My first House Project!

When we first bought the house, as James and I waited for closing, we began a long list of changes we wanted to make. I wanted to re-do the kids' bedrooms first, since the living rooms and master bedroom had been recently painted, but the secondary bedrooms had not (and it was obvious). However, that is a big undertaking and we had a lot of things come up that made such a potentially pricey change not be an immediate option.

All the same, I wanted to do something to make my mark on our new home beyond hanging pictures. So I turned my attention to the main bathroom. One of the things I liked is the separation of the sinks and the rest of the bathroom. I can imagine smooth sailing in terms of getting ready in the morning. Showers can still go on while others brush their teeth and their hair (and eventually add make-up to the mix).

However, the underwater aquarium look had to go. I marveled at some of the choices the previous owners had made, including their decision to paint the light switch plate and the back of the door. Not to mention their sloppy work along the baseboards near the floor (sadly there is still dark blue paint along the grout by the baseboards that I have yet to figure out how to clean up). It was even worse when you closed the door and were surrounded by dark blue paint in a very small room.

So, this became my first project in the house:

Before: I had already started a little. The white lines are where I sanded down the worst of the wallpaper seams, but that's about all the progress I made before taking the pictures.

During: First up? A layer of primer to cover up the stencils and give me a more or less clean pallet. It stayed like this for the better part of a week. 

After: A single, simple color and a proper-colored door and door frame. Also replaced the light switch plate and hung a curtain the complimented the wall and tile. Conveniently enough, the previous owners had left a full quart of the color used on the baseboards in the main living room that I was able to use in here instead of buying some myself.

The biggest difference, though, is you're able to use the bathroom and close the door and not feel too confined. It honestly feels like we added an extra foot in either direction because of the lighter, brighter colors. We are planning to continue the color out into the sink portion of the bathroom, but for now... this might be the prettiest room in the house. ;-)