Before + After: bathroom

I've spent most of the last few days giving the kids' bathroom a makeover. We are renting, so the mint green sink, toilet and bathtub had to stay, as did the gray-flecked yellowish tile. The room had been painted a yellowish white, and the counter and vanity were a sort of peachy-yellowy-off-white color, and looking a bit worse for wear. Apparently I didn't take a picture of the whole bathroom prior to beginning this project. Bad blogger.

Here's a kind of washed-out picture of the gray-flecked tile, the minty green toilet, and the awesome knobs. The knobs picture two geese frolicking around an urn wrapped with ribbons and flowers.








Afterwards:




I painted the walls and the counter Sherwin Williams Roman Column. Its very bright and cheerful but has a hint of yellow in it, so it goes nicely with the yellow-gray tiles.The vanity was painted a dark gray (Behr's Dark Granite) that I found in my mother in law's basement. I replaced the knobs with some silver knobs I had leftover from a dresser.

I bought some plain off-white twill curtains and a valance at Target. Originally I was only going to put the ribbon trim going up the inside edges of the curtain. However, what I actually did was this:

So....I ended up putting ribbon on the inside and the outside edges.

I love the look of cornices and pelmet boxes, especially love the ones that Melanie of Plum Cushion has in her bedroom. So, using a tutorial from Little Green Notebook, found here, I used foam board to make the box, covered it with batting and then used the valance to cover it. I stapled the fabric into the foam board. (Just a regular office stapler, since it was foam board.)


To get the ribbon look, I pinned the ribbon in place in the pattern I wanted, ironed it gently so the folds would stay, then used fabric glue to attach it to the valance.

The hardest part was hanging it. I used little circular hangers (that I can't seem to find the 8 remaining pieces to take a picture of), glued and duct-taped to the sides (the edge of the side wasn't thick enough to attach them directly). I bent the circle part and the hung it over the hook nailed to the wall.

For art, I had two ceramic plates picturing Positano, Italy, that we bought as souvenirs on trips to Italy. The colors in the plates go nicely with the turquoise accents. I hung them a bit too high (they are a wee bit above the curtain line) and I want to drop them lower....but that entails spackling and painting, and I don't have either spackle or leftover paint, and so they are staying too high, I guess.

On a recent trip to Home Goods I found this rattan piece, which is lots of rattan woven circles strung together inside a wider circle. There are 3 capiz shells inside that I wasn't thrilled with, but all in all I think the piece is the perfect size for the wall and it adds a nice bit of texture to the room.


Voila! New bathroom.

*Edited to add pictures of the ceramic plates and rattan piece.