Home Improvement: Master Bathroom Updates

Before Miles was born, I confess, I used a step-ladder.  It was only three steps high, and I was only 20ish weeks pregnant, but I used it none the less.  Miles turned out fine and I didn’t fall, I was super careful in our super tiny master bath.

Our Master bath, as I think I’ve mentioned before, is crazy small, so small that when we first looked at the house my initial reaction was, “Where’s the shower? There’s no bath tub or shower in the Master bath?!” and then I peeked behind the door to see that the door to the bathroom, when open, hides the shower from view…but it’s that small!

So its taken some time, but I’m almost done finishing up what I started in there before Miles was born.  The crown molding needed the nail holes filled and painted, as did the quarter round.  I wanted a new shower curtain and I couldn’t stand the ugly poly-oak vanity (topped with an equally despised white laminate countertop…ugh…).

Here’s a before to refresh your memory:

Master Bath Before 1

Master Bath Before 2

Stripping the wallpaper!!! Took FOREVER.  We tried DIF, the wallpaper claw, newspaper…finally…a little hand steamer did the trick.

Wallpaper goes bye bye....

After hours of patching, sanding, priming, scraping….and all of those fun DIY things….we finally had a half new bath.  Here’s what we did:

1.) Laid new peel and stick tile.

2.) Installed quarter round

3.) Removed wallpaper

4.) Removed popcorn ceiling

5.) Installed Crown Moulding

6.) Painted walls and trim

7.) Painted vanity

8.) Switched to an Ikea circular Mirror to add new dimension to a boxy room

9.) New Shower Curtain

So here are some shots of the bathroom today:

Crown Moulding

New crown moulding installed and a nice smooth ceiling.

Towel Hooks & Little Ledge Shelf

Love these yard sale finds that add so much personality to the space!

Drop Cloth Shower Curtain

While we considered adding a curtain that popped with color, due to the fact this curtain typically gets hidden by the door, I rather liked how much it blends with the wall color and I’m hoping to use some accessories (to come in the next few weeks) to add pop and personality to the space.

Here’s the bottom of the curtain (tutorial to come!):

Bottom of Shower Curtain

And finally, a look at the vanity with the new hardware and a new coat of paint (which needs a little touch up at the bottom after a bad tape job (oops).

Master Bath Vanity

A deep Espresso Brown – love the added color it brings and can I say that I don’t miss the porcelain knobs one bit!!!

Now I just need to add some finishing touches and I’ll be ready to show you my final results!  But I can’t believe what these simple changes have done to make this such a different space.

Decor 101: My Ballard Design Artwork Knock Off

SO I got my latest issue of Ballard Designs and saw these beautiful paintings

Ballard Designs, Custom Soliloquy Giclee Prints (Photo from Ballard Designs)

…and just so happened to have two blank, waiting to be painted panels just sitting around from some past projects.  So the little artist in me was itching to get out and I decided, what the heck, why not.  I don’t mind saving some money and I could really use some new artwork for the living room above the couches and I just loved these paintings from Ballard.

The end result is definitely different than theirs, but I’m loving how the artwork came out.  They look so much better in person, but I couldn’t get my white balance quite perfect so the pictures look a little yellower than I would like and a lot of he detail got lost.  Oh well.

Ballard Knock Offs