanted bold stripes or classic white for the shower curtain. White is still a possibility in my eyes, especially with the shopping difficulties I’ve encountered.

So, basically, I’ve decided to take these two boards as inspiration, nix the advanced planning (for now), but stick with my preferred color-scheme and do what I know. Which is plan as I go. FYI: Rhyming right there was a happy accident. A bonus, if you will. You are welcome. Anyhoo, there are two things that I do know at this point… The barn light is going up as is and I’m leaning toward a light turquoise-ish tone for the walls. I also want pops of red somewhere in the room. Wait. That was three things. Apparently, I count as well as I plan.

So, that’s where I am. I can tell you this, though… My painting muscles are getting twitchy. I want to paint this badboy. Soon. In the meantime, I’ve been doing all of the boring prep stuff. Caulking the tub, removing all decor, spackling holes, etc. And of course, once I get a move on the more interesting stuff I’ll update ya’ll. So, stay tuned…

Remember my friend Lisa?

We started her guest room makeover a few months ago in one action-packed day (which you can read about here). Basically, we went a little backwards for the sake of usability. That day, we cleaned, decluttered, shopped, figured out a more functional layout and assembled the room. Thus, the room could immediately accommodate guests. This time around, we painted the walls. Woo-hoo! I’m that weird breed of human who loves to paint, so this was right up my alley.

The plan was to paint the walls a deep grey and Lisa happened to have almost a full gallon of Glidden’s Seal Grey on hand (which she’d used in her bathroom). So, we went for it. Her boyfriend helped out immensely by moving all the furniture to the middle of the room. A task which would’ve taken us forever, literally took him minutes. Conveniently for me, it was done by the time I arrived. (Bonus!) He also helped us replace the furniture once we were done. And boy, were we glad he was there. I don’t think I was prepared to take on that beast of a piano again. Not that I was much of a help the first time around. Anyways, I’m getting ahead of myself as per usual… Backtrack to ‘the furniture was moved to the middle of the room’ part… And go… So, we removed all of the outlet covers and got to work. We opted not to tape off the trim and windows for the sake of saving time. After many moons (and lots and lots of practice), edging freehand has become quicker and easier for me than spending forever-and-a-grandma taping only to discover unsightly paint bleeds later.

Here are a few ‘in progress’ shots…

I cut in and Lisa rolled. It took us about 3 hours from start to finish.

Once we were done painting, we decided to take on the piano bench as well…

The fabric on top had seen better days and the base was a bit scratched up and possessed more of a red undertone than the piano, so it didn’t quite mesh. This little guy had terrific bones, though, so he was definitely worth keeping. We roughed up the base with 220 grit sand paper, then used Rustoleum Universal spray paint in Satin White, and gave this baby several thin, even coats….

We recovered the the cushion with some of the same fabric that I used to update this tray (sorry, forgot to take pics of this part)….

I purchased a quarter yard from Walmart for 99 cents and thanked my lucky stars that it was the perfect size to recover this small bench. I utilized the same method for recovering this cushion that I described in detail when I recovered my eight dollar chair seats.

And here’s where we ended up….

Cute, huh? I just love it. It’s quirky, fun, and brings some turquoise and feisty-ness over to this side of the room.

With our little bench complete, we reassembled the room, ironed the curtains, hung those babies up, and then I went mad snapping pictures. And without further adieu, some before-and-after shots for your viewing pleasure:

The music side of the room started here….

After Day One (sorry for the smaller shots in this post… I forgot to shoot a few angles while I was there, so Lisa sent me these on her phone) …

After Day Two…

Obviously the red painting had to go. It just didn’t jive with the rest of the room. This blue painting works perfectly though. And our adorable piano bench adds a punch of personality as well. I added another quarter yard of fabric as a makeshift table scarf for the storage bench to bring a touch of black and white pattern to this side of the room. It balances the graphic bedspread on the opposite side really well. We still need some artwork for above the storage bench, but that’s a project for another day.

The bedroom side of the room started here….

Day One…

Day Two…

This side of the room stayed pretty much the same except for the wall color. But the deep grey tone makes all the difference. It really allows the curtains and bedding to pop and the room seem so much cozier in general.

Lastly, the dresser side started here…

Day one…

Day Two…

Again, only the paint color is different, but it sure complements the deep walnut dresser. We still need to accessorize and hang some artwork, but it’s definitely a step in the right direction.

Here’s a wider view so you can see how the room ties together a bit more…

And the obligatory, proud-of-our-progress shots…

I just love paint. It’s amazing how something so cheap and easy packs such a wallop. Anyways, we’re almost there, but still have a bit more to do.

So, for Day Three of this makeover we’ll be…

revamping this ceiling fan…

creating some art for the walls
adding some accessories

I’m not sure when we’ll complete these things, but we’ll get ‘er done for sure at some point. And of course, I’ll post about it when that time comes. So, does anybody else have painting projects going on right now?