Makeover Monday – Upstairs Bathroom Gets a Little Bling

I am excited to share our upstairs bath with you.  I don’t know what it is but I seem to have this need to live in our bathrooms I like them so much.  What’s that? That’s normal? Great, moving on!

Our upstairs bath wasn’t all that bad when we initially walked through the house, I mean the tribal face masks had to go but seeing as we were buying a house and not everything the crazy decorator previous owner had in it, I figured we were safe.  The bathroom was basically brand new with tiles halfway up the entire room, a ceramic floor and a pale blue on the walls, I figured a little paint and we would be up and running.  The only problem was we had registered for grey towels, charcoal and light grey towels, and since my green bathroom vision was already in full Pinterest swing {damn you Pinterest for furthering my OCD} the grey towels were going to have to go up here.  What is the problem with that you are wondering? The problem with that is that the floors and the tiny little mosaic accent tile in this bathroom are a lovely neutral shade of sandy brown, which basically has the bathroom looking like a muddy dirty mess once my grey towels are up against it.

{the before – recognize that mirror and light fixture}

{before – theres the little mosaic tile that put my grey towels to shame}

{before}

Oh I wanted a grey bathroom so badly but since I turned my whole entire house a shade of greige, my master bedroom into a serious grey cave and was going for a grey couch for the living room, I figured parting with my grey bathroom would be ok, plus it would make things a little less well, grey up in here.  I decided I would keep the bathroom a shade of blue {“then don’t paint” says my loving and paint adverse husband} but just not the current shade of blue it was sporting.  After multiple one impulsive trip to Benjamin Moore {hey I work best under pressure} I had selected the colour.

Can I do a Benjamin Moore paint sidebar here?  Of course I can, it’s my blog and you can skip this if you like, but has anyone else painted with Benjamin Moore?  This company may be entirely to blame for heart attacks in women (this is quite obviously not the case, Benjamin Moore I love you, never change).  You are probably wondering what I am talking about, well I say this because, when you pick your colour at the store you have your little paint chip and then when you get home and open up your can, the colour staring you back looks nothing like the paint chip (and you cry a little for making such an expensive impulsive decision) but you roll it up on the wall anyways.  Now that it is on the wall not only does it not look anything like the colour of the paint chip but it also looks nothing like the colour of the paint in the can (and you cry for real because what have you done) and then you decide to just do one wall and walk away until it dries (because you are basically hysterical and you know that your husband is going to tell you that you shouldn’t have run out and bought paint about 20 minutes after you got the keys) BUT and this is a very big important BUT (think Kim Kardashian here… wait what?!) you walk back into the room, and the paint has dried and you are holding your little paint chip that you have been crying to for the last hour or so and by some miracle IT’S THE SAME!!!!!!!!!! The paint, now dry on your wall MATCHES the paint chip in your hand and you do your ever so sexy happy dance to the paint Gods at Benjamin Moore. 

I know you are probably thinking this is all too dramatic but I am not even kidding, 4 paint colours later I FINALLY realized that this exact scenario that I outlined above was going to go down every time I painted and that I just had to keep calm and carry on!

If you read my Benjamin Moore sidebar, that is exactly what went down when I began painting the bathroom Wedgewood Grey.  It looked like a grey muddy mess and I cried a little and panicked a lot because I was looking at my bathroom turning into the grey muddy mess I was trying to stay away from. But, as is ALWAYS the case, and I can make a definitive statement like that now being a Benjamin Moore paint expert and all (yea right!), it dried to perfectly match the paint chip I so impulsively diligently selected.

We actually did this bathroom before the downstairs bathroom but since I had a fairly good idea of what the downstairs bathroom was going to look like I knew I wanted this one to be different.  I fell in love with the Debbie Travis line of light fixtures from Canadian Tire and after several trips for other things I decided I was getting them.  The flush mount was going to go where the plain old dome light had previously resided and its sister the sconce was going to go above the mirror where the light that was transplanted to the downstairs bathroom hung out.  I don’t know if these have gone up in price, I didn’t think we even paid that much but either way it was/is a great deal for the style I wanted.  They give the look and feel I wanted for the bathroom without the price tag you may normally see associated with something similar.

{the sconce up close and personal}

{Sconce all lit up and looking sparkly}

{flush mount}

 

{flush mount looking lovely}

{fancy little flush mount all lit up}

Once the lights were home and installed I was really starting to love the vibe of the bathroom, I picked up the “diamond” shower curtain bar while on a shopping trip to Buffalo, NY for $19 at Tuesday Morning and the rhinestone shower curtain rings at HomeSense for $12.99.  I was originally looking for a chevron shower curtain but ended up opting for a plain white one on clearance at HomeSense for less than $15!

{the bling shower curtain tension rod}

{bling shower curtain rings}

That amazing cousin I mentioned in the Grey Bedroom Makeover came up to surprise me with one of my great aunts and check out the house {when it was in a complete state of chaos and the green and yellow kitchen was still in full effect} and brought me the most amazing house warming gift.  She’s got a pretty good memory that Cousin Cathy and knew I was all about chevron.  She managed to find the most amazing chevron umbrella holder and ordered me a blue and white chevron bathmat!  Originally I thought the umbrella holder would go by the front door and of course the bath mat in the bathroom but when I saw the chevron bathmat in the blingy bathroom I realized the umbrella stand was not going to be an umbrella stand anymore and turned into the most beautiful toilet paper holder I have ever seen!  I was so thrilled with Cathy’s finds and I still walk into my bathroom and smile because I have yet to see a chevron bath mat in my travels and well lets be honest, she couldn’t have matched the colours to my bathroom any better if she had tried!

{chevron bath mat and umbrella holder turned toilet paper holder}

{up close and personal with this beauty}

{they were made to be together don’t you think?}

I knew I wanted apothecary jars to hold my q-tips and cotton pads and ended up finding these perfect ones at, you guessed it, HomeSense, for something like $6 and $8 each.

{apothecary jars}

 {bathroom counter}

I also picked up my blinged out toothbrush holder there, (much to Patrick’s dismay) it was a little more of a splurge item at $12.99.

{more sparkle from the toothbrush holder}

And I recently picked up this coordinating blinged out box to hod our contact cases and all the other little things that seem to always be left on the counter without a home.

{blinged out box – $12.99 HomeSense}

I really wanted one of those mirrors with the mirrored frame, I have a weird love for all things mirrored (and shiny) and we had seen them at HomeSense for forever but Patrick and I agreed we would wait until we were in the house to buy anything like that, well of course when I go to get THE mirror of my dreams THEY’RE GONE! We even travelled to Toronto to visit my parents and Patrick totally accommodated my crazy by stopping at 6 HomeSense locations with zero luck.

We ended up finding one at Bouclair (for a pretty penny) out of town but when we brought it home it was obvious my measurements were a little off and it had to go back.  Of course our Bouclair store here didn’t have the size down but I took it as a sign it wasn’t meant to be and headed over to HomeSense to see what they had and ended up finding this silver number for only $29.99.  I could not pass it up for that price, it was less than a third of what we paid for the mirrored mirror and I actually am happy with our decision.  I think it grounds the vanity area better and ties the silver in, plus I loved saving $70!

{silver mirror}

I changed out the plain silver knobs on the white vanity for these, you guessed it, blingy ones I picked up at Home Depot.  I think it is a subtle change but really helps tie everything together.

{look at that sparkle}

 {and they even look great with chevron}

Once the bathroom was painted we exchanged our grey towels for white bath towels and bluish hand towels that almost match the walls perfectly.  I think it is fair to say on this project everything was coming up Tori!

{the towels in action – love a clean white towel}

The finished product is one I am quite pleased with.  The light fixtures at the perfect amount of bling and coupled with the vanity accessories it all just works.  The neutral towels and shower curtain make it feel clean and spa like and the chevron bathmat and vase turned TP holder add the perfect amount of whimsy.

What do you think of our bathroom makeover?