Powder Room Finishing Touches and Reveal

The Powder Room is done!!!

Here is how we finished it up.

We looked everywhere for the right vanity and sink. We finally picked one from IKEA of all places. We went and looked at it and it was the perfect size (24") and is great quality. The drawers are soft close, and it is all made of solid wood.

One Saturday we installed it. 

Sink (also IKEA) and faucet (found online)

It was in! The hot water wasn't a big deal to hook up, but getting the cold water hooked up took a few more tricks and trips to Home Depot.

 I started shopping for accessories... I loved this rug, it was SUPER soft, but the pile on it was too high- the door wouldn't go over it. Keep looking...

I found this one online at Cost Plus World Market, so the next day Hudson and I went to check it out. 

First we stopped at Hobby Lobby. I wanted different knobs on the vanity- the plain black ones weren't doing it for me. These were my favorites there, but they were out- these were the display ones.

At Cost Plus we found the PERFECT knobs. I love these. They are glass but have the perfect amount of blue/gray in them. The rug was also perfect!

Then we went to Bed Bath and Beyond looking for hand towels to match the new rug (the ones at Cost Plus that were supposed to match weren't even close), I found this towel rack/tp holder set.. It was just what I was looking for. We had bought a towel rack and tp holder from Home Depot, but I wasn't in love with them.So we picked these up and took the Home Depot ones back. 

Dave spent a few days figuring out the plumbing...

It was time to install the tp holder and towel rack. We didn't want to walk into the bathroom and see the tp on the wall- see? not good.

So we decided to install it onto the vanity. 

Dave put an extra piece of trim behind it so it is really strong and won't hurt the vanity. 

The towel rack was 18", so Dave cut down the rod so we could install it onto the little diagonal wall. I love that it covers the electrical plug- it isn't going to get a lot of use in a powder room, so hide it!

 Onto the mirror. This is what I REALLY want- I think it would be the perfect mirror for this bathroom. The only thing is it costs a pretty penny... 

One day I will have this mirror! 

(I looked all over for a similar one that was cheaper, but it isn't out there. It can only be 24" wide, which makes it hard!)

Until we want to spend some bucks on a mirror, we needed something. I lucked out and found this little mirror for super cheap- $12!  The frame is plastic, but it will do. It just needed a little paint. I decided it should be white- so it would "blend in" with the walls. I didn't want it to stand out.

Taped the mirror off and chalked the uneven corners. 

I primed it and painted it. 

Are you ready? Here is the finished powder room. I absolutely love it. It feels so light and clean. With no window I think it is important to keep things light. The vanity grounds everything. I normally don't go for chrome fixtures but I love the shine and sparkle that they add to the space. 

We bought a new white floor vent, to match the new floors. 

A white doorstop

We love that our little stool fits perfectly under the vanity so when little kids come and need a little help with the sink or toilet, there is a stool. But when you don't need it, it is out of sight. 

The lovely new knobs. 

The drawers hold so much! I am not quite sure what else I should put in them- ideas??? 

Extra TP in the bottom drawer. 

An extra hand towel in the top drawer. 

I love the rug. 

An unexpected shape, 

very durable and easy to wash. 

See the stool in the pic above?

There are a few more things that I want to add. A bathroom needs a trash can- thinking a chrome one. There is the perfect place for it- below... just need to find it! I also need to find a soap dispenser. 
The one currently being used it chipped...

The walls also need something. I think I will know what it is when I see it, but I am not sure what it will be yet. Maybe something like this? Different shaped mirrors hanging? They would have to be a lot smaller than these of course... 

Or maybe something with a little texture... Who knows. I will post whenever I find something, but I am ok if it takes some time. 

What do you think? 

We had our first dinner party over the weekend and one of our younger guests told me it was a very pretty bathroom :) Makes me smile because I agree. 

Banisters

Oh the banisters. They have been a headache! Here is a fuzzy picture from the home listing a year ago. 

At first we were going to strip and re-stain the handrails but once we got a good look at them we knew that wouldn't be a good long term solution. They were really beat up, loose and horrible looking. Not to mention they were not our style. 

This is after the flood/before the new floors...

In August Vince told us they would start working on the banisters on a Friday, so Thursday Dave took out the balusters out (he told them he would help out with the demo)... Then Vince brought by the new newel posts that he bought at Home Depot. 

They weren't what I had asked for and it turns out they wouldn't even work- for a bunch of sizing reasons...

This is when life got really bad with Vince. We don't know details but we know he is getting a divorce and there was a lot of drama going on in his life which meant we were really on his back burner. 

We found a painter and had him come in and paint the bottom parts... Looking back, I totally could have done this. I assumed that he would fill holes/dents etc... But no. Oh well. It was done. 

So we were stuck. We decided we needed to find the newel posts if we wanted them to be right. After a few hours and lots of driving around, we got online, found the newel posts that I wanted and ordered them (ebay of all places had the best deal!). 

And then we waited... Dave put ropes up to sort of block off the wide open spaces, but it was still dangerous. Thankfully our boys are really good and cautious and so they were ok. When friends would come over for boys club we wouldn't let them go upstairs... we haven't had people over for dinner, friends over for play dates forever!!! It has totally put me in a funk...

Sometime during the fall- October I think, we bought a used fancy paint sprayer and Dave painted the newel posts in the garage. 

          So this is how we lived from August-January 8. 
                               That is a long time!

Mid-December Vince sent over his long-time friend Jason and Jason's co-worker Cody. They went through the house and Dave talked about the situation  Jason and Cody have their own business, do all of their own work (except for electrical/plumbing etc...). Jason and Vince went to high school together and Vince asked Jason if he could help him out and get this project done. We were really impressed with their knowledge and everything they said. We were excited to get going! They promised us that once they came to work they would work everyday until it was all done, no coming and going and making it last forever. They needed to finish up another job and then it would be our turn... Then Jason broke his wrist :( Vince tried to find someone else, and we are thankful that he didn't because we would have been willing to wait for Jason and Cody anyways. 

January 8th they came! 

Lots of other hiccups to get through, wrong parts ordered (by Vince) but work was happening. 

Once we had all of the right parts, they got to work. 

Deciding how tall to make the sleeves for the newel posts...

(You can see the blue rope that Dave had tied to all of the posts.)

Thursday they opened everything up and got to work.

After one day there was such an improvement already :)

They worked on the family room side and once it was done they worked on the entry areas. 

This was their workshop in our garage

This is how they left it for the weekend.

Back to work on Monday. 

We had to get more stain from the floor guys- the extra stain they gave us in July wasn't good anymore. 

They took the handrails off again and stained them. 

It was freezing outside and in our garage, so they stained them in our living room- they set better if its not cold. 

Once they were dry and had their first and second coats of polyurethane on them, they put them back on. 

These guys were so precise, making sure everything was straight and level. Turns out the handrails that were in the house were lower than code, so they made sure they put them at the correct height so they are to code now. 

They worked until late on Tuesday night, not leaving until after 9pm. They said they would be done and Tuesday and they were. That means so much!

They are done. We love them. 

What you see when you open the front door makes a great statement compared to before. 

We picked a larger newel post for the bottom one and think it looks great. 

We were a little worried that since the handrails are red oak and the floors are white oak that they would look different- and have red in them, but they don't and are exactly how I pictured them looking. Whew!

101 Balusters

7 Newel Posts

~ 48 feet of handrails

I can't even express the weight that has been lifted off of our shoulders with this being done. 

We are SO happy. 

Of course we have a long list of projects to do still, but WE can do them. We can choose how fast we do them, and pick everything out ourselves etc. We loved Jason and Cody and their work and years in the future we will use them to do more work, but we are taking a break from hiring people! (Except for our new roof that we will be getting thanks to our home owners insurance and the hail storm that happened last June... It just needs to warm up before that can happen!)