The Plan- Before you begin, have a plan

The bathroom when we purchased Redwoodshire

Our sole bathroom is next up on the larger project list.  The bathroom began with low ceilings & out dated wall paper.  To the left is a photo prior to purchasing Redwoodshire.  Immediately the contractors began their work to raise the ceilings of our hallway, master bedroom & bathroom.  The Laird could not stand how small the bathroom felt- but much to his surprise raising the ceilings changed the space dramatically.  In the midst of all of this, I had the lovely task of removing the wallpaper.  My first experience with removing old wallpaper was in the kitchen; and the process was easier than I anticipated.  

Then I started the bathroom wall paper, and it was the most tedious task ever!  I used a chemical wall paper remover that I found at our old house.  It worked quite well, but the job was still pretty tough.  It seems like whenever you remove old wallpaper, you discover something.  I discovered a reason 'why" the previous owners decided to hang wallpaper.  There were numerous large patched holes in the walls, especially along the floor.  Based on the pattern and length of the section of holes, I suspect that at one time, there was a baseboard electric heater in the bathroom.  They did their best to patch the holes, but it was quite an ugly site.  Now how does one resolve the issue of large patched holes, and have it look good in the end?

The "Chief wallpaper Remover-
In the midst of the ceiling
renovation & wallpaper removal

After everything was re-installed
& we had a functional bathroom again.
Minus the wallpaper, this is the state of
our bathroom over the past year.

The kitchen and bathroom are the places in the house that guests take notice.  Kitchen finished- check! Lots of other projects finished- check.  And then there was our bathroom- pretty low on the list of priorities.  Just over a year after moving in, we are beginning our bathroom upgrade.

THE PLAN:

- PVC bead board wainscot-  We are going to install the same PVC bead board wainscot along the walls of the bathroom that we used for the kitchen backsplash .  This will definitely conceal the many patched holes I discovered, and bring out the beauty in our tiny bathroom.  The more I think about logistics, the more the height of the wainscot changes.  We will figure that out when we get started.  I have decided to use a plain square stock board for the base and top trim, and hope to hang out towel hooks off the top.  The materials are purchased and ready to go forward on a new project.

- Wall color-  I have always loved painting walls.  And over time, I have tried out almost every color my heart has desired at the time.  In the past, I painted bold colors- a burnt orange in my living room; which eventually became a vibrant version of sage green.  I have used a marigold-yellow for my kitchens.  A plum-purple for a bathroom.  Lots of tans and creams.  I have toned down to a more neutral scheme here at Redwoodshire, and am sticking with a lot of cream, tan, taupe in this house. Though, we had some left over paint from one of our tenants, so I painted Lady genevieve's room that marigold yellow color, and the 3rd bedroom is a shade of teal- which are both colors I am drawn to (though not together).  I have no idea what color I will paint the bare walls above the bead board.  That's a finishing touch task, as I will have to see how everything looks to know what will look best.  

- Vanity-  The current vanity is 25"- which is quite small.  I had hoped to get a slightly larger vanity; standard sizes for our range were 25" and 30".  When I measured the space between the wall and the toilet, it came out to about 29 1/2"!  Seriously- getting jipped of extra counter space by 1/2"; meaning we would have to continue with a tiny 25" vanity; unless we wanted to shell out $800 for a custom 27" vanity.  Not quite what we had in mind to spend, for "a bathroom".  Somehow while on Pinterest, I discovered that many people convert old dressers into beautiful bathroom vanities.  I loved it at first sight and knew that is what I wanted to do.  But then size was again an issue, since we're looking for something 27" wide and counter height appropriate for a sink.  At this point I learned about the "dry sink", also referred to as a commode by some (maybe there is a difference).  So I started searching Craigslist for a dry sink that was less than 30".   After a few weeks, I realized that dry sinks are often wider 30" or wider.  But last week, I found a 27" dry sink for $75!  I scooped it up and am so thrilled.  Though not an actual antique, it has a primitive design- which will hopefully go well in our bathroom.  It has a matching mirror that I plan to use in place of our current medicine cabinet. 

-Sink-  Originally, I ordered this 15 inch, white ceramic vessel sink, pop up drain, & faucet from overstock.com.  It seemed a little too larger for our particular dry sink, so we found a 12 inch vessel sink on Etsy.com to use instead.  This one has arrived and it's too small, so we'll be using the original 15 inch sink from overstock and getting used to it.  Bigger is better when it comes to a sink & kid household.  If anyone is interested in a 12 in ceramic vessel sink, let me know- ours is currently listed on ebay but may not sell. 

- Storage-  Like the rest of the house, the bathroom is severely lacking in storage space.  There is currently a cabinet hanging above the toilet.  Since my plan is to replace the medicine cabinet with a wall hanging mirror, we will loose some necessary storage.  There is space within the dry sink, just like a normal vanity, but it isn't as functional for razors and medicine.  I would love to get rid of the current over-toilet cabinet (it won't match the new stuff)- but I have yet to come up with a storage solution.  It is possible an updated cabinet to match will do the trick.  Or maybe we just need to throw a coat of paint on the old one, and that will make a world of difference.  I have searched and found a few ideas on pinterest that I think I would like, but only time will tell- but I trust we will figure something out; we always do.  I want to wait until we get the cabinet in to decide what to will look and function best for extra storage.  

So that's the plan for the bathroom upgrade- we will see how the plan changes as we go.  The estimated cost for everything is about $500 (PVC wainscot $210; dry sink & mirror $75; sink & fixtures $216).  We still have to purchase trim.  And depending on what we do for the storage cabinet, that cost may or may not go up a little more.

Progress & final photos to come when the job is done!