Bathroom Gets a Facelift

After ten years it was time for the bathroom (powder room) to be updated.

This is the before. And I can't blame it on anyone else because I am the one who decorated it! We call this room the African Bathroom. (Yes, our bathrooms actually have names.)

This decor seemed quite spiffy ten years ago. I used feather dusters to create the faux treatment on the walls using five different shades of brown paint.

I had plenty of accessories in this small room.

These animal masks were my favorite part. And to tell you the truth, I still liked our "African Bathroom." I just thought that it was time for an update. So I decided that I could redo the bathroom without spending any money. I would use leftover paint and spray paint some of the accessories. It sounded like a great idea until I spray painted the accessories Heirloom White by Rustoleum.

I was going for a modern and fun look but instead it looked weird and slightly creepy. Nobody in my family was happy about this!

I painted the walls and ceiling with Behr Southern Breeze. (The same color as in the kitchen.) Things started looking better and the room appeared larger.

My plan was to stencil the focal wall. Instead of ordering a stencil online and getting exactly what I wanted, I decided to just go to the store and pick one up because I didn't want to wait. Well, the reason everyone orders them online is because stores don't really sell them. So I went to a few different stores before I found a few stencils at Hobby Lobby. Of the four there I wasn't jazzed with any of them but bought one anyway. (I would make it work.)

Of course I had to buy a special roller.

And an adhesive.

And silver paint.

I started practice stenciling in an inconspicuous place behind the door.

The pattern was so small and detailed that it ended up looking too feathery. I tried using white paint for more of a constrast. It looked even worse!

So I decided to draw my own pattern and hand paint it on the wall. Easier said than done. It took me over an hour of great frustration and many rough drafts before I realized that my patterns just weren't going to cut it. So I dove into the blogosphere and came across a pattern (and tutorial) from Jones Design Company. Yay! I printed off the pattern and cut out my own template. Then I started tracing the design on the wall with a pencil. For some reason my template pattern wasn't very consistent but no biggie, I knew I could even it out when painting

The painting actually went faster than I thought it would.

I just used white craft paint that I already had on hand. If I could do it over I would use a paint that had a slight sheen since craft paint has a flat sheen.

The most difficult part was tracing and painting around the toilet.

So here is a reminder of the before.

And the after.

Another before.

And the finished wall. Is it perfect? Not even close. I'm really pleased with the finished outcome anyway. I like the fact that it looks hand painted. I still have a little tweaking to do in the room until it's totally finished. (It's looking like the animal masks may fall victim to a forced retirement.) So I was able to transform the room using what I had on hand. (Unless you count the waste of all the stencil items that I didn't even end up using. Hopefully they'll be great for something else.)

UPDATE: I made even more improvements to the bathroom. See the exciting updates HERE.