Main Bath

We inherited a bathroom with more...bead board! Now, I don't think bead board is a bad choice, but it's a little on the too country/too busy side for me. Rather than skim coating this the way we did the kitchen bead board, I decided to paint it a rich blue. All the bathrooms I've admired lately are blue with lots of neutrals and pink touches, so I decided to go for it! It's bold and I absolutely love it. Here's how it looked before:

We knew right away that vanity was too small and the medicine cabinet and light would be coming down. We took the vanity and faucet down to the basement bathroom (that was just a toilet in and an ancient sink in the middle of a huge room, but more on that later.) Here it is with blue paint, the new light fixture and the vanity.

If I can make one thing easier for you, it's painting toilets. I'm green so I rarely use Saran Wrap, but now is the time. Painting around a toilet can be tricky and this makes it way easier. Also, eat raspberries when you paint. They help you clear out the toxins specific to paint! And they are easy/delicious which is the perfect snack when projecting.

So here we are! This little bathroom was challenging because I've never done a bathroom with this much brass and brass colors are all over the place (a.k.a. don't match each other). And some are downright ugly. Like greenish or they look silver at a glance. Since we have very few options in local stores, it was a lot of ordering and returning and frustration. 

My advice in the end:

1) They don't have to match perfectly. Find them in the non-ugly range of brass you enjoy and call it good. Unless you buy everything from a single line, this will be the case AND IT LOOKS GREAT. 

2) Don't make it all brass. The matchy-matchy old lady inside you may be screaming, "Brass everything!!" and she's sweet, but she's wrong. For example, our shower curtain rod is not brass with brass rings. They make them, but it was not a good idea. Brass is pretty loud and I don't want the focal point of our bathroom to be basic hardware. We also went with a brushed nickel faucet and it plays well with others. It saves dollars too, since brass is still new enough to be more expensive.

mirror | light

toilet paper holder

See? Lots of colors of brass and our shower rod is brushed nickel, which works well because of all the grey in the room. I'll admit that toilet paper holder isn't my fave, but it's there until the right one comes along. 

rug (similar)

Once again, I've got creams and whites and blacks and grays (even a little tan in the vanity top) in this room and it gives it a soft, casual vibe. 

white canister - Hobby Lobby

seascape print | picture frame | towel (similar)

I love the look of patterned, mismatched towels, which is also brilliant because when some wear out, you aren't stressed about finding something that matches. The towel on the left is from Target, the one on the right is an old World Market find and the hand towels are also from Target. I think this bathroom post could be sponsored by Target, now that I see how much of it is from there! One of my favorite pieces in this bathroom is the seascape above with the Opal House frame that feels vintage and interesting. I. Love. It. I love seeing it every day. So many sweet surprises packed into this tiny room, which makes me feel like a lucky ducky even if winter is lasting forever.

rope basket

Above the toilet, I have this DIY cat silhouette portrait of my previous cat, Leopold. This is super special to me and I realize now I promised a tutorial on this and never followed through. Sigh. I promise I will - it's so easy and you HAVE to know. 

Here's the cubby we added by taking away part of the guest room closet. Before this was just a wall and we needed some place to put stuff. Now my hamper is tidily tucked under there and extra toilet paper is in plain sight (I recommend this for the sake of guests' stress levels) and I don't have to have a medicine cabinet that sticks out and blocks light over my sink. Win! 

medicine cabinet (similar)

Here's the closer view. We'd hoped to do some kind of solid surface shelves, considering scraps wouldn't be very expensive, but we did this for now. It works and doesn't need extensive bracing. But wouldn't some grey marble be pretty?

curtain tie back

I'll admit, I have a couple issues with towel rings: they're ugly and they don't work. Towels are always slipping out and ending up on the floor. So I was determined to figure out something else to get my hand towel off my counter. I landed on this vintage looking brass curtain tie back from Anthropologie. I got it on sale before Christmas and that made it less painful cost-wise. I love it. I have a thing with birds and that he's perched on that little branch...so good. Now if you buy it, buy the opposite side you'd think based on the photo. I got about three that faced the wrong direction before getting them to send the right one! 

Well, there it is. In the end, I feel this bathroom is small, but posh; zen, but colorful. Basically, all my favorites!