Tackling this month: the bathroom part 1

The last couple of years, the bathroom has been the room that's needed a little touch-up! Since Dad has been sprucing things up outside, I decided it's time to do a little sprucing up inside. So this month, we're planning a minor/major overhaul of our main upstairs bathroom.

It's minor because we're not changing any fixtures (I couldn't quite convince Dad to do that and I have to admit that's not a necessity!), but major because it's a bit more than the majority of the projects I plan every month. Plus it involves Dad doing most of the painting and the other work. I just plan what we're doing and I'll do the fine touch details after the painting is finished.

The gold/green/ivory striped wallpaper has been on those bathroom walls for 35 years - ever since Dad built our house. In reality, the paper has stayed really well without peeling off. The bathroom used to be in gold tones, but years ago Mom added a hunter green to the decor with the blinds and curtain top. But it's time for a total makeover!

the "before"

the "before"

The cabinets are the part that really need to be redone. The paint has really chipped and even a piece of the gold trim has fallen off.

the "before" cabinets

This is the other thing - these screw holes in the wall. When we were taking care of Mom at home, we had to put a handrail up in the bathroom, which I've wanted to take down. But when you take it off, you have to do something to repair the wallpaper.

torn wallpaper

Our plan is to paint the walls and cabinets an off white/ivory color which matches the whitish counter top color. Then I'm planning to sponge on some gold paint that matches the crackle in the counter top. I've been trying to think of how to incorporate another color into the room besides just neutral colors and all of a sudden it hit me!

During church Sunday, I was sitting there listening and glancing at the floral arrangements Roma from church had created for our 10th Church Anniversary last weekend. Of course! The color scheme was gold/ivory/light sage green/burgundy from last weekend. That green color - perfect!

So that's the color scheme - off white/gold/ light sage green and perhaps a dark sage green. I want to keep lighter colors since this bathroom is so small. The striped wallpaper even makes the room darker and smaller. Once the walls are finished with the off white and gold, I may do a little blotting of the green - it just depends on how it looks.

color scheme

Then I'll decide the color of blinds and what to do for a curtain top. I have an idea in my head, but I want to see how the walls turn out first. I've seen that wallpaper for so long, I can't imagine that room any different.

Dad started this afternoon by taking off the cabinet doors and taking out the drawers and started repairing/painting them. They already look so much better!

Dad painting cabinet drawers

I started pulling things out of the cabinets and cleaning before Dad was ready to paint those. Just look at everything I pulled out, plus there's another whole pile in the schoolroom! I thought we had gone through all the bottles of shampoo, mousse, air freshener, soap and hair supplies after Mom passed away since she used this bathroom for doing her hair, but apparently we need to go through it again and clear out some stuff!

stuff, stuff and more stuff!

Tomorrow begins another day of painting......right now I'm off to do some website coding for a few hours tonight!