Powder Room Progress

On Thursday night, Denny looked at me and said, "Dear sweet wife, I know how much you love a project, and I truly do too, but please let's not make this project last weeks upon weeks."

Just kidding. 

It was more like, "Woman, I am tired of not having any lights in that tiny room and only having one coat of paint on the walls (GAHHH PURPLE), so please do something about that pronto. Kthnx."

Really, it was nothing like that either, but definitely more of the latter than the former.

Because making over the powder room RIGHTTHISMINUTE was my idea, I was the one to take charge on it. So I started painting and then did nothing for a week and half because, duh, the beach.

It's the story of my life this summer.

Anyway, I spent the better part of Saturday installing a new light fixture and painting the second coat of Olympic's Morning Fog in the powder room. And because I liked the color so much, I painted the mudroom too.

The best part is that in the mudroom, the green tones in the paint come out way more. It's like I painted two different colors, except it came from the same gallon. And I win.

Anyway, back to the powder room.

You can check out my powder room inspiration board here if you want to see the powder room in all it's purple glory.

I was really jonesing for some wood-look tiles on the floor, but the budget and time dictates that it was not meant to be just yet. I was desperate to get a dark wood tone in the powder room to balance out the cool paint color and super shiny chrome fixtures that will be installed, so I jumped on the "shelves over the toilet" train that I've been seeing throughout the blogosphere. I wanted a dark and reclaimed look.

Hi Sugarplum!'s tutorial seemed to be the best for my skill level and situation, so off I went to Home Depot and grabbed my supplies after measuring the wall:

• 2 - 1x10 pine boards, cut to 29 1/4"
• Square dowel (I grabbed the whole piece because I was rushing, and due to a happy accident I had juuuuust enough. We cut them down to match the width of the boards once I got home.)
• Minwax Oil-Based Dark Walnut Wood Finish Interior Stain (I bought the smallest bottle, which I think was 8 oz., and only used half for two shelves...a little will go a long way.)
• Screws (had these at home)
• Foam brush (had this at home)

I threw out my receipt, but I'm guessing this project costed me $15.00 max.

I started by beating the ever-loving crap out of my boards. We used a hammer, some screws, a mallet, and I'm pretty sure my garden shears came into play at some point. Things took an interesting turn when we brought some rocks into the situation. Denny (bless his little husband heart) said, while I was distressing the first board, "Why don't you put the rocks under the board and them hammer the board?" So I (bless my little heart), took the second board and said, "Okay!"

And that, my friends, is how you wind up with a split board.

Which Peyton kindly took care of for me. By the way, everything in our house is now 14 inches according to the mini Bob Vila.

But by a happy accident, when I took apart the split board, I thought to myself, "Self, this will work. You wanted a reclaimed wood look, so this is your chance. And now you have TWO pieces to work with."

So I sanded down both parts of board #2 to get rid of any splinters, and got to staining:

Brush it (blurrily) onto your boards, wipe it off, let it dry.

We only used one coat of stain on the boards and the dowel pieces.

After dinner, it was time to hang these bad boys.

We measured where we'd want each shelf situated on the wall and mounted our braces for the first shelf with two screws in each piece.

I promise you all three walls are the same color.

And then placed the first board.

The first board was the one that got away unscathed from the "rock incident", but the second one is definitely a little more rustic looking:

Helloooooooooo.

You can see the top shelf's front lip is definitely a bit wavy, thanks to breaking apart the wood right along the split the rocks created. A happy accident indeed.

The second half of the happy accident that was board #2 turned into this:

Tutorial coming up in the next post, because this is longggg enough. (Heyo! Tutorial can be found here.)

Hope everyone had a happy weekend!

PS: On a toddler-related note, Peyton has escaped her crib twice in the last week. I'm thinking it's time to transition the crib into a toddler bed, but does anyone have any advice on keeping a toddler IN a bed? Both scenarios--Peyton being able to hop out of bed and run around on her own vs. her getting hurt trying to Houdini her way out of the crib--are giving me anxiety.

Linking up with:
So Much Better With Age, Rain on a Tin Roof, Dimples and Pigtales, Commona-My House, Maison de Pax, DIY Show Off, Coastal Charm, Cozy Little House, A Stroll Thru Life, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Home Stories A to Z, The Style Sisters, The Farmhouse Porch, Savvy Southern Style, Ella Claire, SNAP!, Ashley's Dandelion Wishes, DIY by Design, The Everyday Home, The Shady Porch, The Winthrop Chronicles, The Well Crafted Home, Sugar and Dots, The Blissful Bee, The Happy Housie, The Brambleberry Cottage, 52 Mantels, The Shabby Creek Cottage, House of Hepworths, Embracing Change, French Country Cottage, Jennifer Rizzo, Beneath My Heart