May 2018 – My Boomtown Revival

I have been working on the main floor powder room for some time. The powder room is quite small. I wanted it so.

I’m not a carpenter, as I’m sure is clear by now, and I take lots time to figure out how to do something and then make many mistakes, so I take lots of breaks to psych myself up to keep going. Sometimes those breaks can be for weeks or more.

Here are some photos of work I’ve done to date:

Wallpaper and vanity light. Light is LED from Lowes.

Wainscoting is painted Storm Cloud Grey, from Benjamin Moore.

Wainscoting – Storm Cloud Grey – and wallpaper.

This is where the toilet will go. Floor is dark grey luxury vinyl. It extends out of the powder room, into the back door area.

I’d like to say the room is almost done, but aside from the obvious of installing toilet and sink, I have other finishing tasks to do:
– the window frame – is inset, so I have to build an ‘extension’ frame of some kind, and then put on header and casings.
– “crown” moulding – I haven’t caulked this in yet because I probably have to remove the piece that sits where the window header will go.
– vanity – this is going to be a dresser I had when I was a child, so I have to drill holes into it and modify the back to accept the plumbing etc. I find this intimidating and I have stress about otherwise destroying a perfectly good antique dresser.
– pocket door – for the life of me I cannot hang it by myself. It will not go onto the sliders. I’ll have to round up someone to help.
– door trim – can’t be completed until the pocket door is in. Then I have to shellack it.
– after the fixtures are in I can install soap dish, toilet paper holder, towel rack etc. I purchased those from Rejuvination, so they’re ready to go on.
– switch plates – I bought some fancy white ceramic and chrome ones, but noticed only after I’d bought them that I will also have to change the actual switches to white, in order to match. Right now they’re builder’s beige. I can do it myself, but not prior to ‘inspection’ of the electrical and I don’t want to pay the electrician to change them.
– blinds or curtains – I might try and install plantation shutters (as I call them in the frigid north).
– hang a fern
– hang something art-like; pictures or posters etc.

An example of the blinds I’d like (and similar to what was on the original part of the house when I bought it):

I’m also looking for a toilet like this – square with detail, but not elongated. I can only find elongated ones, which is why there is no toilet installed yet.

In February I began working on my new upstairs bathroom. It was supposed to be ready for toilet/sink/tub installation in May, and I work quite slowly with lots of thoughtful breaks.

I painted the ceiling – White Blush ceiling paint by Benjamin Moore. And I painted the walls the same colour.

I installed baseboard and beadboard and will paint them Jamestown Blue.

The beadboard came as a kit, with baseboard, shoe moulding, beadboard, and top rail.

The baseboard was slightly complicated to install, as the floor tiles were a little uneven and I’m not a carpenter. Also, despite it being a brand new space, the corners are not 90 degrees and some carpentry was required to get the corners as tight as possible. I didn’t do the best job and lots of filler was required. But once that baseboard was in, the beadboard and the rest went in quickly and the overall look is nice.

For this job I purchased a pneumatic nailer and a mitre saw. Sounds like expensive beadboard, but those are tools that I will use often in the next year.

Anyway, I think the beadboard application is good enough and hopefully no one will notice or care about the imperfections and the bathroom is a little closer to completion.

I haven’t painted yet, so will post photos after that.

Month: May 2018

Main Floor Powder Room

Upstairs Bathroom Wainscoting