A Face-lift for the Master Bath

My master bathroom has been in need of a face-lift for several years. It looked so bad that I did not take any before pictures. The changes I made would look more impressive, if you had seen the before. We had painted it yellow more than six years ago. At the time, I was into yellow, so we painted the master bedroom and master bath in yellows. I really do like the color yellow, but the color in there had long since begun to grate on my nerves. It was looking more putrid than pretty. The floor was beyond disgusting. I won't go into graphic detail about it, but suffice to say, it was looking like a really bad "before" room from an episode of  This Old House.

I had been planning to replace the floor this room's floor for quite a while. I decided several years back what flooring I was going to use. I first discovered the flooring while visiting Jennifer Grey's blog, The Old Painted Cottage at http://theoldpaintedcottage.blogspot.com/ . It is one of my all-time favorite blogs and if you have not checked it out, you really should do so. She has a monthly feature on her blog called Cottage of the Month. I have been checking out the Cottage of the Month for at least three full years and am never disappointed. I have spent many hours, going back through past years, looking at previous houses she has featured from each month. As I recall, she has been doing Cottage of the Month for some 7 years. If you would like to browse some of the cottages you can click on this link http://theoldpaintedcottage.com/pages/cottagemonth_enter.htm. Warning!!You might become addicted, because I certainly have!  It was Jennifer's own home, Cottage 8, which inspired me to look into Allure flooring.  Go to this link to browse through her home  http://theoldpaintedcottage.blogspot.com/2009/08/cottage8-before-after-reveal.html. It is pretty awe-inspiring. Being a big DIYer, the thing that most impressed me was the fact that she and her husband did pretty much all of the remodeling themselves. Jennifer states in her blog that the question she is most often asked is about the floors in her home. Those beautiful wood floors!

The thing is that, though they look and feel like real wood, they are actually vinyl planks and Jennifer and her husband installed them all themselves. Anybody who knows me also knows that I am beyond inquisitive when it comes to DIY techniques, so when I read about those floors, I checked into it right away. The flooring is something called Allure and is sold at Home Depot. There are lots of reviews (most of which are favorable) on the net. I read all the good things Jennifer had to say about the flooring and how much she likes it. I emailed her the end of last year and asked if she was still happy with her floors. She emailed me back right away, saying that she was so pleased with the flooring she had installed several years back, but that they were about to do the remainder of their home in exactly the same flooring. If you visit her, you will note that she has posted instructions that illustrate her husband in the process of installing the latest flooring. You can go to this link http://www.homedepot.com/p/TrafficMaster-6-in-x-36-in-Country-Pine-Resilient-Vinyl-Plank-Flooring-24-sq-ft-case-33114/100594661#.Ue68B_nVB6M to check out the exact flooring they have in their wonderful home. There are some really good Youtube videos on the subject, as well.

Since I so liked the way their floors look, I played copy-cat and went with the same. I purchased it 2 or 3 months ago, but had to wait until summer to install it. We started on Monday before July 4th and I enlisted the help of my 16 year old grandson, Glenn, the first day of installation. I was going to do the job myself, since my husband is working part time and has crazy hours, but I knew I should not try to move the toilet and replace it alone. This is my sweet grandson:

My Sweet Grandson, Glenn

He is so smart and quick to catch on. My son-in-law, Jimmy, has taught him well. He was so patient while we worked together. It is a good thing, because it was the first time I had done any type of flooring. Since I had not removed the old vinyl flooring yet, he helped me do that. That was the hardest part of the whole process. Since it had more adhesive than I had anticipated, it took us the greater part of the day to remove that mess. Technically, we could have laid the new flooring over the top of the old, but it was pretty badly damaged where it butted up with the tub, so I did not think it was a good idea to leave it down. It is important to make sure the floor(or sub-floor, as in our case) is free of any lumps, nail-heads, etc., as these will affect the final look of your new floor. We worked the toilet area first and then placed the toilet and new seal back down, so that Glenn would not have to come back the next day. Installing the floor was wonderfully easy, as a sharp utility knife is used for the straight cuts and a pair of vinyl siding shears is great for cutting any curves or other than straight lines. I was able to do the rest of the floor alone. I finished it the next day. After putting quarter-round molding back all around, calking any nail holes, etc. in the molding with white calk, sealing all around with clear silicone where the molding meets the floor and along the tub, this is what it looks like after it was finished.

New Allure Master Bathroom Floor

I was pleased and satisfied with the results and was ready to tackle the painting next. I had been collecting paint samples for months and since I was going for a fresh, clean look, I had decided it would be a light, white-gray. I found a color that suited me in the Olympic Paint line. The following link will show you the color I decided on for the bathroom http://www.olympic.com/color/paint-colors/moonlit-snow-c40-3. I used Satin Paint +Primer. It was the first time I have used paint with primer and I love the way it covers. It dries very quickly, as well. I used Olympic Semi-Gloss White Paint+Primer for all the trim-work and vanity cabinets. This is a shot from the door leading from the master bedroom and I think it shows the floor much better:

Master Bath after Painting with Olympic Satin+Primer and Olympic Solid White Semi-Gloss+Primer Trim

The curtains are the ones I found at Habitat Thrift Store. I purchased the white rug and a larger one, as well, to use at the tub from T.J. Maxx. My sweet baby daughter was going to get rid of the little cabinet and asked me if I wanted it. Well, yes, because I knew where I was going to put it. I had thought about painting it but my friend, Harriette, and other daughter, Angela, think I should leave the stain as is as it looks quite good with the new floor. So, I guess it will stay that way, at least for now. I am thinking about toning down the tin in the doors with a whitewash or an antique glaze, since the tin is a little to shiny for my taste. I would like to hear your opinions on the subject, so what do you think? The following pictures were also in my last post, showing some of the thrift store finds I used in this bathroom:

Shower Curtain from Goodwill Industries

Great Storage Box from Goodwill Industries to Corral Clutter and Hide Medications

My dear, sweet mother has gone on to be with the Lord. My older sister, Johnnie, introduced her to ceramics many years ago and she, with Sister's help, made the great pitcher and wash bowl for me. Here is a close-up of it:

Ceramic Pitcher and Washbowl Set Created by my Mother

It was one of the few things she did in ceramics. I have not really had the perfect place to put it, but I am happy with it atop the little cabinet.

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you about all the white switch plates covers I purchased for half off at Habitat Thrift Store.  I bought every one they had, in the various sizes, since I have other rooms to paint in the same or similar color. They look as good as new. I know new ones do not cost very much, but why pass up a deal when you see it?  I The ones I removed are beige and did not look as well with the new color. I don't know if you can see them well in this picture that I cropped out to try to give a closer look, but hopefully you can tell that they look pretty good for an average of fifteen or twenty cents apiece:

White Switch Plate Covers from Habitat Thrift Store

Here's another picture of that wall with the switches:

I think I took most, if not all, of these pictures with my cell phone and they are not the best quality. Something seems to be going wrong with the camera on it, because today, I could not even download pictures from it to my laptop, for some reason. The camera on it might have gone bad on me.

By the way, I spray painted all the drawer and cabinet pulls with Krylon Hammered Metal for Plastic. You can see them pretty well in the second picture of the bathroom in this post. The knobs were actually the shiny brass kind. I know I could have used a spray paint made for metals, but I decided to experiment with what I had on hand--the one for plastics. It works beautifully!

Now, I have to get busy and choose some pictures and so on for the walls. I have a few in mind that I already have.  Maybe I will post again after I finish with that. I'll use my camera next time and maybe things will look better.

Other than some updated faucets and towel bars, which we installed several years ago, and an occasional paint job on the walls and vanity, our master bath had not been updated since we purchased our home almost 22 years ago. Thanks to a little hard work and the assistance of my wonderful grandson, Glenn, we now have a master bath that is clean,  crisp and fresh looking. There are several other things I want to do in there but, in spite of that, a room that had become somewhat depressing to use is now a pleasure for us to enter.