Another room done (almost)

Do you see a theme here?  Almost done rooms.

So. The powder room.  Here was moving day plan for that room:

-strip wallpaper from walls AND CEILING.
-get a new vanity/sink/counter/faucet combo
-new sconces
-paint

BEFORE:  there it is.  On. The. Ceiling.

BEFORE:  Wow.  Just wow.  

Fortunately, the wallpaper stripped right off the walls.  In nice big sheets that I could neatly fold and throw away.  Unfortunately, it left behind the backing paper and glue.  I used the steamer to get the backing paper off and after asking Google, I found out that all I needed to do was get some wicked hot water and wipe off the glue residue.  It took forever and a day, but after some serious scrubbing it was clean.

DURING:  Notice the glue residue on the walls.
The ceiling still has the paper AND the glue.

On to the vanity.  Here is where living with your situation for awhile can save you time and money.  We fully intended to go buy a new vanity/sink combo, install it and call this room done.  But then we started looking at vanities.  Hmmmm.  There were a few that we kind of liked, but $1000 + price tags we didn't like.  At this point I should mention that we also measured and determined that the room was built around the vanity, so we would have to take off at the very least the door trim.  Or else take an axe to the vanity and chop it to bits to get it out Bath Crashers style.  So we waited.

Then we had friends over for a football game.  Our friend Jay returns from the bathroom and we are joking about the state of the room (see above, with cleaner walls).  Then he says "I'd keep the vanity, no one else has anything like that in their house".  John and I looked at each other and silently agreed that Jay just saved us some serious cash.  

Next day we decide that all we need a new sink and countertop.  Since it is a piece of furniture and not a standard sized item, we would need a custom countertop made.  Also, you can tell from the picture below that it has that lovely part in the front that juts out 1 1/2 inches.  That pretty much eliminates finding a scrap piece of stone on the cheap since it would need to be customized.  Let's just skip right over the discussions about countertops (tile, granite/quartz, laminate, even concrete) and agree that it was going to be more money than we ever thought.  

So.  Now we have a room with clean (now primed) walls, bare lightbulbs hanging out of the walls and a monster of a vanity that needs a new sink and countertop.  If you check the list above, we've done about 1 1/2 of the items and it's been 2 months since we moved in.  We knew what kind of sink we wanted so we went ahead and ordered the sink and faucet.  In the process of measuring for the sink some of the tile surrounding the sink came off.  Then we started imagining how the vanity would look with the wood top sanded down and stained to match the existing wood and resealed.  Then we did just that.  The End.  Actually - John did that so I don't have much explanation.  I do know that he did a fantastic job and it looks amazing. 

DURING:  Ready to be stained & sealed

Paint.  The general rule around here is that I pick paint colors and John does most of the painting.  I didn't imagine that once we decided to sand and reseal the vanity top the project would move so quickly.  Especially since the sink/faucet arrived in 2 days.  I decided on Martha Stewart Rainwater.  But since time was of the essence I just mixed a bunch of paint we had around the house together and came up with something nearly identical to Rainwater.  Suck it Martha!  

Long story short, here the the finished project.  A note about sconces.  All along we thought we'd want some modern brushed nickel sconces to make the room look updated.  Then at the last minute I saw these on Overstock and bought them.  They match the hardware on the vanity.  The mirror is ours, it used to be above the fireplace at the old house.  

AFTER:  My photog skillz need work.  But my
paint mixing skillz are dope.

AFTER:  See what I mean about my photo skillz?
But the vanity is pretty.

Here is the almost done part.  Look closely - do you see how different the sink and toilet look?  The toilet.  It's almond.  So very sad. And now the room is all clean and bright, it looks really almond.  Ugh.  I'll think about that tomorrow.  Also, artwork and soap dishes...  tomorrow, I promise :)

One room done (almost)...

We are very good at starting projects, not so good at finishing.  Check that.   I am good at starting and not finishing.

Moving on....  Back in September (!) we did manage to finish something and then forgot all about it.

When we moved in, Sam's room was the closest to being "done" in our eyes.  The carpet was a nice color and the walls and woodwork just needed a fresh coat of paint.

Here is the before:

BEFORE:  Such a sad closet...

BEFORE:  I've forgotten about the diamond window inserts
and shutters that make everything dark.dark.dark.

The shutters in theory are a good idea.  They open and close just like a window blind but have a little extra somethin'-somethin' going on.  But as you can see in the picture above they need a fair amount of space to open and close.  We figured once we got a bed, desk, dresser and chair in there there was going to be no room for the shutters to open and close properly.  So they came down.  And since their frame is built from the floor up and into the wall, we patched holes in the wall and carpet.  

Then we painted the woodwork white and the walls Benjamin Moore's Moonshine.   I spray painted the closet doors glossy black and Sam painted his bed frame oil rubbed bronze.   Done.

AFTER:  The closet is much happier now :)

AFTER:  Oops messy bed, but you get the idea, right?
But I'm giving him props for having it made at all...

So there you have it.  We still have to put up some artwork and paint the back of his door in magnetized or chalkboard paint (he hasn't decided yet).  But I'm calling it.  Done.  Well, 95% done anyway...