Bathroom Makeover

I've been wanting to redo my bathroom for a long time.  Two big problems with the way it was; the ugly wallpaper and not enough storage.  Sometime this past spring, I got the idea for what I wanted to do and stewed on it for awhile.  We actually started in July, but just got all the finishing touches done this week (the bathroom has been useable much longer).

 This is what it looked like to start with.

Very drab and very cluttered.  Plus, there were places that the wallpaper was falling off the wall.

This is a close up of the wallpaper.  Sometime in the 90's (I think), textured wallpaper became popular.  Personally, I never saw the appeal.  All of the ones I ever saw were these same light colors.  One of it's selling points was that you could paint over it.  Then you'd still have the texture but any color you wanted.  No thank you.

Well, despite the fact that the wallpaper was falling of the wall in some places by itself, it did not want to come off.  We had the same kind of wallpaper in the hallway and took that down years ago.  In the hall, it came down easily so I assumed the bathroom would be ready to paint the first day.  Well, I was wrong.  I don't know if it was because of the moist environment or what, but the outer layer of the wallpaper came off fine, but the actual backing where the glue was did not want to come off. Which might not of been so bad, except in some places it did and in others it didn't.  We ended up having to sand the wall.  No fun.  During this process it became apparent that the last time the house was remodeled, they had cut corners with the sheet rock in the bathroom knowing that they were going to wallpaper it.  So, though I had not origianally intended to do so, I had to texture the walls.  I used a method involving tissue paper and starch that my mom had done a few years ago that I really liked.

My vision for the bathroom sounded crazy to Frank and my mom (the only ones I think I told what I was doing).  It involved buying old drawers and hanging them on the wall.  It was one of those things that I wasn't sure if the vision I saw in my head was really what was goint to happen in real life.  But it came out just like I pictured it and I love it.  The best part; there's almost nothing on my bathroom counter anymore.