The Bathroom
I found myself drawn to the bathroom as my next project. If you don't close the door, it is entirely visible from the living room, so I figured I better get it looking a little better, (though I don't think anything could improve upon the lovely view of the throne...harhar).
It started off as pretty much a sad display:
Blah. Uninspired. Teeny. Now I can't change the teenyness of said bathroom, but I can pull it out of it's funk, and make it a place that you will at least experience some moments of admiration in (and not just admiration of looking at yourself in the mirror). I put up a couple of pics to try to make it look better...but I feel it was just a sad and epic fail.
I started off with the fixing of the scabbed ceiling, and the painting of Big Brown Wall (which I mentioned in my previous entry). But Big Brown Wall looked so lonely there all by itself.
BBW needed a partner. So I decided to go with a striping effect again. I debated over size of stripes, and colors of stripes, and how many colours and how many stripes. I wanted it to be subtle but noticeable. Bold, but not. So after many colour chips, and staring at the wall asking it for inspiration, I decided on Smokey Glass:
It's grey, but with a touch of beige in it. Bringing the other uses of grey into the condo, without it actually being too grey. There seems to be the idea out there that when it comes to small living spaces you should only stick with one colour and use that colour throughout the space to make it look larger. I disagree. I think you just need to decide on a common colour and use that colour in different tones and in different ways throughout the space. Why make every room look the same? That's not very inspiring. I also use similar shapes in each room to tie them together. The circles on my shower curtain speak to the round shapes on my closet doors, that lead to the circles on my foyer mirror, which take you to the round shapes on my solarium curtains, that then lead you to the oval mirror in my bedroom. The pics of the flowers in my dining area take you to the large pic of a flower over my bed. See how a theme can take you through a space without all being the same? Each room is different, but they blend at the same time. So don't be afraid to be bold, just make sure each space is talking to each other.
So after some masterful placement of painters tape, the surface was prepped for a little Smokey Glass.
Sorry, you'll have to wait til the end of the post for the result (got to build suspense somehow).
I'm glad that I decided to go with bold stripes and that I stuck with just one other colour. I think it would have looked too busy with too many stripes or too many colours. I am also glad for the $1.25 set of artist brushes from the dollar store (I love you, Dollarama), because getting around that mirror was a wee bit tricky.
Doing the stripes on the left side of the mirror was indeed a bit of a trick, (and took some odd manipulation of my upper torso), so I was grateful for the big flat brush that came with the set. The rest of the brushes will be great for those little touch ups that always come with any project, and they are so cheap that if you cake one of them with paint and can't get it clean you can always toss it and get another one, (not that I support the idea of throw-away supplies...always reuse when you can...the environment will thank you).
I then moved on to dealing with the DIY row of hooks on the back of the door. They have been very useful, and they keep the bathroom from being over-run with towels in various locales. However, ugly as sin:
Geesh...you think they could have put in a little more effort than this sad display. But that's been kind of the theme to my condo... a series of sad displays in need of a little time and TLC.
I had thought of removing the hooks altogether and putting some kind of shelf or something over the toilet to accommodate some towels, but I worried that in such a small space, it would look very over-crowded. So I decided to keep the door hooks, as they have been working just fine over the past couple of years. I then thought that maybe I would replace the hooks with hooks that were a little less "cheap". It wasn't really necessary though. The hooks are fine. They aren't broken. They are just mismatched.
So with a quick flick of a sponge brush, and some of my Tremclad, (the black gun-metal paint that I used on the front closet door frame), I made the ugly hooks look like new again, (and like they actually belonged together). I also decided to get rid of one of the hooks and move one to the center. Now I have a little more room for my bathrobe, and the towels aren't right up against the end of the doors. Looks a little tidier. I also painted the wood the hooks were attached to with the same brown as the bathroom wall.
Looks much better now. Not so much "DIY", as it looks like a proper door hook unit.
Now on to the rest of the walls. I wanted to keep the walls a little lighter, so I wouldn't feel too cave-like in there. So I went with Hiking Trail. It was actually on the same paint chip as the Smokey Glass colour, so I knew that they would work well together. But first there was a little prep of the walls, with some spackle and primer. I also decided to paint the back of the door the same colour as the remaining walls to give it a little unity and not cause a break up in the already small space by painting the door the usual white. So off I went to Home Depot to get my paint. Grumpy Bob (see earlier posting) must have a sister, because she was just as grumpy. "You paint with this?" she scowled in broken English. "Yes, it's going in the bathroom". She saw the colour that I chose and made a slight face. Yes, it's not a conventional bathroom colour. Many people get trapped in the idea that you should use light colours in the bathroom, otherwise it will make it feel smaller. Very untrue. In fact, when I got the colour up, my little bathroom actually felt bigger. The walls had "depth".
The final paint job was the cabinet.
I decided on Tremclad in Gloss Brown. Stinks like a son-of-a-gun, but it adheres quite well, wipe-able, and durable. Just slap on a couple of coats, but keep in mind it will need a good 12 hrs to dry before you can reapply the second coat - so it's not an instant fix, but worth the time.
Now I'll save the before and after to the end of this post, as there were a few minor details to contend with before I had a finished product.
The Shower
Ever since I moved in the shower has leaked. Quite a lot. In several directions. It's one of those projects that you mean to get to, but never do. But I thought since I was "fixing" the bathroom, that should include the shower head. I forgot to take a pic of before of the shower, so I can only say that there was a removable shower head, and also a pipe that lead to some kind of pulse adjuster (which never worked). So I removed both the shower head, the pulse adjuster, and the extension pipe that was attached to the main pipe:
But not without major strain and many swear words. I purchased, what I like to refer to as, a rubberized wrench.
I thought this would be the magical solution to untightening the incredibly tightly wound pipe. Uh. No. What I encountered was a completely useless tool that did nothing to help, and whose rubber began to rip (yeah, it's going back). I tried heating the pipe with a cup of hot water. Nope. Didn't budge. After a little 'Bing' search (I have to say "Bing" now...not "Google"...cuz they make me...lol), I found the suggestion of WD-40. Ah, yes, the DIY'ers best friend. I left it for about a 1/2 hr to make it's way through, and that finally loosened the darn thing. Ugh. People need to learn that you don't need to break out the wrench to tighten a shower head...just do it by hand.
Now, as long as the leak you are experiencing is merely where the pipes connect, it's a pretty easy fix. From what I could see, that was what was going on - bad connections. So what you want to get is two things: rubber O rings, and nylon tape:
Both are easy to find in any hardware store, and even Walmart, and very cheap.
First, remove any old nylon tape from around the fittings and make sure it's clean and dry. Now, nylon tape is a little tricky to handle. It likes to turn and stick to itself, so don't rush or you'll end up in a tangled mess. The nylon tape wraps around the thread of the pipe to give a better seal. Wrap it around about 4 times and pull it taut as you wrap it around the pipe. Most importantly, ensure that you are winding the tape clockwise - that way when you screw on the shower head, you will be going with the tape, not against (which will cause it to get shredded). Then, if you are reattaching an old shower head, replace the O ring inside the connector to ensure a tight seal. I would then recommend that you pull your shower curtain across while you test the validity of the seal...unless you really like water shooting all over the bathroom. Thankfully that did not happen.
Let the showers continue!
The Chips
In my shower tub there was some rust around the drain. Not the break-out-some-CLR kind of rust, but rust that had to be covered up somehow. The worse of the chips was on the sink:
It's actually not a chip. It looks like a burn. I can only assume that someone placed a curling iron on the side of the sink and forgot about it (must have happened some time ago, because most curling irons nowadays has an auto-shut off after 60min). Now this is a challenge to cover-up, but a greater challenge with my sink being "sand" coloured, and not standard white. I had thought about replacing the bathroom suite, but I decided to just save some money and work around the issue. Thankfully, sand coloured suites are still around, and thus, you can still get porcelain repair paint for them. So I found some repair paint:
It had the consistency of nail polish and was very easy to use. Just follow the directions on the box and you'll have no problem.
Now, the only issue is that the sink turned out to be not quite the same colour as the tub. The sink has just the slightest pinkish hue to it, so the repair was not as seamless. But I think it was good enough. You don't see it unless you are looking for it, so it was a successful repair nonetheless.
Ok, so after a little bit of cleanup, and some minor retouches, it was all done. Well, mostly all done. I still need to re-whiten the grout in the shower, and possibly find a pic for the wall by the mirror (haven't found anything yet, so we'll see what pops up and I'll post it if I find something worthy).
So, here we go:
BEFORE
AFTER
So that's a little better, eh? I grabbed the bright teal hand towel while at Walmart today. Thought the place could use a little punch.
Alrighty...next project, The Solarium. Hoping to have the condo up for sale by June, so I gotta hop to it. Thankfully the weather is finally welcoming spring, and I'm feeling a little more inspired.
Love, Laugh, and make it Gorgeous!
Bloggerontherun
It started off as pretty much a sad display:
Blah. Uninspired. Teeny. Now I can't change the teenyness of said bathroom, but I can pull it out of it's funk, and make it a place that you will at least experience some moments of admiration in (and not just admiration of looking at yourself in the mirror). I put up a couple of pics to try to make it look better...but I feel it was just a sad and epic fail.
I started off with the fixing of the scabbed ceiling, and the painting of Big Brown Wall (which I mentioned in my previous entry). But Big Brown Wall looked so lonely there all by itself.
BBW needed a partner. So I decided to go with a striping effect again. I debated over size of stripes, and colors of stripes, and how many colours and how many stripes. I wanted it to be subtle but noticeable. Bold, but not. So after many colour chips, and staring at the wall asking it for inspiration, I decided on Smokey Glass:
 |
| The brown on top was close to the brown that I used on the wall. Below is Smokey Glass (the cream colours where shades I were debating for the other walls...but decided on something else) |
It's grey, but with a touch of beige in it. Bringing the other uses of grey into the condo, without it actually being too grey. There seems to be the idea out there that when it comes to small living spaces you should only stick with one colour and use that colour throughout the space to make it look larger. I disagree. I think you just need to decide on a common colour and use that colour in different tones and in different ways throughout the space. Why make every room look the same? That's not very inspiring. I also use similar shapes in each room to tie them together. The circles on my shower curtain speak to the round shapes on my closet doors, that lead to the circles on my foyer mirror, which take you to the round shapes on my solarium curtains, that then lead you to the oval mirror in my bedroom. The pics of the flowers in my dining area take you to the large pic of a flower over my bed. See how a theme can take you through a space without all being the same? Each room is different, but they blend at the same time. So don't be afraid to be bold, just make sure each space is talking to each other.
So after some masterful placement of painters tape, the surface was prepped for a little Smokey Glass.
 |
| Mark where you are going to paint...trust me...prevents embarrassing mistakes |
Sorry, you'll have to wait til the end of the post for the result (got to build suspense somehow).
I'm glad that I decided to go with bold stripes and that I stuck with just one other colour. I think it would have looked too busy with too many stripes or too many colours. I am also glad for the $1.25 set of artist brushes from the dollar store (I love you, Dollarama), because getting around that mirror was a wee bit tricky.
 |
| Despite the cheap price, they were rather nice brushes. |
Doing the stripes on the left side of the mirror was indeed a bit of a trick, (and took some odd manipulation of my upper torso), so I was grateful for the big flat brush that came with the set. The rest of the brushes will be great for those little touch ups that always come with any project, and they are so cheap that if you cake one of them with paint and can't get it clean you can always toss it and get another one, (not that I support the idea of throw-away supplies...always reuse when you can...the environment will thank you).
I then moved on to dealing with the DIY row of hooks on the back of the door. They have been very useful, and they keep the bathroom from being over-run with towels in various locales. However, ugly as sin:
Geesh...you think they could have put in a little more effort than this sad display. But that's been kind of the theme to my condo... a series of sad displays in need of a little time and TLC.
I had thought of removing the hooks altogether and putting some kind of shelf or something over the toilet to accommodate some towels, but I worried that in such a small space, it would look very over-crowded. So I decided to keep the door hooks, as they have been working just fine over the past couple of years. I then thought that maybe I would replace the hooks with hooks that were a little less "cheap". It wasn't really necessary though. The hooks are fine. They aren't broken. They are just mismatched.
So with a quick flick of a sponge brush, and some of my Tremclad, (the black gun-metal paint that I used on the front closet door frame), I made the ugly hooks look like new again, (and like they actually belonged together). I also decided to get rid of one of the hooks and move one to the center. Now I have a little more room for my bathrobe, and the towels aren't right up against the end of the doors. Looks a little tidier. I also painted the wood the hooks were attached to with the same brown as the bathroom wall.
Looks much better now. Not so much "DIY", as it looks like a proper door hook unit.
Now on to the rest of the walls. I wanted to keep the walls a little lighter, so I wouldn't feel too cave-like in there. So I went with Hiking Trail. It was actually on the same paint chip as the Smokey Glass colour, so I knew that they would work well together. But first there was a little prep of the walls, with some spackle and primer. I also decided to paint the back of the door the same colour as the remaining walls to give it a little unity and not cause a break up in the already small space by painting the door the usual white. So off I went to Home Depot to get my paint. Grumpy Bob (see earlier posting) must have a sister, because she was just as grumpy. "You paint with this?" she scowled in broken English. "Yes, it's going in the bathroom". She saw the colour that I chose and made a slight face. Yes, it's not a conventional bathroom colour. Many people get trapped in the idea that you should use light colours in the bathroom, otherwise it will make it feel smaller. Very untrue. In fact, when I got the colour up, my little bathroom actually felt bigger. The walls had "depth".
The final paint job was the cabinet.
 |
| Yee. Haw. Yawn. |
I decided on Tremclad in Gloss Brown. Stinks like a son-of-a-gun, but it adheres quite well, wipe-able, and durable. Just slap on a couple of coats, but keep in mind it will need a good 12 hrs to dry before you can reapply the second coat - so it's not an instant fix, but worth the time.
Now I'll save the before and after to the end of this post, as there were a few minor details to contend with before I had a finished product.
The Shower
Ever since I moved in the shower has leaked. Quite a lot. In several directions. It's one of those projects that you mean to get to, but never do. But I thought since I was "fixing" the bathroom, that should include the shower head. I forgot to take a pic of before of the shower, so I can only say that there was a removable shower head, and also a pipe that lead to some kind of pulse adjuster (which never worked). So I removed both the shower head, the pulse adjuster, and the extension pipe that was attached to the main pipe:
But not without major strain and many swear words. I purchased, what I like to refer to as, a rubberized wrench.
I thought this would be the magical solution to untightening the incredibly tightly wound pipe. Uh. No. What I encountered was a completely useless tool that did nothing to help, and whose rubber began to rip (yeah, it's going back). I tried heating the pipe with a cup of hot water. Nope. Didn't budge. After a little 'Bing' search (I have to say "Bing" now...not "Google"...cuz they make me...lol), I found the suggestion of WD-40. Ah, yes, the DIY'ers best friend. I left it for about a 1/2 hr to make it's way through, and that finally loosened the darn thing. Ugh. People need to learn that you don't need to break out the wrench to tighten a shower head...just do it by hand.
Now, as long as the leak you are experiencing is merely where the pipes connect, it's a pretty easy fix. From what I could see, that was what was going on - bad connections. So what you want to get is two things: rubber O rings, and nylon tape:
Both are easy to find in any hardware store, and even Walmart, and very cheap.
First, remove any old nylon tape from around the fittings and make sure it's clean and dry. Now, nylon tape is a little tricky to handle. It likes to turn and stick to itself, so don't rush or you'll end up in a tangled mess. The nylon tape wraps around the thread of the pipe to give a better seal. Wrap it around about 4 times and pull it taut as you wrap it around the pipe. Most importantly, ensure that you are winding the tape clockwise - that way when you screw on the shower head, you will be going with the tape, not against (which will cause it to get shredded). Then, if you are reattaching an old shower head, replace the O ring inside the connector to ensure a tight seal. I would then recommend that you pull your shower curtain across while you test the validity of the seal...unless you really like water shooting all over the bathroom. Thankfully that did not happen.
Let the showers continue!
The Chips
In my shower tub there was some rust around the drain. Not the break-out-some-CLR kind of rust, but rust that had to be covered up somehow. The worse of the chips was on the sink:
It's actually not a chip. It looks like a burn. I can only assume that someone placed a curling iron on the side of the sink and forgot about it (must have happened some time ago, because most curling irons nowadays has an auto-shut off after 60min). Now this is a challenge to cover-up, but a greater challenge with my sink being "sand" coloured, and not standard white. I had thought about replacing the bathroom suite, but I decided to just save some money and work around the issue. Thankfully, sand coloured suites are still around, and thus, you can still get porcelain repair paint for them. So I found some repair paint:
 |
| It comes in a little box and is a bugger to find in most hardware stores, so ask around before you drive yourself nuts. |
It had the consistency of nail polish and was very easy to use. Just follow the directions on the box and you'll have no problem.
Now, the only issue is that the sink turned out to be not quite the same colour as the tub. The sink has just the slightest pinkish hue to it, so the repair was not as seamless. But I think it was good enough. You don't see it unless you are looking for it, so it was a successful repair nonetheless.
 |
| added a much-needed towel ring |
Ok, so after a little bit of cleanup, and some minor retouches, it was all done. Well, mostly all done. I still need to re-whiten the grout in the shower, and possibly find a pic for the wall by the mirror (haven't found anything yet, so we'll see what pops up and I'll post it if I find something worthy).
So, here we go:
BEFORE
AFTER
So that's a little better, eh? I grabbed the bright teal hand towel while at Walmart today. Thought the place could use a little punch.
Alrighty...next project, The Solarium. Hoping to have the condo up for sale by June, so I gotta hop to it. Thankfully the weather is finally welcoming spring, and I'm feeling a little more inspired.
Love, Laugh, and make it Gorgeous!
Bloggerontherun
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