Powder Room Walls

Time to do the walls. I have always loved paneling and I thought this would be the perfect space to add some paneling and character to. The walls were already damaged from the water being on it, and it is a small area so a perfect place to learn how! I found some tutorials online and we decided we liked the one from The House of Smiths the best. (click on the name to see the tutorial.)  

Time to get started!

Baseboard time. I choose a 6" squared top board.

As with most homes, the walls in this house are not 100% straight, so that is always a challenge. 

Time to start paneling. We had home depot cut the boards into 6" "strips" for us. 

Boards warp, and with the walls being a little off in some places, it was so hard to space them exactly the same. We used a penny-wide gap in some areas and a quarter in others. In some places we could only do the best we could, but I think it looks great and I love the character it adds to this classic-style bathroom. 

For a top piece we went with a 4" board, similar to the baseboard. 

Dave pounded in the nail heads as much as possible and I went around and filled in holes and chalked everything. Then we sanded everything.

It was super dusty!

Then we primed the boards.

Learn from our mistakes moment:

I was gone on night and Dave decided to put a coat of paint on the boards. It was freezing outside and  we store our paint in the garage... He painted with cold paint and it was a mess! All clumpy and thick... Don't do that!

So after it dried, he sanded... again...

Then we used room temperature paint and painted a couple of coats. We found that for flat boards, using a small roller with a foam brush worked best. 

I painted too! I know I am not in any pictures, but believe me, 

I have spent a lot of time in that tiny bathroom too :)

This was the light fixture that came with he house. Um, not keeping it!

I found a great deal online for this one. It has that old-school house vintage look that I was looking for. I also decided that I would have all of the fixtures/accessories be chrome. It says timeless to me. 

Time to move onto the ceiling.  As I have mentioned before, everything in this house was painted an off-white color when we moved in. EVERYTHING. Well, except the trim which is all nice blue-white (boo!).. With all of the white in the bathroom, I didn't want a off-white/yellow-looking ceiling. One morning I painted it white. 

Much better. 

I finally decided on a paint color- It is called sleigh bells by Benjamin Moore (1480)

Here it is in a hallway (a picture I found online)

First coat

I went to pick Hudson and Andrew up and glanced in the rear-view mirror. Yup- I was sporting some paint highlights :)

                        Second coat...And third coat done!

 It looks different in different lights... plus the camera doesn't capture it right, but you get the idea. 

Onto the sink, toilet and all of the fun extra's!