Old House rehab 6; the bathroom make-over

Color changes everything.  And when I have helped people choose colors for a room, the first question I ask is “how do you want to feel?” there. In a bathroom where we start and end our day we want to feel restful and serene. It’s a place where we gather ourselves together, thusly, quiet colors without too much stimulating yellow tones in them tend to feel the best.  So rather than retouching the existing green on the walls of this old house bathroom, we chose a new set of colors to reflect this principle.

The existing faux-marble counter top still had lots of wear but it was—after all—faux attempting to something it wasn’t.  We decided to replace it with a more contemporary patterned formica top ordered to our specifications at Lowe’s choosing to install new double sinks to expand the use of its length.  We chose the color to blend with the existing floors and the vintage black towel rod that were perfect, then use them as our jumping off point for the rest of the colors.

The large boarded-up hole in the wall [must have been a cabinet there] gave us the easy opportunity to install a light fixture.  We hard-wired it in adding a switch to the left of the counter snaking the wires through the closet next door.  I did lots of layers of joint compound sanded out in between before my drywall primer and final coats of paint.

Installing the extra sink meant that the plumbing then interfered with the drawers on the left hand side.  We took out the drawers and David build a new cabinet door with edges routed to match the older door.  This way there was still access to the plumbing if needed and allowed for more storage.

I recycled knobs from the kitchen cabinets and painted them with an oil based paint to match the black hardware elsewhere.  Gaps in the baseboards were caulked, dents in the walls were mudded smooth.  Walls were painted with California Paint French White in an eggshell finish and trim in that same lively cream color throughout the house in a satin finish.  The base cabinets were painted a darker taupe I custom tinted myself to bring out the gray-brown tones in the floor.  Since the floors, tub/shower and toilet were in excellent condition all that was left to do was add mirrors purchased at Target to just exactly fit in the narrow space above the sink.  A simple make-over, really, showing what just color and accessories can do!