House Update: The Bathroom

Our bathroom got a facelift last month.  

A gallon of paint (Benj Moore Woodlawn Blue) + new curtain rod/curtain + mirror = new and improved.

Where we started:

One of the smallest changes with the biggest impact was raising the shower curtain rod.  All the curtains in our house are hung as close to the ceiling as possible - no matter how high the windows are.  It draws your eye up and creates the illusion of a taller, larger room.  I ordered a curved rod from online (the same ones that are in basically every hampton inn these days) and it definitely gives the feeling of more space when you are actually in the shower.  

Next up was finding a shower curtain that would actually be long enough from the ceiling to the floor now that I had raised everything a by at least a foot.  It's not really my thing to go to the fabric store and have one made so instead I looked at the possibility of using real curtains as a shower curtain.  

I found grommet style curtains at tjmaxx which were too short (pictured above).  However, once I realized I could use these style curtains easily with the shower curtain liner & rod, all I had to do was look online for 95" grommet curtains (product link) - found them online at bed, bath & beyond for $40 bucks (this length is not sold in stores).  BB&B is always doing 20% coupons and free shipping deals which helped the budget as well.  I ordered a linen fabric in ivory, the bathroom is so small I decided not to overwhelm the space with a pattern.  

{I was able to hang the liner in between the grommet hooks - seen above}

{I had to order two panels to fit the width and my grandmother was able to stitch them together for me during her visit in February}

{We bought this driftwood mirror on sale from pottery barn 2 years ago with gift cards...and now it finally has a home!}

Dresser Re-do

I mentioned in my last post that my Mom would be staying for an entire week to help me with the nursery/house.  We did other things as well including going to spin classes together, dinner at Sweet Green (my fav), she was able to meet my midwife, and also attend the bible study that Paul and I go to every week.  I'm always telling her what I'm up to ...but it was nice for her to actually get to experience some of it with me.

She also got a lot done around the house...including painting the dresser that will serve as the changing table.  Paul bought it 10 years ago from Jordan's Furniture (a local furniture store) when he moved into the townhouse...and it is actually a great piece of furniture so I am glad we were able to repurpose it. 

I had a lot of cream and white going on in the room, so I decided to paint it a soft gray. It goes well with the crib skirt and kind of cools off the room a little bit.

{before - and if you remember I also repainted that mirror seen here}

{during - Paul spent countless hours making sure it was well-prepped}

{We used Benjamin Moore Harbor Gray in a Pearl finish}

{$1.37 brass-like knobs from home depot}

{my mom also washed all the baby clothes, blankets, sheets, etc}

{a repurposed gift box from Target}

One of the last things to go up in the nursery is the mirror above the dresser.  My mom found one from Pottery Barn outlet in Dawsonville, GA which looks very similar to the one pictured below (from insideavenue.com).  It was too big to bring up with her on her flight so it is being shipped.

Other updates:

Paint: Paul has become a painting PRO! he has literally repainted 85% of our house on his own.  And it looks SO GOOD.  I have to go back and paint the baseboards a fresh coat of white but that is easy enough for me.  I'll post some before and after pictures.  He seriously amazed me with how much he got painted this past week - and my mom was a witness!

Entryway tile: We ordered the tile and it is set to arrive next Thursday which hopefully means it will be going down next weekend.

Light Fixtures: They have ALL been replaced!  I'll do a recap/before&after post on all of them.  I'm so glad to have that behind us! 

We have little things here and there left to do but we are pretty much ready for her arrival!  The work was hard and definitely created tense moments in our house but it was all worth it and we are so proud of what we were able to finish since January. 

House Update: Master Bedroom Painted

We've had some rooms painted! 

Today I'm just going to quickly show you our bedroom.  Very slight change in color but big impact, I think at least.  Since the beginning of this month we have painted both bathrooms, the guest bedroom in the basement, and most recently we had the nursery and our room painted (both rooms have extremely tall ceilings so we couldn't do ourselves).

It's a very similar color...which made sense to me since I have already decorated our room to go with a neutral gray tone.  But the new color has a little more cream in it than the blue/gray before.  It's Benjamin Moore Titanium.

Can you see the difference below? I can!! Also...we didn't have any extra paint of the original colors...but now we can hang things, change our minds, spackle, and repaint! It's sooo liberating!

{Left: test spot; Right: finished!}

I tested out the color in a few different spots in the room.  One of the first test spots was right by my night stand.  The color change was the first thing I saw when I woke up and I wanted to know what my immediate raw feeling would be in the morning when I saw it.  

The color was originally chosen to possibly be the color for the majority of the house (which is the process of being repainted...room by room).  You can see the two of the samples on the mantel and then I threw them up on the bedroom wall - I'm so much happier with it as our bedroom color!  The left color is Benjamin Moore Wedgewood Gray.

You can see a big difference in the colors in the picture above.  Also, a picture below to show the contrast it has with the basic white trim.  Btw - repainting trim, baseboards, and doors is one of my new favorite things...while it's a painful and annoying process...it makes a HUGE impact on my perception of a room.

A few other things that will be blogged about soon.....nursery (crib is up and curtains have been hung!); the guest bedroom (you can see the new color for the rest of our house...it's called Tyler Gray by Benjamin Moore); our bathroom, and a photo gallery/collage (they are so hard for me!?!)...anywho, lots coming your way!

Old color is on the right and new color is on the left in the bedroom.  I love it for main color of our house - I told paul I would drink it if I could ;) It's Benjamin Moore Tyler Gray.