More House Pics - Upstairs Bath

Here are some pics of the redecorated/revamped upstairs bath. The bathroom was redecorated as part of my intention to coordinate the entire upstairs (three bedrooms plus bath) to an "en suite" more high fashion, but comfortable, look. I wanted a black/white toile bedroom, and the color scheme that was put in place to go with the old but still serviceable light grey carpeting was put together. The bathroom revmaps started in March with installation of a new light fixture above the sink. Gone was the cheapo box fixture that I had installed 19 years ago when the place was first built. I had always meant to replace it - and then didn't get around to it... In its place went a much more sleek antique bronze fixture with burnished gold accents and alabaster glass shades. It took longer than I had anticipated to finish the project because I had greatly overestimated my ability to do the painting, etc. myself. In the weeks before the new light fixture was installed, I had lots of fun shopping. I had purchased new towels, a new shower curtain in a lovely black/cream toile pattern, and envisioned taking down the large plate glass mirror and putting up a handsome framed mirror in its place, with Paris-oriented artwork or framed photos in black and white flanking its sides. I ended up hiring Kevin the Wonder Handyman to perform the actual work, thank Goddess for Kevin. In one of those twists of fate, I had already contracted with Kevin to paint the bathroom and master bedroom in November, before I signed the listing contract to sell the house two days before Kevin was scheduled to start painting. So the way things have turned out is now bitter sweet. I have a lovely new bathroom, all set for the new owners. The 3'x5' plate glass mirror is gone. In its place is a 2'x 3.5' beveled mirror, outer frame black, inner frame a sort of tortoise shell-finished wood. Countertops, woodwork and vanity remained the same. The walls went several shades darker and more tan than the original antique white I'd painted them 19 years before. The original cheapo vinyl which over the years had "shrunk" and pulled away from the wall behind the door and underneath the vanity was torn out and replaced. the towel rod on the wall opposite the "wet" wall was repositioned so now it is centered on the wall itself, rather than centered opposite the toilet (I never liked that location). I did not put up the framed photographs that I wanted, as the house now had to be ready for "viewing" by potential buyers, which meant stripping it of most of my personality. I love the wall color; these photos don't show it to best advantage. It is sort of a cross between wet sand and creamy peanut butter. The shower enclosure and the "decorator white" vanity top now really pop against the wall color! Kevin did a perfect paint job. I love the new flooring too! I compromised on the flooring. I had originally wanted to put down a black marble-look vinyl tile. Kevin told me that with the joints between the vinyl squares, no matter how tightly they were laid eventually they would shrink and the joint lines would widen. There was the danger of water that ended up on the vinyl leaking through to the sub-flooring. Better, he said, to put down sheet vinyl in any area where there is a potential for water to be spilled, such as in a kitchen and bathroom. Within my budget, and after searching online and in a couple of different stores, I could not locate a sheet vinyl in the black marble look that I had envisioned, so with the help of my friend, Ann, I picked out this sheet vinyl instead. It is heavily textured, has a matt finish and is soft and warm under bare feet. It is also that all important "neutral" that the real estate brokers stressed was a must. As it happened, there were two color families of this particular pattern and the "darker" one went perfectly with the new wall color. I obtained a sample and the product number and passed them along to Kevin along with the funds he requested. He picked up the vinyl he needed and one night when I came home from the office it was all finished! The shower curtain is coming with me, as are the rugs and the linens. I will leave the mirror for the new owners, although it is not technically a "fixture." I will not leave them without a decent bathroom mirror. I intend to duplicate the look of my revamped bath in the new house - wherever that may be. But I will definitely go for the "black marble look" flooring :)

Decorating...The Upstairs Bath

Some photos of the upstairs bathroom redo in progress. Okay, so I'm crazy undertaking all of these projects in the midst of the Second Coming of the Great Depression. The new toile shower curtain arrived yesterday; it's the "Antoinette" pattern that you can probably find by doing a search online. It's printed on a textured 100% cotton shower curtain in true black and creamy background - it's definitely not stark white, so now I can complete the rest of the decor; the goal is a sophisticated and yet comfortable black/white (cream) bathroom. I thought about taking "before" photos of the bath - too late! Darn! The old cheapo light fixture (it was basically a box that stuck out from the wall a good 9 inches with three half-light fixtures using those tiny base round "Hollywood" style bulbs) was taken down Monday and put out to the curb; it was gone Tuesday morning when I thought to pull out the digital camera and take a fare thee well snapshot. Oh well. The original shower curtain is still up, along with bits of the matching bordder along the ceiling line - also forgot to take photos of that before I started ripping it down! The original art work is in place. The mirror shot shows the new light fixture which throws off too much light! The electrician asked me for and installed three 60-watt bulbs which were blindingly bright in the small space. I later replaced them with three 40 watt bulbs, but they stick out too much below the line of the shades (I don't know if you can tell from the photo), and I am not used to so much brightness! I purchased some 40 watt appliance bulbs which are much shorter than a standard-size light bulb and are clear (so they will be transparent, hopefully), I will put them in tomorrow and retain the brightness, which is great for putting on make-up with these much older eyes. The third lamp in the old fixture had shorted out several years back, so the bath was lit by only two 25-watt bulbs. No wonder I couldn't see anything... Anyway, these photos give you an idea of what my 8 ft. long by 5 ft. wide bath upstairs (not including the tub width) is like. Pretty typical, I think. I will have to take a shot of the flooring - but not tonight, it's too yucky to contemplate tonight! So - the plan is to paint the walls medium tan, replace the artwork with black toned pieces and eventually redo the floor with black marble-look vinyl. I am also thinking about wallpaper or some decorative paint treatment once the walls are repainted. I am leaning toward a harlequin print wallpaper in black and tan on one or more walls, perhaps just on half-walls, or a varigated stripe in black and various shades of tan with a marbelized background... The dilemma is where to install such paper, if I go in that direction. Then - do I need a border if I decide to do only a half wall or two? What if I limit the wallpaper treatment to the little bit of wall that shows just above the shower, and on the opposite wall where the linen closet door is located? Oy, problems, problems... I also really like the idea of a lamp on the vanity - it's wide enough where water splash would probably not be a problem (since I do not have teenagers or children living in the house) - and I could shop for a tray to rest the base in to protect it from water splash-up. Then again, what kind of lamp would I get? And I'm considering several options regarding the overwhelming plate-glass mirror that takes up so much of the wall opposite the entrance. Framing it, perhaps? What about suspending a black wood-framed oval mirror by chains over the current mirror centered over the sink area? What about framing the current mirror into several different sections - perhaps a vaguely oriental motif? What about removing the current mirror altogether and going with the aforesaid black wood-framed oval mirror, flanked by two sconces on either side? Budget is, of course, always a consideration...