American Foursquare Remodel 11 - Main Bath

The main bathroom on the second floor has brownish-tan tile on the lower half and floor, and had pale pink painted wallpaper above. The shower is beautiful, with the surround tiled in matching style, and sliding glass doors (which could use a little rehab). In their later years, my parents put safety handles on two walls of the shower. I think the tub, toilet, and sink were supposed to be beige, but they look pale pink against the tile. The large vanity has a non-descript white laminate top, but two sets of nice deep drawers and a double-door cabinet between. There is also a deep, narrow linen closet in the room. All that adds up to adequate storage.

I don't care for the medicine cabinet and really dislike the light fixture above (it's terrible for applying make-up!), but I don't hate them enough to change them just yet.

 

  

  

 

At first, I was going to simply repaint the walls - to get rid of the pale pink, and just to get the room moved over to the "Done" list. I matched a dramatic dark brown Sherwin Williams paint to the color in the tile decoration. (Yes, in case you haven't already noticed: for better or worse, the entire house is moving from light colored neutrals to dramatic deep-base hues.) Before painting, I tried to fix the couple of small areas where the painted wallpaper was loose. When I did, I found the paper underneath was not well adhered; it came off the wall in one large sheet. The entire room was stripped in minutes! (Photos were taken on November 11, right after painted wallpaper was removed.)

That left me with a new dilemma. I had already bought the paint, but had not considered wallpaper at this point. However, removing residual paste would be a messy, stinky job of vinegar and hot water. I prefer wallpaper anyway. Plus, I already had the border I intended to apply, purchased 4 years ago to match the entire ensemble I bought at Kohl's when I moved into my Victorian apartment. (Now I'm glad I never got around to applying it to the apartment's bathroom!)

So, the search was on to find wallpaper to match the border as well as the tile...

My first stop was browsing online. Then - because color matching is essential - find someone locally who had the book. Have I mentioned that all my wallpaper choices to date happened to be from books that were discontinued?  Yeah, I thought so. Sherwin Williams in Attleboro had the book in the store, but I was warned the patterns could be unavailable when I took the book home...

Of course, I found the perfect match in that book. Not just the main colors, but the background of the wallpaper has that same multi-shade "diffuse clouds" look and color of the tiles. I had to have this paper, and convinced the distributors to sell me what they had.

When I measure for wallpaper, I measure wall height and width, and barely pay attention to doors, windows, and other subtractions. That ensures I always have enough paper - and often a roll left over - even if the pattern has a drop-match (which can wreak havoc on accurate calculations!) Limited stock meant I had to be far more accurate with the measurements - including account for the border - and had to prepare for little if any left-overs. No room for mistakes. I made it by the skin of my pasting brush.

The room still needs window treatments and I have some wall decor, but it's functional... and picture-ready. :)

 

  

  

  

 

More pictures are here in an update.