DIY - Bathroom Makeover

This is definitely a project I am very proud of! 

To this...

...from this!

Tiniest shower in the world

So the one area of the house that I really hated was our upstairs bathroom. It must have been done in the 80s and I actually hated the look of it! Why was there all that cabinet space and the tiniest shower in the world? Who needs that many cabinets? And in icky cheap manufactured wood finish? 

Paul and I would loved to have redone the bathroom entirely but are feeling too poor with the wedding. So I set about updating the bathroom myself on a very limited budget (I spent about $340 including a fair bit on accessories at Anthropologie so it can definitely be done for less!) 

Bathroom makeover steps:

1. Painting the cabinets

Top: pre-sanding door, bottom: sanded door

a. I removed the cabinets using a simple screwdriver and all the drawers so that I could sand and paint them more easily 

The five cabinet doors after sanding

b. I sanded down all of the cabinet doors and the drawer fronts using my new (and amazing) DeWalt Sander. I first used 80 grit sandpaper and then went back over them with a 150 grit sandpaper. The important thing is to remove all of the previous finish and gloss and have a smooth surface so that the new color will more easily be taken by the wood. 

Sanded bathroom cabinet frames

c. I then sanded all the remaining frames in the bathroom. This was definitely messier work and I recommend putting down a dust sheet (which I didn't!) so save yourself having to wipe dust off your hairbrush!! 

Frameworks painted with primer

Cabinets painted with primer

d. I then primed everything. I used an oil based Benjamin Moore primer. It is dry to touch in about an hour. 

Bathroom cabinet after second coat

e. Then I painted two coats of Benjamin Moore Advance in Ebony Slate with a Satin finish. 

I've been inspired by pictures on Pinterest of bathrooms that have dark cabinets with very crisp white walls and love this Ebony Slate as it's in the gray family but made of a mixture of purple and black so has some lovely warmth to it. 

I used a 9 inch roller for the doors and drawers, and a 1 inch foam brush to do their sides. I used a 4 inch roller to do cabinet frames. 

f. I let the doors cure for about a week - mainly because I was busy doing other things in the bathroom!

g. I reattached the doors to the cabinets once everything else in the bathroom was complete. I would have cried if I'd gotten white paint on them after all that work! 

2. Painting the trim

a. After deciding that I'd like the trim to match the cabinets, I went about painting the baseboards. I didn't sand them (as I was slightly losing my will to live with all the work) but I did prime them and then paint two coats of Ebony Slate on them. 

b. I painted the windows and the mirror frame after I had finished the walls. 

c. I had to go back over the trim again after I did the walls as I was sloppy and couldn't seem to avoid getting white all over the trim! I was also lazy and didn't do enough tape well enough to prevent the need to re-do the trim. 

3. Painting the walls

The walls of the bathroom were filthy and painted a yellowish/off white color that was flaking in lots of places.

Primed Walls

a. I washed the walls and ceiling and primed them to prepare them for their fresh coat. I also primed the windows as I needed to get rid of all of that brown wood!

Second coat of Chantilly Lace 

b. I put two coats of Chantilly Lace from Benjamin Moore Kitchen & Bath collection on the walls.

4. Creating shutters for the windows

The windows have this awful sticky plastic on them to give privacy. It reminds me of the stuff I used to put on my copy books at school - gross! I had looked at getting shutters for the windows and particularly liked these ones at Home Depot - but they get pricey and our windows also didn't fit into their specified dimensions. So I decided to make the shutters myself!

a. I took inspiration from this blog on how to make DIY shutters and found myself at the lumber department of Lowes. I purchased some pine boards as they had the greatest selection in pine available. I went with 1/2 inch thick boards and purchased wider ones for the frames and slimmer ones for the slats in the middle (I'll have to find my receipt to remember exactly what I purchased!)

b. I started by creating the vertical frame pieces that would run from the top to the bottom of the windows. I cut them to size using my DeWalt circular saw - first time I ever used a saw like this and it was brilliant. It wasn't as scary as I thought it would be! I also purchased a clamp at Lowes that held the pieces to my working table and prevented them from moving, and made me feel a lot more confident about the whole process. 

c. I cut the horizontal frame pieces that would run across the top of the windows. I brought the pieces up to the bathroom and made sure my measurements weren't too far off!

d. I created the frame simply by nailing the two vertical and two horizontal pieces together. I decided that the slates and the horizontal frame pieces would sit behind the long vertical frame pieces so that any uneven cutting on my part would be hidden!

e. I cut the slimmer pieces of pine to create the slats and attached them using simple nails to the frame. 

Finished Look

f. I painted the shutter in the same Chantilly Lace as I had used on the walls in the bathroom. I experimented with a more "weathered" look by rubbing the paint with a cloth after I applied it but it didn't fit the aesthetic of the bathroom. The look was becoming very clean and modern so I decided that two layers of Chantilly Lace would be best. I wish I had primed them but I got lazy! 

g. I brought them up to the bathroom and was about to attach them using these hinges I purchased, but I decided I actually liked the look of them just sitting against the windows. 

h. The best part happened next - I got to rip the disgusting plastic sticky things from the windows! It was so satisfying! 

5. Finishing touches

New towel hooks

I went to Anthropologie once I had finished all the hard work as my reward and had some fun picking out knobs for the cabinets. In the end though, I decided that I didn't actually need any knobs as the finished look was so neat and modern. Instead, I simply added some light fixture covers and some fun new towel hooks.

Rough guess of costs: 

Total: $340

1 gallon primer: $25

1 gallon Chantilly Lace: $65

1 gallon Ebony Slate: $65

Pine boards for shutters: $35

Supplies: $50 (e.g., paint brushes, trays, canvas for floor, frog tape)

Decoration: $100 (e.g., light fixture covers, towel hooks)