As many of you are aware, I have been renovating our half bathroom for the last month, and thanks to your patience, I now get the pleasure to reveal her in all her glory, and walk you through some of the process so you could do it too!
First lets really sit and appreciate that we sat with this bathroom for 4 years. This color in a small space always felt very loud to me, but especially now that we are done, I am shocked it took me this long.
I put together a mood board of sorts first. I think the best thing you can do when you are renovating a space is to plan it out. Think through all the details and put them together in one picture (i created mine just in my instagram stories, but something like canva would be a great tool for that too) so you can be sure it’s all going to be cohesive.
One of the first pieces I knew I wanted was my mirror and my light. I wasn’t sure 100% how they would mesh together, but I knew I loved them both and needed them! The mirror is from Target, and the light is from Home Depot!
I then figured out how much wallpaper and boards I would need for my board batten. I knew I wanted it to be about 1/3 wallpaper, and 2/3 board batten, or maybe a little less. I went with the 48″ long Peony print wallpaper from Rocky Mountain Decals. It was relatively easy to put up, and I love that it is adjustable. Tip: start in a corner and work around, and guess for more than you need. I did not, and I had to get some more along the way, which they were so good to send out, but you know how that’s a total project buzz kill to have to stop when the energy is there. Highly recommend them. They made the process so much easier. Plus they have tons of super cute prints.
For the board batten, I got 2 sheets of 8’x48″ sheets of 1/2″ mdf from home depot. I cut them into 3″ slats the the vertical pieces, and 5″ slats for the headers and baseboards. I figured with the placement of my outlets, toilet paper holder, and towel ring, most of the slats would be about 12″ apart, and that worked out great. There are a few areas where I had to fudge the numbers a bit, but I bet you’d never guess where that was.
Pro tip for board batten: every tutorial I watched showed you painting after you install. I almost did the same, but thankfully I have a friend that’s done this before and she recommended doing the priming, and your first coat FIRST. I really think this helped a ton. When it’s installed, it is soooo much harder to paint. Do it first. Trust me, and thank me later.
My main objective for the vanity was that I wanted it to touch the ground, and go from wall to wall. I have grown so tired of cleaning under and the sides of our old one, and my kids sticking things under the vanity, I knew I wanted a different design this go around. So, I don’t think I win any budget points on my vanity because I saw many others that were so cute, and cheaper, but I knew I wanted coverage, and this is the only one that I felt like worked.
I also fell in love with this one when I saw it had a functioning drawer. I am beyond excited to keep extra toothbrushes in here tucked away for those mornings when I know it didn’t happen before the kids came down.
The countertop, I wanted something more primitive. I love the look of dressers as vanities, but with the other must haves on my list, it just wasn’t working. So I figured the next best way to pull in that element was through the countertop. I got my butcher block from home depot.
I treated it with some butcher block conditioner, and then sealed it with polyurathane for protection. Butcher block requires some extra care and attention, but I was 100% okay with it. Ask me again in a few months and my answer may be different, but for now, i am obsessed.
Now the installation of the countertop was very tricky. Technically my walls span 38″, so I had the 36″ cabinet, plus I made 2 1″ strips to place on the sides to make it look built in, but when we cut the top to 38″, it wasn’t fitting. I could tell that it would fit in some sections, but not in others. Turns out, walls rarely are perfectly square. So, I ran through many different ideas of how to make this work, and landed on cutting sheet rock so I could slide the counter top in, and make it look super seamless. This was such a nerve racking part, but I am proud to say that I DID IT!!!
I took a scrap from my butcher block and used that as a stencil of what to cut out, and it ended up working perfectly! Just needed to sand off some rough pieces, caulk and then do the final coat of paint! Boom!!
Then I went ahead and started the sink/faucet process. I had to measure out how much space the faucet, then slid the sink up a bit more, so it’s not perfectly centered front to back. For this, I drilled a 2.5″ hole for the sink, and a 1 3/8″ hole for the faucet! The sink and faucet I got are from Kraus usa!
This was my first time ever installing something like this, so I hit a few snags, like needing an extender, and some plumbing putty. But after some trial and error, I totally figured it out guys!! This was a big moment for me!
After installing all that, we caulked and painted everything one last time.
Then it was time for the final pretty touches… the new toilet paper holder and towel ring! I loved these ones from amazon!
I had a blast seeing this come together! If you have any questions, drop them below! And be sure to check out my highlight bubble on instagram for a ton more video content on how I did it all!
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