When we first moved into the new house, everything seemed PERFECT! It was turn-key move in ready and we weren't going to have to do a thing! However, now that we've been here for a couple months, I've had time to really dissect each room in excruciating detail. I mean, we're talking down to the type of lightbulbs used. It seems with each passing day, I manage to add five new items to the to-do list, while we are checking off items at a much slower pace. What initially looked like a fresh, blank slate quickly started to look a bit blah and boring. We needed color and texture and pattern and most of all...personality! I'm telling you now, it's going to be a slow process, but we'll get there, one room at a time. I decided to start small and first tackle the powder room.
Here is the Before:
The goal was to give this room some pizzaz which meant ditching the grey walls and builder's grade accessories.
The scope of work included the following:
- wallpaper walls
- paint ceiling
- replace light fixture
- replace mirror
- replace vanity hardware
- install window treatment
Let's start with the wallpaper, because this decision was the easiest for me. Basically, from the moment I laid eyes on the Toile de Nantes print by Pierre Frey, I fell head over heels. HARD. It's design is inspired from an 18th century document, but fits right in with today's style with its classic ikat print. This iconic pattern has been used in famous homes across the country, and every time I see it used, my heart skips a beat.
Estée Lauder used this wallpaper and fabric for the master bedroom in her Hampton's house (now owned by granddaughter Aerin Lauder).
Nashville based interior designer Sarah Bartholomew welcomes guests into her home with a foyer full of blue and white deliciousness.
Celebrity chef Alex Hitz chose this wallpaper for the powder room of his LA residence.
The list goes on, and all I knew was I wanted my powder room on that list! Here is how the powder room looks now.
The wallpaper alone completely transformed the space. One of the features of this room is the 10 ft ceiling. The vertical pattern emphasizes this characteristic, and makes the small room feel more spacious.
Next up, the ceiling.
Although I've seen painted ceilings in magazines and blogs, I've never actually tried it out in my own home. I decided this space would be an ideal candidate. It's a small space and needed a bold punch. As for color choice, um...well if it isn't white, it's going to be blue (duh)! I went with Buckland Blue by Benjamin Moore.
The brass chandelier was an antique store find. It fits the space perfectly and coordinates well with the other brass accessories I added.
Now onto the vanity. My dream vanity would have been more of an open concept (like the powder room above) but ripping up a brand new and perfectly nice vanity just didn't seem economical. Instead, I gave the current vanity a little facelift by replacing the hardware. These pulls from Restoration Hardware helped to add in more brass accents, really warming up the space.
I would love the replace the faucet as well to match, but again, it's brand new, and it doesn't really need to be replaced, so until I work on a stronger argument for this case, a chrome faucet will work just fine!
One thing that was easy to say good-bye to though was the builder's grade mirror. Swapping out the mirror to something more decorative gave the whole vanity a higher end feel.
As for the accessories and wall decor, they mostly came from various antique stores.
And of course, I try to support other Etsy business owners whenever possible. I'll definitely be going back for more of these linen hand towels!
The last update we made was to install a Roman shade over the window. Since there was already a lot going on in the room, I figured it was best to keep it simple.
Given the small space, I think we packed a pretty solid punch. We've got color, we've got texture, we've got pattern and we've definitely got personality! And although I can check this room off the list, I think I came up with about 50 new ideas to add to the list while writing this.
