renovation diary : the powder room

If you have been reading this tiny blog in the past few years you know that in 2012 we took on a huge renovation project of a Victorian home built in 1859.

I call it the 'dream home' because I spent two years running by this house in our neighborhood thinking how much I liked it, dreaming that the price would dip to where we could afford it.

After a total of five years on the market, it finally got down to where we could justify the purchase + cost of renovation...and it became ours!

Wow, that seems like forever ago.

This will probably be the renovation that never ends, but I suppose we have plenty of time. :)

Now, time for a little update, since I haven't done that in a while.  Lots has been happening, progress being made, but nothing 100% completed.   So I've delayed in posting anything.  BUT, I don't really know if any space in this home will ever be 100%, so I may as well share the little things we've done so far.

Starting with the powder room!

Here is our entryway when we first bought the house, as you come in the front door.  As you can see there was a half bath straight ahead (with Paul and baby Mac checking it out!) 

The wall with the sink and mirror contained electric and plumbing, and also blocked the doorway to the back half of our home (which, since it's original build in 1859, had been converted to a two-family, the front and back divided into two two-story units.)

So, to convert it back to a single family home, we opened up that wall, moved the plumbing and electric, and created a hallway/door to the back half of the house.  Half of the previous half bath morphed into our current, tiny powder room.

Here are some photos of the transformation...

The entry has come a long way -- but we still need to paint the walls, as well as the backs of the steps and spindles/ballister (or whatever that big piece at the bottom is called.)

The photo below is looking through the hallway, bathroom on left, dining room straight ahead.  The dining room has pretty much been a "work zone" housing all Hubby's tools for the past year.  The floor is forever dusty.  It literally drives me insane and causes me to shriek, "I am done with this renovation - contract the rest out!" at my poor husband at least once a week.

Hubby had to use leftover trim and also re-create the look of our trim using new wood in this tiny hallway, which has three doorways requiring trim.

The tile work in progress.

Before the trim was painted, and after.  Brightens things up, right?  Now to decide on a wall color!
And do you like how our dog Colbie manages to be in every photo?

            

I really wanted a somewhat glam look to this bathroom - something black and white and bold.  So we went from almost choosing greige subway tile to a black with bright white grout.  I had also been wanting to try black paint on wall somewhere in the house, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity!  So we added a chair rail and did white above it, and black below.  I figured some art in black frames could balance it out.

So here is the 'after' in its current state:

I need to hang a couple more things on the white walls, and we still need a toilet paper holder and towel bar.  So yeah, not totally finished, but decisions (and action) take time in our house.

I got about fifty of these 'botanical prints' for $20 from Modcloth.com.  No idea where I will put them all, but this one will get hung up above the toilet at some point.

Details 

Paint : Tricorn by Sherwin Williams 

Sink : Kohler - came with the house

copper faucet : Signature Hardware

tile : Lowe's 

light fixture : Lowe's

floral framed art on wall : Lowe's (riiiight? I've never bought any art there, but this one was so vibrant it called to me.  and only $19!)

mirror : IKEA - already had...looking for a bigger one.

All the labor in this room (electric and plumbing included) was done by Hubby.

Nice job, baby!

Any transformations happening (slowly) in your home?  Are you a "get it done quickly" kind of renovator, or are you slooooow movers like us?