Black Powder Room Before & After

And so the Toilet Closet odyssey comes to a close.

If you'll recall, way back in October, when the air was just starting to get crisp and I was highly motivated to start a house project, I wrote about our shameful little "bathroom" under the stairs.

The ceiling was crumbling, the walls were cracked,

the floor was perpetually dirty looking,

and perhaps the worst offense - you couldn't even close the door behind you. 

Sheesh.

I remember in one of my early planning posts I said that I believed wholeheartedly that we could get two extra feet out of this bathroom and the other day, out of curiosity, I grabbed a tape measure and what do you know, 24 inches exactly.
So, if anybody wants me to pick out their lotto numbers tonight, I'm available. 

Alright then, let's take a look at where we ended up and a few glances back at the process. 

First up, a head-on view of where the toilet used to sit.

Like I mentioned up yonder, the thing looked R-O-U-G-H, rough. But, for all its shortcomings, it was handy and we did use it. 

Now, here is the same view of where the toilet used to sit and the sink does now.

The dimension of the room in that direction didn't change. It's still the same depth there as it was before.

The vintage sink that we found at the Barn at the Farm is the perfect size for the space. I will admit that the handles are so small, it's kind of hard for people with normal, human-sized hands to turn them completely off. I usually have to use both hands to turn the cold water off after I wash my hands.

When I posted a million years ago, I revealed a little glimpse of the Rust-o-leum High Gloss, Enamel, Black paint we decided to go with.

I'll admit, when we did the window I was worried. It stood out like a sore thumb in a sea of white Sheetrock and I would be lying if I said I didn't have a lot of second thoughts.

But, after the walls were painted and the floor went in, it looked slick as a whistle. 

When we started, I had every intention of re-using our leftover tiles and grout from the upstairs bathroom but if I'm being honest, I really wished that we had done a matte finish tile upstairs and so I decided to right that down here.

We also decided on a lighter grout and I'm glad we did. It made for much less mess and it was easier to buff it off of the tile after it had set up. 

Now, if you've read carefully, you'll remember that I sort of casually mentioned that I used to get ready in that little toilet closet while we were remodeling the upstairs bathroom a couple of years ago. And I may have mentioned that I kept getting ready down there even after the upstairs bathroom was done because I couldn't get close enough to the mirror to do my makeup. Well, when we re-did the powder room I knew that I would be doing my makeup down there so it needed to have storage. I know it seems strange to go downstairs to get ready in the morning but if you have a spouse that gets ready at the same time as you every day, you'll totally understand how much easier it is to have a one-to-one bathroom to person ratio ; ) 

So, the little over-the-toilet nook was born.

It's tucked right in under the stairs and it's actually a surprising amount of storage!

I had originally thought I would put toilet paper here but as luck would have it, I found this gigantic basket at Tuesday Morning and it holds like, 12 rolls!! 

So, I got a little, deep-discount, damaged jewelry box from Tar-jay for my makeup and a couple of nice towels and candles to fill in the space.

I may do my makeup down here but I didn't see the point in putting my face-wash and nail polish and all of that stuff down here since I do all my exfoliatin' and nail paintin' (lol, I never paint my nails) at night, in the upstairs bathroom. 

The light fixture is just a cheap, porcelain one from ACE with a silver-tipped bulb that we had gotten a long time ago when we did the same thing to the upstairs bedroom lights. 

So, that's pretty much it! Like I said, I was a little uncertain at times about the color but now that it's all put together, I absolutely love it.

 I've totaled everything up and it looks like we came in just a little over $700 for the entire project - frames and towels and everything. Not bad, I'm gonna' say. Not bad at all.

Here's where (mostly) everything in the little powder room came from if you're interested: 

Wall paint: Rust-o-leum gloss black enamel 

Ceiling paint: Olympic bright white, semi-gloss

Ceiling Light: Porcelain Light Fixture

Ceiling Bulb: 1,000 Bulbs

Sink: The Barn at the Farm

Sink Tray: Vintage, already owned

Mirror: Vintage, Paramount Antique Mall

Frames: Target, Ross, TJ Maxx

Lucite Toilet Tray: Marhsall's 

Hand towels: Target

Basket: Tuesday Morning

Floor Tile: Lowe's, American Olean

Grout: Lowe's, White, Unsanded

And if you want to follow the toilet closet odyssey from the beginning, you can do so here! 

I've got another post coming up real quick about some exciting Lamphouse developments and some exciting exterior plans/projects we're working on (aka: what we've been putting off since forever).

Until then,
Keep Smiling!