2nd house Updates! Bathroom projects

Moving on to the bathroom.  our only bathroom.

Check out the upstairs floor plan from the last blog on the house here to find your way around.

This is how the bathroom looked when we bought it:

A sight for sore eyes!!!!  HA!

I would like to think I have improved it at least some!  :)

So the elephant in the room is the peach tile.  We are leaving it there.  Too much work for cosmetic updates!!  It is still functional and I can make do.  I like a challenge!!

One of the first things we did was take out the medicine cabinet.  It was old and rusty, yuck!

After taking out the medicine cabinet, Gabe removed the theatre lighting above.  He patched the hole to fit the new one we bought.  Here's the patch job and the new, fresh white paint.  Ahhhhhhh.

Here's the link to the new medicine cabinet.  In order to minimize the amount of work done patching the wall, we installed one that was pretty close to the size of the original one.  I must say, it is an unpopular shape to come by, and not very conducive to tall husbands!!! :D  The patching was done in tandem with painting the room white-same white as all the trim in the house--same sheen too: semi-gloss for ease of cleaning and moisture wicking.

There was a spot on the ceiling up in the left corner where there looked like there had been a small leak and paint chipping, so Gabe tested it for lead, found it was, and so he took precautions to patch up the area, sand and repaint, sealing it up.

Took care of it!  Yay!

Here's the medicine cabinet and light fixture all installed:

The next part of the bathroom "reno" happened really fast: installing the black/white vinyl flooring (same as the kitchen), new toilet, and new vanity.  We did the work (ok, Gabe did it, I watched Judah) on a long Saturday.  I seem to remember needing to make a quick trip to Home Depot to get the right plumbing part in a rush.  Here's a few pics of the process:

Flooring going in (we had to do this in tandem of the installation of the toilet and vanity so that it would go under--this was tricky):

Toilet being removed:

old toilet, GROSS!!!!!

Let me not forget one of the things we did to prep over the summer: removing the caulk from around the baseboard tile and the linoleum floor.  This was not easy work, scraping at awkward angles, and trying not to peel up too much of the linoleum so the vinyl would have an even substrate.  Here is Gabe scraping it up behind the toilet:

Here is the NEW toilet!

After Gabe removed the old vanity:

Eewe!!!

And new vanity:

Yay!!!

I chose bright white for the vanity and the toilet because there is so much color in the bathroom already (peach tile and my bright color scheme with accessories).

Cleaning the yucky plumb lines:

Gabe, configuring plumbing, combining new with old:

A new plumbed sink!  (and toilet!!):

Ahh so fresh :)

A closer look at the newly laid flooring:

Aaaannnnndddd some additional shots with it decorated a little bit zany (I'm a little bit zany!):

The shower curtain:

Looking towards the door:

Looking towards the window:

I still had some work to do on the curtain, shown above, but shown below you can see the work that I did on it (yes, I made my curtains!  And yes, I love teal!!):

This color palette is not for everyone--I like color!!  I figure, I better surround myself with the colors that I love before I grow up :D

To recap, my design inspiration for this bathroom (taking the challenge to incorporate the crazy old peach tile):

http://www.hgtvremodels.com/interiors/pink-bedrooms-8-fresh-ideas/pictures/index.html

It combines the peach color with different shades of green (lime green and teal green predominantly), and it has black and white in it, which are being weaved throughout the house.

And to recap my design/decor sources:

Armstrong Banbury Self Stick vinyl tile 12" X 12" flooring: at Menards-link here

White Aquasource Tristan White toilet (elongated, comfort height): Lowes-link here

Abstract shower curtain: on Etsy-link here

White vanity: at Home Depot-link here

Chrome medicine cabinet: at Lowes-link here

Vanity lighting: Lowes-link here

Teal mirror: at Hobby Lobby-link here

Floor mats: on Amazon-link here

2nd house Updates! Dining room project

Moving on to the dining room space!

Check out the upstairs floor plan from the last blog on the house here to find your way around.

Last I wrote, we hadn't even started on the chair rail for the space (which by the way was originally a small bedroom, right next to the kitchen!).

First step was to address the intersection of the three doors at the top of the basement stairs.  Of course we left the exterior back door in tact, but the basement door and the door leading into the bedroom converted to dining room had to be taken down.  As you can see they just cause too much confusion/congestion to that space:

Then, I painted the lower portion of the wall which will be under the chair rail.  Here is the paint color I chose:

Yes, I love teal!!  When else am I going to get a chance to use this color???!??  :-D

Here you can see the effect of removing the doors as well:

I stopped the paint at 32" inches up thinking this would be a good height considering the "Golden Mean", a mathematical study of proportion found in nature, considering the height of the ceilings, window placement, etc.

Next, we installed the light fixture from Lowes shown here, inspired by my dear friend Andrea :)  I liked how the teal color on the wall is picked up in the light fixture.

Lit up:

Not lit up:

Still need to patch and repaint the area around the top of the light where it connects to the ceiling.

This is how the room stayed for a few months before we got around to actually buying, painting and installing the chair rail...

And then I finally took the time to stage it up a little bit to show how the chair rail looks in this small space!!

Same angle as above:

It really is a small space--probably too small for the table we have, but I figure it can sit against the wall most of the time--we were able to fit 6 around it for a meal with my family around Christmas-time! (which I was surprised about, but we angled it and made it work!)

The space has a dual function for us--the bedroom closet space fits our office desk perfectly.  So, I fashioned a curtain to cover the messy space for most of the time, pictured here:

view from the kitchen space

view from in front of the doorway to the hall

view toward kitchen space (can see back door in background)

view toward hallway

Couple detail shots of the table spread:

candlelight would be romantic in the evening :)