Bathroom Renovations - Week 2

WHEN: January 2012
WHERE: The Brass Residence

Our goal this weekend was to finish priming the bathroom and get all of it painted.  I am happy to say that we achieved that goal.  Even though there are remaining components preventing the project from being stamped "complete", having it all painted seems like most of the battle (physically and psychologically).  We went with Valspar's vintage blue for the color in the bathroom and we are more than pleased with how it turned out.  The blue does have a grey tint to it but it appears more blue in person.  It was hard to accurately capture the true color in the pictures below.

The first order of business this past week was choosing new wall art for the bathroom.  This was not something we intentionally sought to incorporate at the onset of the project, but it more or less presented itself once we got started.

Have you ever heard of or used Groupon?  Launched in November 2008, Groupon is a "deal-of-the-day" website that provides daily "coupons" for merchandise/services/travel/etc. for larger city markets (list of markets by state).  In our case, we get daily emails for Groupons in the Charleston, SC market.  Those Groupons are often for deals within or around Charleston, but some are also for deals online.

We first heard about and joined the Groupon fad when we lived in Virginia Beach, but never purchased any Groupons until we lived in Charleston.  One of the first Groupons we bought was last July, for a 16x20" gallery-wrapped canvas print ($39 for a normally $125 print - which ironically happens to be today's deal in Charleston again).  That Groupon from July expired last week and somehow we had put off selecting a picture to have printed until last week.  Turns out we now have a perfect place to add the canvas print...our rejuvenated bathroom.

This is the picture we submitted to have printed on the canvas.  I took the picture last July (coincidentally), at the Charleston Harbor Marina.  I have come to find out over the past year or so that Stacie really likes sailboats, and given the blue/coastal theme of our new bathroom, this seemed like a great picture to use for our canvas print.  I don' think I can count on there being a Groupon for purchasing an actual sailboat.  Hopefully this print will suffice her tastes!

Stacie finished priming the bathroom on Friday...well almost. :)

I removed the toilet tank on Saturday so we could prime and paint behind it, then we grabbed our brush and roller and battled the walls with a vengeance.

With door.  No paint.

No door.  With paint.

This sight threw me for a loop every time I walked around the corner.

A large hole (where the old towel ring was mounted) needed 3 applications of spackling before it could be sanded and painted.  This patch, some final touch-ups, and trim work were finished on Sunday.

We bought new light switch and outlet covers, to match the brushed nickel hardware throughout the house.

They look much better than the original plastic, off-white covers.

Unfinished but functional again.

The next goal is to get everything (mostly) finished this weekend.  That includes installing new hardware (faucet, TP holder, towel ring), hanging the wall cabinet and canvas print, adding a window valance, finding a new light fixture, and adding some shells and other decorative accents.

This has been a relatively fun and pain-free starter project and we've already learned a few new things.  I believe it has given us some confidence to tackle larger rooms in the house.  I'm looking forward to projects that involve more sawdust and power tools!