The Great Frame Up!

Even my husband is impressed.

For U Create's Create with Me project for July, Kari and readers chose the mirror frame tutorials features on Sausha's blog Show & Tell. The hall/kids/guest bathroom was my target for the month. My sister having her baby, school starting, sick kids and life all got in the way but I plugged away and got this little tiny bathroom 90% done. All that is left is a faucet, some accessories, and some trim detail. I had hoped to get it all done over one long weekend. Ha.

For those who know me well, they will not be surprised that the answer to the question "How's the kitchen coming?" is that it isn't done yet. I felt I needed to renovate a bathroom before I finished the kitchen. Cuz that's how I roll.

This bathroom has been bugging me for a while. It is pretty and tasteful and not really ugly or anything. I was so over the styling. The butter yellow and coral colors along with the honey oak was just something I was done with. Since this bathroom needs to be easy for my kids to use yet nice enough for guests, I have to work the decor to be kid friendly (there was a bug theme in here - bug hooks, bug fabric art, bugs in the plaid curtain) yet sophisticated for guests.

But it was time for a change. I saw the Create with Me project was the mirror framing and before I knew it, I had planned a total bathroom makeover.

I decided to go for something more crisp and cool. I was inspired by Sausha of Show & Tell as well as several other bathrooms, specifically, The Framed Mirror at House of Smith's. I needed a big color change and cool crisp spa blue is the exact opposite of warm Belgian waffle yellow. But I also wanted to cottage it up a bit with some beadboard paneling. And anyone who knows me knows that I keep SAYING I am going to paint my cabinets but I keep FAILING to do it. So I decided to go full out and make over the whole bathroom top to bottom. (Without removing major fixtures, cabinetry, or flooring.)

The makeover list included:
Painted cabinets
Beadboard paneling with a 7" base and a 5" cap
replace light fixture
get rid of all traces of brass or cheap basic builder chrome - door lever, faucet, TP holder, towel bars, etc.
frame mirror
remove medicine cabinet and replace with a builit-in niche
pull-outs under the sink

First, on the cabinets, I sanded the crud out of them with my palm sander.

Then I removed the chintzy trim on the sides and beefed it up a little with 1/4" by 4" boards. Not a huge change but enough to add extra dimension.

And the paint. I have read every blog and article on the web that discusses painting cabinets and I tried something completely different from what I had read. Have you seen those commercials for Behr "He is painting while he primes. She is priming while she paints?" I went for the premium primer included stuff from Home Depot. The black color is Behr Beluga. I painted 3 coats, sanding lightly between each one. I didn't remove the doors but I easily could (and probably should) have. I decided to distress them. This my husband wasn't too thrilled about but I know how my kids and their stool had already distressed them over the years so I figured I would save myself the headache and heartache and have them start distressed. I hit it several places with the sander and then used a darker tinted glaze (some watered down acrylic craft paint) over the sanded spots to darken up the distressed areas.

On the Behr primer/paint - so far, so good.

Left is distressed but not glazed. Right is glazed. Just a subtle difference. I then used a hand rubbed poly in satin.

I added some brushed nickel knobs I had left over from a craft project from years ago. New faucet in a brushed nickel with a gooseneck is being ordered soon!! The toilet paper roll holder is from Home Goods, $10. It is currently receiving mixed reviews. It is the one-sided mount style. Everyone likes that it is easy to take on and off...especially my 2 year old.

My method for the paneling was as follows:

*Have Home Depot rip down a 4x8 1/2" MDF to use as my base (7") and cap (5") piece. I was also using these pieces in my kitchen so it made sense to buy a whole sheet.

*Have Home Depot cut the 4x8 beadboard sheet in half
*Adhere the 4X4 with liquid nails and the occasional nail with nail gun. Filling nail holes on beadboard is not super fun so do it sparingly.
*Caulk and wipe and caulk and wipe and sand and paint

My whole body would be shaking after using the sander so much!!

After wiping the caulk with my finger it left the little grooves of the beadboard full of caulking. I found a wooden skewer was a great tool to clean up the grooves. This is a bit tedious. I am a details girl.

Not right.

Next, I got to work on the blue-green walls. I started with Behr "Aqua Smoke" but it was too bright. I took it back and worked with the paint tech to tweak it. "dirty it up" she said. I got home and it still wasn't right. So I did what I usually do. I got out a bucket and started dumping and four re-mixes in my kitchen later, (adding a lot of white and some green) I was quite happy.


The old light was one of these jobbers. I cannot find a real life picture.

I replaced it with this one from Lowe's. $36 for the fixture and $6 for each seed glass shade. I broke one on the way home so I had to go back and buy another one. So my $54 fixture ended up costing $60. Had I realized 100 years ago when I first hated that light how easy it was to replace, I would have done it years ago. Replacing a light is so simple. A couple of screws, twist a couple of wire nuts and voila - a new beautiful light fixture.

Underneath my cabinet looks like this. I have 3 girls. We have NO drawers.

I used the plans for kitchen pull outs from This Old House found HERE Go look at Norm Abram's tutorial - I didn't take any pictures of that process.

Still need to work out the bin situation but I love these!

Yup - built these myself. The dead space above? I am still going to be adding a fixed shelf that will be right next to the water valve. And I have a great idea for hair accessory storage mounted to the cabinet door. Coming soon!

I was really almost done and then this wall was making me nuts. I could see how everything else was looking so clean and crisp and this wall was BUSY!
Outlets! Side splash! Beadboard! Medicine Cabinet! Hair accessories!!
So I ripped it all out and started fresh.

Pulled off the side splash. That was HARD. I busted out so many tools to hack at it! That thing was on their good.

I took out the medicine cabinet and started by cutting a piece of beadboard to fill the back. Used liquid nails and free weights worked very well to hold it tight so I didn't have to use the nail gun!

Then I framed it with MDF cut to 4.25" - the depth of the new niche.

Frame with 1.75" MDF, caulk, fill, sand, and paint. I got a local quote for 2 shelves cut from 1/4" glass for the niche - and if I do shelves for my other bathroom at the same time, it will cost $43. That is $10.75 per shelf. Clips to hold the shelves will be $10-15 a pair. Steve loves the idea for our master so I am taking out our medicine cabinet too.

And finally the mirror!!

I went with Shelley's mirror style from House of Smith's and bought my mouldings at Lowe's. I bought 2 pieces of 12 ft "Victorian" baseboard moulding, 5 1/2" wide or so. I am glad I had this much as I had to re-cut one piece. Perfect miter cuts, even with a laser miter saw, take some practice. Also, lucky me, the builder used the track at the bottom, mirror clips, AND mirror mastic to hold my mirror in place! Yea me! So I could remove the mirror clips but the track at the bottom was going nowhere since the mirror was super stuck to the wall so I had to figure out how to work around it.

I decided to use my jig saw and took a little notch out of the back of the vertical pieces where it met the track.

And I trimmed about 3/8" off the bottom of the bottom horizontal piece. Then when I added the shoe moulding (almost like quarter round but not quarter round.) as the perimeter detail it would sit proud of the mirror track and cover up the missing 3/8" of the bottom piece of moulding. Basically I boxed in the track.

Then I primed and painted the chrome mirror track the same color as my wall. That way if any showed, the illusion would be of wall showing. And by the way - re-doing a bathroom is messy work.

My little helper...washing my level. Mouldings all cut and getting glued directly to mirror. This didn't work for me.

In this post Sausha said she glued her moulding directly to the mirror. I tried that. It didn't work for me. It started to slide even as I was taping the first piece to hold it stable. And my 2 year old kept taking my level and washing it for me. And it kept sliding. So I did as Shelley and Cason at House of Smith's did and I glued the pieces together in the garage but I used wood glue and let it dry overnight. Next fill the joints and sand. Then I used wood glue to attach my shoe moulding as the finished edge of the frame. I gave it three coats of my black satin paint.

These weights sure are coming in handy. And this framed mirror makes the room.

I added a small trim moulding around where the beadboard meets the countertop. It isn't much - just enough to finish it off.

So here it is again. We have had the clock in there for a year or so and we love having it in there...with three girls getting their hair done, it is nice to keep an eye on the time.

And again. These hooks are from Ikea - $4.99/2pk.

And again - looking in from the doorway.

List still yet to do:
faucet
hand towel hook - I have bought two and have still not found "the one"
glass shelves for niche
art/decor
accessories (minimal)
Shower curtain (but I have a plan in the works!)
Frame the window above the shower - windows around here rarely have casings
shoe moulding where 7" baseboard meets the tile

What will this little makeover cost in the end?

Paint: $50 Home Depot
Beadboard: $40 Home Depot
1/2" MDF 4x8 sheet cut down into 5", 7", 4 2.5" and 1.75" strips: $35 Home Depot
Light fixture: $60 ($54 if I didn't break one shade) Lowe's
Pull-Outs - heavy duty glides and lumber: $30
Glass shelves & clips: $50 Local supplier, Gilbert Glass (clips online)
Brushed Nickel TP Holder: $10 Home Goods
Brushed Nickel Door handle: $30 Lowe's (Schlage)
Cabinet knobs: $4
Caulking and Liquid Nails - I went through a couple tubes of each - maybe $10?
Assorted random stuff like new switch plate covers, small trim moulding, etc: $15
Faucet (hopefully no more than) $75

Total: $349 + a few bucks for art/decor & shower curtain/hand towel hook

We LOVE how this bathroom turned out! I can't wait to do the master bath. But my husband has asked that I finish the kitchen before I move onto another room.

He has a point!

Thanks for stopping by Tuesdays with Molly - watch for more regular posts again!! Yippie! Molly just had a baby 2 weeks ago so we will do our best!