Bathing Beauties: The Almost-Final Master Bathroom Semi-Makeover

The Almost-Final Master Bathroom Semi-Makeover

This past weekend, we set to work finalizing the decor in our master bath. It’s about damned time.

One annoying aspect of this crazy renovation of ours is that rooms and things get, maybe, 88% completed, and then we are so exhausted that we take a break and excuse ourselves with the proverbial “It’s finished enough”. ‘Finished enough’ is pretty much the theme of our entire renovation. ‘Finished enough’ means it is functional, clean, and what’s left can suck it because we’re tired and broke. So, sometimes, all the poor little details sit in limbo indefinitely.

Another unpleasant side-effect of this sort of renovation is what I like to refer to as Project ADHD. There are so many damned projects that need our/my attention that I find it nearly impossible to focus on just one at a time. Sometimes the list is so long, and so overwhelming that all I can do is go take a nap and not do any of it. I’m pretty efficient like that.

Mark my words…NO MORE. I am a woman on a mission now: MUST FINISH. Getting over this hump is a pretty straightforward process, really. Pick ONE damned room at a time, and finish that beast from head to toe. Simple, right? Right. So with this newly adopted life philosophy, we chose the master bathroom to start our finishing. Let’s revisit, for a moment, what this particular ray of sunshine looked like when we began the renovation:

Ah, yes.

Obviously, there has been some skillful rearranging and upgrading of certain (all) fixtures thanks in no small part to our contractor, Mike. I am, however, for the sake of this post, going to glaze over all of that, as it is all a blur to me anyways, thanks in no small part to the massive wine consumption that was taking place during that part of the renovation. After the actual building part of it was done, we slapped some paint on the walls and were just thankful to have an actual functioning bathroom instead of a toilet surrounded by studs and insulation. It’s the little things in life.

During. This is how the master bath has looked for the last few years. Not bad.

Looking at the above photo, some might think that the bathroom looks fine–great even. But the photo doesn’t show the nitty-gritty. It doesn’t show all the unfilled nail holes, all the caulkless seams, all the missing trim. It doesn’t show the grout splattered across the ceiling from the tile installation. It doesn’t show the ‘holidays’ in the dark brown paint where I was too lazy and un-in-love with the paint color to do a second coat. It doesn’t show the unpainted door, and it certainly doesn’t show the missing clawfoot tub and the plumbing sticking out of the wall in wait of said tub. Ah, the beauty of photography.

So, needless to say, the above list of items definitely required our attention. Color is always a major priority for me, and ever since I had put that dark brown color on the walls, I knew two things: first, I loved the dark paint, second, this particular dark brown completely clashed with the slate floor tiles and needed to be banished. I knew I needed to go with a dark, dark slate grey (dare I say light black?). So that much was a given.

That moment when you pour the paint into the tray and panic about how dark it is. But I ain’t scurred.

Jonathon was put to work on his arch-nemesis: crown molding. There is really nothing that he hates more in life than crown molding. But for some reason, this room went seamlessly, with minimal swearing, no do-over cuts, and no wasted material. A minor miracle. And that’s a good thing, because he’s got four more rooms left to do after this one.

Jonathon’s weapon of choice. I am really pretty surprised that this thing hasn’t ever been turned on me.

With the wall color and trim done, it was time for choosing accent colors. Usually, I tend to go with red or orange or reddish-orange accessories (see the striped rug in the ‘during’ photo above) because I just love them, but I had a little moment of accent color envy. My sister-in-law is decorating their new baby’s nursery in the loveliest grey and yellow scheme, and I suddenly found myself wanting some more yellow in my life. She’s going with light greys and pastel yellows, and since I had already decided on this darkest grey, I figured I should go with a super-saturated yellow and not fully rip her design ideas.

I realize that this color combo is pretty modern. This kind of conflicts with my whole farmhouse design philosophy. But I don’t care. I love it. There’s a lot of vintage mixed into the details and accessories, so it squeaks by, in my opinion.