O.M.G. what have I gotten myself into? The question I have repeatedly asked myself alllll weekend. Ok, so let me back up. I decided last week that it was time to revamp my bathroom. When we moved in this apartment 4 years ago, I focused on the living room, office and dining room. My bedroom is a work in progress, but I literally did as little as possible to the “master” bath and guest room. No paint, no real inspiration. And let me just say that while I jest about how ugly this bathroom is, it is wayyy ahead of the curve for rentals. I am happy they went with white and happy we actually have a tiled shower and counter top. I’ve lived in way, way worse. All this needs is a little paint and extra touches to make this feel more like a home than a temporary arrangement. So, without further ado, here is a photo of my gorgeous apartment bathroom.
The first thing you might notice is wow, the lighting is really bad. Yes it is. Only one of the lightbulbs has ever worked, and the only window is a small, skinny window above the shower (helpful). So really I probably look about 50% worse than I think I do when I leave here in the morning.
The light fixture isn’t terrible, but it has rusted and the right side is broken. I decided the light has to go! And, also that big mirror that takes up the entire wall is so typical in LA apartments.
See the one window I have?
Here is what I see when I’m standing in the bedroom. I wanted a color that would flow nicely with the Benjamin Moore Yukon Sky walls.
My first thought was to go really dark gray. In the form of wallpaper. But, then I came back down to earth and decided it wasn’t very smart to wallpaper a rental for so many obvious reasons. And, dark gray might make this already dark room even darker. Decisions, decisions!
On Friday, I had lunch with my friend Karen, who builds insanely gorgeous homes for a living. She suggested I paint my sink cabinet first (HUH!? This I had not thought of!) So, that afternoon I scampered on over to Farrow & Ball, the fancy schmancy paint store on the other side of Melrose Place and invested in some gorgeous Off Black for my sink cabinet and Pavilion Gray for the walls. If you aren’t familiar with why this paint is better than most its because its handcrafted in England one batch at a time using the finest raw materials. This means it’s eco-friendly, less smelly and has greater depth and purity often referred to as the “Farrow & Ball look.” I wanted that look!
I came home, unhinged my doors and started painting. Easy, right? Well, I worked on a neon green beach towel, so that night before bed I tried to move the doors and they were slightly stuck and thus covered in green fuzz. Awesome. On Saturday morning, I made my first run to Home Depot. I was proud that I actually remembered to take the hinges I wanted to replace in black. I bought some chrome door pulls too. When I got home, I realized I had only bought TWO hinges, so back I went to Home Depot for two more. Later that day after two coats of paint had dried, my husband decided to help out by drilling in the hinges. He gets the first door on and it was a beauty! Then, the second. Annnnd, the doors overlapped. Are you kidding me?? While we were admiring this awful turn of events, the drawer front that was being propped up by, well, nothing, crashed to the floor and chipped the corner. Oh, and I noticed that the new door pulls I bought were not the same. Not. my. day. We then made a third trip to Home Depot to get new hinges (though we had to go with chrome) and the correct drawer pull.
It was a comedy of errors painting this cabinet, but don’t you think it was worth it? It was a realtively easy change and way less than a new sink/cabinet combo (thanks, Karen!).
Next up is the walls. The painter (I’m no dummy) comes on Tuesday, so stay tuned for the progress!
Click here to see the end result of our apartment bathroom makeover!
This is an awesome project! Keep us updated so I can totally copy you when Mike and I end up moving (which is probably still a couple of years off) 🙂
I see you inherited my DIY skills, i.e. it always takes 3 times as long as you thought and costs twice as much (making up for the mistakes), but OH! the satisfaction. Dad