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Half Bath: Afters!

November 4, 2013

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Befores, afters, mood boards, plans, failures, wins. We’ve done a lot of projects, and they’re all here. 

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Even when you don’t want to rip down a wall, you can make that space in your home better. Right now.

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We’re calling this bathroom done! … For now.  We still need to replace the faucet and eventually the tile floors, but those things will come.  You can see lots of befores in this post, but here’s a before and after side by side (and lots of photos following with sources at the end):
The lines of the mirror I fell in love with.  This thing is heavy with a metal frame that adds a nice industrial touch to a more feminine piece.
In the reflection, you can see how well it ties in with the fixture, but also the art on the opposite wall.
Things were feeling a little serious and fancy in here and we aren’t those people.  We aren’t serious. We aren’t fancy and art is a really good way to inject personality and even humor into a room.  So, while we definitely like nice things (all these shiny new accessories!), I think the art brings in the balance and tells more about who we are.
We ditched the previous vanity light and overhead fixture and installed this one which really illuminates the whole room at night.
When this area rug first arrived, I wasn’t 100% sold on it. I wasn’t sure the size was right, or the color.  But after having it hang out in here for a week, it has really grown on me–especially with the darker wall color. And it is really really soft.  A keeper.
We took off both doors of the cabinet and painted the frame and used the shelves open instead.  It really opened up the room.  These shelves now hold: my paint swatch basket, a couple photos, faux grass, a mirror and another basket with a lid that holds extra toilet paper inside. The bottom three shelves hold our towels.  (Note: If I could give advice to newlyweds after 5 years of marriage, it would be go for white towels from the beginning.  So much easier!) And a basket of other linens and hand towels.
So now that the bathroom is “done,” the rest of the house is looking sadder than ever. But, it gives us a lot of motivation to eventually make each room our own.  Until then, party in the bathroom?
SOURCES:
Mirror, Towel Ring, Cabinet Hardware, Toilet paper holder, Candle (amazzinnngg!!!), Wire basket: c/o Rejuvenation; Soap dispenser and wooden tray: Target; Fixture: c/o Shades of Light; Rug: Home Decorators; Wall Color: Benjamin Moore Hale Navy; Cabinet and paneling: Benjamin Moore Simply White
To see how we installed the paneling, visit this post
To read about the prep and painting process, visit this post

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What do you think?

  1. Charissa Breeding says:

    Where did you find your toilet paper holder (attached to the IKEA cabinet) and did you just drill it into cabinet? We have the same cabinet and have been wondering where to put the toilet paper holder?

  2. Wendy says:

    Hi Chris and Julia,

    I was wondering you could tell me where you bought the darker vanity. I’m redoing my downstairs bathroom and I absolutely love it.

  3. kimberlee says:

    Love it! do you remember what the flooring is? And do you have a link to the update you’ve done since then with the ikea vanity… I can’t find it anywhere on your site :(

  4. Stephanie says:

    Beautiful! We have similar paneling in our bathroom. I was wondering, does the mirror hang below the ledge of the paneling? Our paneling is quite high while I’m quite short – I’ve been wondering if I could hang a mirror that goes below the ledge….

    Thanks in advance!

  5. Stacey says:

    Julia I’m having a hard time telling in the pictures- is that amazing mirror similar in color to an oil rubbed bronze? More black? More brown? It doesn’t look like the mirror itself is available anymore but I’m hoping to maybe replicate the feel of it!

  6. […] It was love at first site. The geometric detailing, the blue and coral. Although the size was a little smaller than I wanted for the laundry room, at 2′ x 3’4″, it was too pretty to pass up. After looking through the rest of her perfectly curated shop (and instagram!) I had to exercise great restraint not to add this little curio box or this candle holder. Table runner! Everything is so reasonably priced and beautiful, Oh Comely Vintage quickly became my new Etsy crush. You might be able to tell from the above photo, I ended up laying my new favorite rug in the hall bathroom. […]

  7. […] we have another half bath right off of the entry, we decided to basically gut this whole bathroom/laundry area off of the garage and make it more […]

  8. […] Haha!) So now that the invites are out, the timer is set to get a slew of projects done. Last year, we redid our main floor guest bath just in time. The year before that, we painted our living room a dark charcoal and added paneling. […]

  9. […] to your home your own, I think. We love replacing fixtures! So far, we’ve replaced the one in the half bath, Faye’s room, added sconces to the reading room, the guest room, the dining room and today […]

  10. Nora Rose says:

    Also, I have been showing this to my BF for inspiration for our eventual remodel and I was wondering how much the planking was. I was trying to find it on Lowes website but I only saw boards at $8 each. Our bathroom is really long so he’s afraid materials would be too expensive. Maybe in our small bathroom!

  11. Mama says:

    I love this room! I even sent it to my husband and begged him to do it in our house… I’m wondering if there is nothing on the outside of that window?? We cant do that in our house (no window treatments)…. what would you have chosen if you were going to do a window treatment???

  12. etsetara says:

    i love this! great job sticking with it until you got it just the way you wanted it!
    also, those holes on the inside of the cabinets reminded me of jenny’s solution here:
    http://littlegreennotebook.blogspot.com/2013/10/how-to-paint-and-even-wallpaper-ikea.html
    but you’ve probably already seen it!

  13. I’m loving this bathroom! It looks so good! And I’m definitely a huge fan of that rug!

  14. I’m so glad you mentioned that about the towels! We just got married and everyone thinks we’re crazy for getting all white towels, but we’re totally loving it!

  15. Dawn says:

    Everything is lovely! Can’t wait to see what room you tackle next.

  16. Kristine says:

    this bathroom is a dream!! you guys are real good.

  17. Kristen says:

    Love the finished bathroom! So glad you switched to the navy paint! Looks fabulous!

  18. jornakat says:

    that mirror is so pretty! it looks great in the room.

  19. The Smiths says:

    So I noticed in this room the mix of chrome and oil rubbed bronze, which I normally wouldn’t think to do, but it WORKS. I noticed you did that in your master bath before you moved too….can you talk about that? (That feels like a super weird question). But I also thought it was one of those “rules” that you had to do everything in the same finish. Obviously people can do whatever they want, but yeah, I’m just curious what made you decide to mix and match?

    • Oh yeah, not mixing metals is one of those rules that you can throw out the window–with caution. I like just making sure the metal is repeated at least once in the room. And I like having one that’s more shiny (the nickel in here) and one a little more matte (the oil rubbed bronze/mirror). I think it creates interest, depth and a layered look. Give it a try!

  20. Where did you get your @ sign from? Would love that and a good #. :) Nice job, impressed by your speed!

  21. Love the combo of dark and light, white and wood, mixed metals, etc. And I really love the new mirror – I have a similar-shaped one and think they are great! Nice work Marcums.

  22. Sara says:

    Great job! This room really exceeded my expectations…that mirror is fabulous and I really love the rug, it looks so lush and soft!

  23. Looks great! Curious why you chose to store your towels in there since there is no shower/tub in there? Is it due to lack of storage in other bathrooms? Love the look, I’m starting to change over to white towels now too, just curious. :)

    • The other bathrooms have hooks for towels but no storage (besides under the sink where we generally keep cleaning supplies, etc.) This is the only “linen closet” in the house. Kind of funny since there is no shower, but it is pretty central to the two showers so I guess it works for now. When we reno the other bathrooms, we’d love to add extra storage like this to the rooms.

  24. Haha, Scott and I just purchased a boatload of white towels this weekend. After having mismatched towels for most of our marriage, we said, it’s time to be grown ups.

    The transformation looks great! Are you going to keep the doors off indefinitely? If so, you could spackle those holes up for a super seamless look. Just a thought…. then again, you may want to change the shelving configuration later, in which case, don’t mind me. ;)

  25. Nora Rose says:

    Love ittttt! I was so thinking beadboard for our eventual bathroom update and I wasn’t sure about the wall color, this totally makes me love blue!

  26. love the gullible art ;)

    • Funny, huh. It made me laugh so hard when I first came across it a couple years ago I had to scribble it down and plop it in a frame.

    • So cute. I actually really want a big world map to hang in front of the toilet in our bathroom (so you can LEARN!). But I have had SUCH a hard time finding a big enough one (but not too big bc we have switches on that wall) that is pretty and actually has the info on it (not just a pretty watercolor map or something).

  27. Andrea says:

    I looooooove it!! That mirror! The hardware!! Aaaaaack, so much pretty in one place. It feels sophisticated but warm. Great job.

  28. Sarah says:

    I’m in love with this bathroom!! Can I please move in? Did you do all of that awesome art?

    • Greta did the gray abstracts last year, the caricature is by my friend, Lance Fry, but I did the car and the African queen and yes, scribbled the gullible quote down and framed it. ;)

  29. Afton says:

    soooo in love with that rug! and the bathroom overall – what a fantastic way to kick off your new home!

  30. Callie says:

    Loove it! Great job! Especially that rug, with the grey shades it totally takes the orange tone out of those tiles. And the painted cabinets makes a huge difference!

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