Small Scale Renovations

We finished up the bathroom remodel yesterday and are thrilled with the results. I love "do-it-yourself" projects. Always have. This house was a giant do-it-yourself project when we moved in nearly eight years ago and there is hardly a room in the house that hasn't been touched in some way or anther. All except this little bathroom off of Wesley's room. I'm happy the former owners kept the decorating neutral when they built it back in the mid 80's. It sure made living in it manageable while we slowly remodeled rooms.

The whole project started when I was wandering around Menard's and stumbled upon some nifty tile that floats and snaps together. It's appropriately called SnapStone and it was the answer I was looking for. Our house is the incredible forever shifting house and I refused to ever put tile down again in fear that it would crack and shift like every other tile in the house. Until I found a floating tile floor. It was a bit more expensive (about $25 for 5 square feet) but it eliminated the need for mortar and underlayment and get this, I could lay it over the existing linoleum (it makes it better for the environment with out the old flooring in a landfill or so it says on the box). I am all for not ripping out the old nasty floor. So five boxes later and a super handy husband that layed it for me, we have a nice new tile floor in the bathroom.

I've gotta tell you though, what I was most excited about was transforming that ugly, worn out sink vanity. I ran across a woman that paints furniture with a chalk paint (not to be confused with chalk board paint). You take two parts paint and one part plaster of paris (bought a little jug at Michaels for $5). This can be any paint, satin or flat or whatever. I used a little sample quart in the color Bark...kind of a deep brownish gray (sample quarts are $5). Mix it up and slather it on. It goes on so smooth, like butter. This chalk paint eliminates the need for presanding or stripping the old cabinet. You just wipe it down (to get off all the toothpaste junk), tape it off and go to town. Then when it's dry you take a furniture wax, I used Minwax Paste Finishing Wax (found it at Lowes for $10), and wipe it on. Let it dry and wipe it off. That takes the chalk feel off and leaves you with a silky smooth, slightly shiny cabinet. Here is a video if you want to see how to wax furniture. I love it! My mind is racing with all the things I want to paint in this house. I painted the wood medicine cabinet as well so they match.

I picked up a gallon of Valspar Matt paint in a rich brownish gray to go on the walls. Valspar is the only company that seems to sell a washable matte paint that I can find. We painted our whole house with a washable matte paint from Benjamin Moore but they don't seem to sell it anymore (plus they are an hour away and a gallon costs $40). For some reason I can't stand semi-gloss or even satin paint. I'm a flat paint kinda gal. Flat paint in a bathroom is not a good idea so this seems like a good option. We'll see how it holds up to the humidity. Time to move on to the main floor bath this week. A bathroom a week, not bad!