Powder room redo, from dark to light

It’s time to go back in time again and check out the progress of the smallest room in our house over the years. First of all – I think the amount of time and effort I’ve put into this bathroom is odd because I haven’t done much at all in bathrooms that would bring more value – like the master bath. But, we use the powder room ALL the time. And guests see it. So in the end, I guess it’s worth making it a priority.

And secondly, I’ve painted this small room more times than I’ve painted most of the rooms in our house all together. I was talking with a friend a few months ago and she mentioned how much I paint in our house – I told her she’d be surprised that most of the rooms in our home have only been painted once. They’ve stayed that way for a long time too. The kitchen, family room, master bath, guest bath and master have been painted once in ten years. And the living room, staircase, loft and upstairs hall as well.

BUT…when I paint one tiny room like 56 times, yeah, I could see how it seems like I’m always painting walls. ;)

This was a room I was never quite happy with, until last year when I finally finished it up. I lived with each look for a couple years, but it never felt quite right. Shortly after we moved in I tried my hand at molding – and I used Liquid Nails to apply the molding. You know, just in case I NEVER EVER WANTED TO TAKE THEM OFF:

Here’s the proof that we all start somewhere. I was using an electric handheld saw to cut that wood and didn’t begin to know how to cut at an angle – so I used some trim pieces in the corners. I think they’re supposed to be installed with baseboards.

The quality was…interesting. :) So years later I made over the room again. This time with mitered corners (yeah!) and lots of brown (noooo):

I actually quite like this for a while. But after a while the chocolate brown got depressing and dark and…brown.

I went all the way too:

But pretty soon I was craving a lighter look. I painted over the stencils, took the molding down, then started painting over the brown in a hurry before a party. It was months later before I finally finished it up: 

 

At this point we’re a good two years into the redo here. I’ve mentioned a few times that when I stall on things it’s either because they’re incredibly hard or because I’m still not convinced on my direction. This one was the latter. :)

But the plan finally came together in my head and I forged on! I started installing the wood planks:

And pooped out again. I knew it would look good eventually – I was just tired of the space and needed to focus elsewhere. A few months went by and I was ready again. (Told you – longest makeover EVER.)

When I was ready again I spent a few days straight working like a beast. The planked walls came together: 

You can see how I installed those here. The process is really easy, it just takes some time. And painting them in a pain in the butt, for real. 

And then I tried my original plan on the walls – painting them red:

If I was more of a red girl I would have gone for it – but I’m not. I loved the red against the white for sure, it just wasn’t the look I was going for.

After two more attempts on the color I finally got it right. Accessible beige by Sherwin Williams:

Let’s count the number of times I’ve painted this room now, shall we? I think I’m at seven. :) Seventh time is a charm I guess.

The whole room was designed around my son’s artwork – it was when I saw it that I knew exactly what I wanted to do in the room:

We obviously changed more than just the walls – the hardwoods are so lovely and the IKEA vanity offers a ton more storage. I truly, truly love this space now. It’s bright and happy and fun – and it reminds me of my boy. :)

You can see the full reveal of the room here and all the details of the space are here. Even though it’s the smallest room in our house I think it’s one of the biggest transformations I’ve ever done. Maybe I need to take five years to redo all my spaces! Oh that’s right. I do.

Thanks for looking back with me again! Before and afters are my favorite! :)