ORC – Spring Weeks 2 & 3

Weeks 2 & 3

Continuing on with the budget bathroom update that I wish I had done sooner — next on the list was painting and a new vanity mirror.

I tried a light grey first for the walls that was a lighter shade of what we have in our bedroom but it didn’t look right so I ended up going for white.

Getting the right shade of white can be tricky.

At first, I intended to use leftover white paint (Benjamin Moore Simply White) but it was too yellow and looked dingy in the bathroom.

Next, I tested out some plain white, straight out of the can, untinted white that I use for baseboards and doors. I was hesitant about how it would look but this article from Houzz about 10 Beautiful White and Wood Bathrooms helped me finalize my decision to paint the walls white without thinking it would look too clinical.

This white instantly brightened the room and made it look cleaner too. Paint is such an easy and inexpensive way to update a space.

To keep things simple I painted the doors and baseboards the same white as the wall.

Next was removing the large mirror above the vanity. This was something that I had wanted to do for awhile but was very hesitant about taking the mirror off. It actually was quite easy to remove and replacing it with a round mirror instantly updated the look of the bathroom – why didn’t I do this 4 years ago??

 

 

That’s it so far, a huge change on a very small budget and something that could easily be done on a weekend. To see the progress other people have made follow along on the One Room Challenge site.

 

 

 

Spring 2019 – ORC

Fall 2017 -ORC

Side Note: Notice the Difference

between the current

ORC and the last one?

ORC – Week 6

The shared nursery/bedroom is coming together and luckily the One Room Challenge has been extended by one week so that should be enough time to finish installing all of the Metrie trim.

I’m using the garage as my workshop and borrowing my friend Kate’s mitre saw to cut the pieces there. Then, I bring the cut trim up to the bedroom to double check measurements and install it using basic hand tools like I did in my previous moulding tutorial.

I have a sketchbook where I planned the trim and I also use it to keep track of the lengths I need to cut.Removing and replacing window and door casings is new for me and so far it’s going well. Above is how the window looked after I ripped off the old casing. I pried it off with a screwdriver and then pulled out the nails with a hammer. Where there was a build-up of paint from before, I used a chisel to carefully create a smooth surface.

Here is the new Pretty Simple Casing up around the window. Combined with the 5 1/4″ wide Pretty Simple Baseboards,  the room is already looking better.

This side of the room has two doors that I’m still working to remove the old casings from. In the meantime, I have started putting the Solid Pine Lattice up on the top edge of the room.

Once the lattice was up around the top and the baseboards were in, putting up the vertical lattice went quickly.

While I was working in the room these two were napping in the hallway …

That’s it for this week. My sister is here visiting for a few more days which will help me get the rest of this finished in time for the final reveal at the end of next week.

 

To see how all of the other rooms are coming together, click on the link below.

Fall ORC – Week 2

It’s Week 2 of the Fall One Room Challenge and just over 1 week away from the new baby’s due date.

Here’s a look at the plan I have for this shared nursery/bedroom – a neutral base with white walls, furniture & bedding; a statement light fixture and colourful accents that can be changed up over time.

Initially, I had planned to colour block the walls with navy on the bottom of the wall to contrast with the white furniture. When my husband saw how dark the navy was, he was completely opposed to this plan so I ended up painting the walls solid white instead. I still think that the navy would have looked good because this is a bright, South facing room but I like the white too.

The furniture and curtains in this room are the original pieces that I used in our very first nursery from our Montreal home. This rocking chair was among the first furniture we bought and I below is the original photo of it from October 2012.

At that time I was expecting our first child and was keen to paint everything with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, that’s where my love of DIY home improvement began. The white paint from 5 years ago has stood up very well as you can see in the photo below. The mirror resting in the photo below is the same one that we have in our powder room.

Goodbye mountain mural nursery wall…

Here’s the plain white room which isn’t too exciting right now. After painting the room I realized that I need to make the doors and trim a brighter white so that there is some slight contrast between them and the walls. By the way, these black door handles are actually shiny brass hiding beneath spray paint. It has been three years since I spray painted these and they’re holding up well here because we don’t use these door handles very often.

 

Week 2 from all of the other participants is linked up through Calling it Home.