Well, we are currently quarantined and I need projects to keep my mind from going dark so I decided to spruce up our downstairs bathroom. This is the only bathroom that guests use, and it is also my 15 year old son's bathroom. It's always just looked a bit grungy, no matter how much we clean it.
The walls were a browny purple, which I didn't even know existed. It had one of those old sliding clouded doors, that had mildew all the way around the metal that I couldn't get to. The first step was to get the shower door off.
I cannot tell a lie, this is the only part I had Mat help with.
The bathroom also had all the chrome (why is everything chrome!? Thx Tik TOk)
I gave myself a budget of $125 and figured out everything I could do with that budget.
My number one goal was to paint the walls. I figured I could do with just a quart of primer and a quart of paint, because the bathroom is so small. I also needed a quart of white paint for the wooden lower half of the wall. (I'm sure there's a word for it, but I don't think it's shiplap)
I removed all of the fixtures first, Some of them had screws/anchors that couldn't be removed, so I just added extra spackle (here) ($3) on top of those, and then blended it in to the rest of the wall and then sanded them down with 120 grit with my hand sander. Some of the anchors still shown through the spackle, so I added additional layers until they blended in with the wall. I bought a huge pack of different grit sandpaper for my hand sander, because I needed multiple grits and they were about $7 a pack for each grit from Lowes. This is what I ended up getting and it worked for all my sanding needs and was super cheap! ($16)
I had originally wanted to also paint the countertops, and possibly the shower, but the kit needed to do so was $70 and had such mixed reviews that I was leery of it. Also, I realized I could get an entire new vanity with a new countertop for around $100, so it didn't seem worth the effort.
After I taped everything off using painters tape, I painted the bottom part of the wall and the vanity with the primer (here)($10) , let it dry for almost an hour, then painted it with a quart of valspar professional interior pure white in eggshell that I got from Lowes (here) $14 ( I did an online pick up order). I wanted most of the bathroom to not be shiny, but I thought if the walls were matte and the floors were matte, a little sheen on the half wall and vanity would be a nice contrast. I didn't get a good before pic, but the lower part of the wall and the vanity were a really yellowy cream color before.
I then primed the upper wall with one coat of the same primer, followed by 2 coats of the same Valspar Ultra but this time with a flat sheen and the color Salamander (Benjamin Moore 2050-10). I barely had enough to scrape by, so you might want to err on the side of caution and get a gallon. My bathroom is super tiny, but the walls go pretty high.
While coats were drying, I worked on the fixtures that I could remove.
I didn't get any before pics of the towel hanger, light switch plate, or toilet paper holder, but just imagine chromeness galore.
I first sanded all of them by hand (they were too small and weird to use my hand sander) using 60 grit and then 120 grit.
Then I chose a place outside that was protected by the wind, used a mask and gloves, and sprayed them with an automobile primer (here) $4, let them dry and flipped them over and did another coat of the primer. This is a gray primer since I was planning on painting them a dark brownish color- if you're going lighter, you might want to use a white primer.
I gave them a few hours to dry outside (I placed them in a box so they wouldn't get leaves, etc blown on them) and then got to work spraying them with this AMAZING spray paint. I cannot tell you enough how much I love this. It has so many tiny specks of metallic in it that it truly looks like it was never painted. It's so perfect. ($5) - You want to stay back by about 10-12 inches to make sure you have a nice smooth spray and no drippage. It's worth it to have to do a few layers if you must. I only had to do one layer, then flipped over and did one more layer. They're beautiful!
This was the end of day 1- I wanted to make sure everything was nice and dry before I started on the floor.
Day 2, I had Mat put all the fixtures back on and hang up my shelves. (He is picky about how things are hung, so I had to let him have his moment).
I then taped off and did a major drop cloth taping job on the light fixture and the faucet to prepare them for the same treatment the removable fixtures got on day 1.
I started by taping all around the fixtures with just painters tape, then made myself a little tent around each one. I knew from reading all these self help blogs that the spray will go everywhere no matter how hard you try to contain it, and with my bathroom being tiny I didn't want to risk ruining anything I had just worked so hard on.
Fixtures before:
After once again taping, sanding, priming, and spraying.
After:
It doesn't even look like they were sprayed! I am obsessed with them. *Don't use the water for a few days so you know it's 100% cured, I even spray painted the drain so I wanted to be super careful of this*
My original plan was to do something cute with the existing mirror but I just could not make it work. I didn't like the fixtures of how it stuck out and I tried different ways to frame it but just couldn't make it cute. I eventually caved and bought an oval mirror from Target which was my biggest splurge and took me over budget: $49
I also removed the cloudy glass bulb shades and just used pretty Edison light bulbs that I got on Amazon $15 (I called them Einstein light bulbs for 3 days before my friends lovingly corrected me without making fun of me)
Okay- at the end of Day 2, I was finally ready to prime the floor. I did the floor very last because I knew that once it was done, it would have to dry for about a week to be fully cured and usable and I didn't want any sawdust or paint spray residue on the floor after I started. So I fully scrubbed the bathroom before I started on the floor. I bleached and cleaned and scrubbed the shower, the toilet, the sink, etc.
Then I got to work on the floor. I first swept it, then vaccumed it at max suction (my vaccuum has this option, but it only has enough battery life for like 6 minutes so I use it sparingly) then mopped it with a mild cleanser.
I then sanded the absolute shit out of it. Mat was worried about the dust getting into the air, so he hung a sheet over the door (we had removed the door while I working on it), and I wore a mask. I also had the catcher thing on my hand sander so I could hopefully limit what was flying into the air.
I used 60 grit for all tiles where there was nasty stuff built up, then 80 grit. Then I did the entire floor harshly (like, I went to town for a while) with a 150 grit, and then finished with a light and quick 220 grit.
Then I swept, vacuumed, and mopped and again.
Once it was dry, I used this stuff $7. I really don't know what it's for or what it does, but everywhere I looked recommended using it or something like it before painting floors.
Once it was dry, I primed the floor using a good primer. I did research on what primer would help paint stick to a typically smooth and difficult to paint surface and this $15 is the one that kept coming up. It was more expensive than the rest, but I figured when reading reviews it was worth it. I rolled it on with a 4 inch foam roller. This was important since a lot of blogs said to avoid the nap rollers because of the now gritty floor and the type of paint we were using. I only used foam rollers for the floor.
That was the end of Day 2- since it was a Sunday, I knew I wouldn't have a chance to work on it until the following weekend so I set up a fan to get rid of the fumes and to make sure it was super dry!
Over the week, I started to look at the primed floor and thought that maybe I should just paint it white and forget about the stenciled floor. It looked so good already, even with just the primer. But my friends talked me into sticking with my original vision and because I'm stuck in this house anyway, I decided to go with it.
On Day 3, which was a Friday night, I swept and vacuumed the floors once again, and then used a wet cloth to make sure I didn't miss anything. Once it was dry, I applied the first coat of white paint, using a paint brush for the grout lines and then rolling it out over the tiles with my 4 inch foam roller. I used Valspar Porch Floor and Patio paint in white $19. It smelled like straight up gasoline, so I used a mask and had the windows open and fan blowing nearby.
My strategy was to kneel in the shower and do half the floor, then hop over the painted part and land outside of the bathroom and then do the other half.
I was nervous about this paint, some blogs said to let it dry for 24 hours, which would have killed my Day 4 and my goal to finish the bathroom this weekend, but some said it was fine to paint another coat after an hour and just not to walk on it for 24 hours. I chose to wait 3-4 hours and went ahead and did another coat.
It wasn't fine. I am not sure if I did it too thick in parts or what, but some of the paint from the first coat moved into wrinkles when I put over the second coat. I was real sad. I finished the second coat with about 3-4 places that had the deep wrinkles and decided I would let it dry overnight and then sand out the wrinkles the next day. I also accidentally stepped on it and had a nice dirty brown footprint and imprint in the still wet paint. *sobs*
When I got up on Saturday and sanded out the wrinkles and the footprint, I went a little too deep and had to go over those areas with another coat of the white paint. I went ahead and went over all of it, to make sure it was even (no wrinkles this time) and then set up a fan and had the windows open. This time I let it dry for 24 hours and didn't come back to it until Sunday morning. I lost a whole day because I was too impatient the first time so make sure you do your research!
Now I swept, vacuumed, and wiped the floor with a wet cloth once more. I let it dry and got to work on stenciling.
I purchased this stencil from Etsy $12 and did it first on my full tiles. My tiles are 17 X 17 and I really think this would be a much easier project for smaller tiles. But I made it work. I would recommend using spray adhesive, letting it dry for a few minutes (so it doesn't leave residue on your floor). I didn't have any but all the blogs and videos I watched showed that the stencils would leave much cleaner lines because all the portions of the stencils are stuck to the floor. I didn't want to wait and order some from amazon so I just used painter's tape and it did the job just fine.
I used my foam rollers and chalk paint. You want to make sure the paint isn't on too thick so that it blobs or runs under the stencil, but also that it's not on too thin which would cause you to push down too much, and you'd have the same problem. My strategy was to get it fully coated, then roll it a few times on a brown paper bag. If you have blank blotches , you don't have enough paint. If you have bubble, drips, or lines, you have too much. I would roll it out a few times on the brown paper bag until it looked uniform and perfect and then get to rolling the floor. This probably wasted paint, but it was what made me most comfortable.
Once I had all my full tiles done (only 4), I cut my stencil in half. It took some finangling to get it pushed up against the wall and around the toilet, but I just did my best and if I couldn't get the roller in there very well, I would trace the part of the stencil I needed with a black sharpie, and then use a foam brush to paint the inside of the traced area. On the teeny tiny part of the tile you can see right up to the door frame, I basically did free hand. I used a piece of cardboard for my edges, and measured the stencil to make sure my placement was accurate.
This $7 is the chalk paint I used. I wish I hadn't used acrylic. It just wasn't sturdy enough- my thoughts were that I would be putting a durable top coat on anyway, but I still wish I had used a rustoleum or valspar paint, even if it wasn't chalky looking. My top coat is matte anyway so it wouldn't have looked too shiny. Even after it was dry, my dog ran in and got a dirty paw print on a few of the black diamonds, I couldn't even wipe them off without the paint wrinkling. I ended up having to go over those areas multiple times to make sure it looked uniform.
Once it was done, I let it dry for just about an hour and got to work on the top coat.
At this point, I was complaining about my knees so much that Mat bought me some knee pads. I didn't include this in the total because they were a gift! They changed my life for the rest of the day, so I'd 100% recommend you getting these up front. Plus you can use them on so many other things on your upcoming projects!
This $15 is what I used for the top coat after researching. I rolled on 5 coats, letting each coat dry for about an hour before rolling on another. This is truly matte! It goes on a milky white and then clears to a beautiful clear matte. It almost looks like there is no top coat!
It will need to dry for a week before we can walk normally on the floor and get it wet.
Final touches were the shower curtain $20 and the decor items I already had.
The shelves I hung, I already owned because they were at my old house and I had yet to find a new place to hang them. But I got them on sale at Michaels last year for $20 a piece. I removed the rope with pliers.
Total for all: $196
Ellis wants me to work on her bathroom next, which is a nasty bright blue with crystal knobs. blech. I'll keep you updated!
