“It’s not easy being green” bathroom makeover

If you’re a regular DesignTies reader, you’ve heard me complain more than once that our whole house was painted pink and green when we moved in. Seriously, WHY would anyone paint a whole house pink and green?! And to top it all off, there was one all-pink bathroom and one all-green bathroom. UGH.

Hubby absolutely refuses to rip out the tiles from the bathrooms, so I have to work with what’s there. Although if I was smart, I would do what my aunt’s friend did when her hubby said NO to a bathroom reno — she pulled out her trusty sledgehammer and took matters into her own hands!!

See?? The master bathroom — all green. The marble tiles on the floor and the tub surround, the green marble countertop with sinks, the green walls, the green blinds…

I hate this shower so much. I’ve been nagging hubby to replace it, but it’s been 9 years and it still hasn’t happened. Grrrrrr!!!

 

The first thing that we replaced was the ugly Hollywood light fixture. But there was still so much to do, where to start?! Well, as usual, we did things backwards and started with a new paint colour. I think hubby was fed up with hearing me complain about the ugly green bathroom, because one day he went out to Home Depot, picked up a gallon of paint, and painted the room. I don’t have a pic of the wall colour, but I didn’t have the heart to tell him that it was kinda icky. It was a sort of fluorescent pastel lilac (Behr Silent Ripple).

Thank god hubby didn’t like the colour either — a couple of days later, he went back to Home Depot and picked up another gallon of paint (Behr Sparrow).

Ah, MUCH better!!

We took down the big builders mirror, and made two smaller mirrors from it. And in case you’re wondering, no, the light fixture isn’t properly centered on the vanity. I think the electrician was drunk when he worked on our house.

Next, I wanted to change the white vanity. I had about half a gallon of Farrow & Ball Mahogany left from another project, and decided that would be the new vanity colour. I removed the doors and drawers, primed them, painted them, and sprayed them with a matte varathane. Much better than the white, but that green countertop had to go!!

We decided on Corian in Silver Birch. The entire ordering & installation process through Home Depot was a breeze, and the countertop went in earlier than scheduled. As you can see, there was a bit of damage to the wall when hubby pulled out the old countertop. Luckily, it was an easy fix.

What do you think of the faucets?? We bought them off Ebay for $30 each :-) And I love the new rectangular sinks.

Next, the new backsplash went in. We bought sheets of 1” x 2” charcoal grey glass subway tiles from Home Depot. We decided to create our own pattern, incorporating some cool pebble & resin tiles we’d seen at a home show. This is what we came up with:

A quick peek over at the side of the bathroom opposite the vanity. It’s pretty boring — just the linen closet, toilet, and bidet. (Yes, even the garbage cans left behind by the previous owners were green!!)

I have no idea what to do with the bidet. Although it’s a great attraction at parties — ever played “how high can the bidet water go”?? ;-)

It also makes a great doggie water fountain ;-)

A mini chandelier, new white 2” wood blinds, and some artwork from Home Depot, a few accessories, and the bathroom was done. Here’s the before one more time…

And the after… still a lot of green, but the grey helps tone it down a lot.

Not my dream bathroom and definitely not fancy, but a definite improvement!! It’s certainly not at impressive as V’s bathroom makeovers here and here, but I wasn’t allowed to tear out everything down to the studs and start from scratch ;-)

It’s Metamorphosis Monday over at Between Naps on the Porch… be sure to stop by and check out this week’s makeovers.