Bathroom Refresh

The downstairs bathroom was decorated in the mid 90's & it was done in a classic style, making it timeless in the near century house. But with the raising of four kids...3 being boys, the bathroom walls had been washed so much that the gold stripe in the wallpaper had washed off. I really liked the look of the bathroom & it has a nice flow with the downstairs decor but that wall was an eyesore for me.
I was downstairs in the basement (I'm 5'2" & I have to duct in areas, it's a very old house) putting away Christmas decorations when I came upon the bag of left over wallpaper from the downstairs bathroom & yes I had enough to do the wall behind the toilet & the wall next to the toilet!! Let the bathroom refresh begin! Bill would you? could you? remove the toilet & trim for me?

The old wallpaper had to be removed. I know why people don't like wallpaper & the process of removing it!  A spray bottle with dish soap helped remove the paper backing & the handy plastic pot scraper did the job of scraping.

 Oh my what a job removing old wallpaper! It's such a small room to move around in too!

 Now that I had it all removed, I needed to prime the wall again so the wallpaper would adhere properly. I had made a mess of the wall & the green drywall board was showing again.

 All primed but I waited another day to make sure that it was really dry before apply the new wallpaper.
Did I mention that I had Bill remove the toilet to get to the wall behind? Well I didn't realize how convenient that downstairs toilet was...until this week! Upstairs has two full bathrooms but like I said 'upstairs'. The last time the toilet was removed was for the floor, it was being finished the day I arrived home from the hospital with Nicholas in 1989!  I have to have this bathroom done this week in order to have the toilet re-installed by Bill before the end of the weekend.

 The striped wallpaper was all measured out & cut & I smiled to see that this wallpaper was indeed 'Made in Canada'.  The top wallpaper had to be installed first, so I measured out two pieces & filled my wallpaper trough to begin hanging it. To my surprise, the wallpaper after being stored in the basement for 15 years...had NO GLUE left to it. Oh my !@#  this has been a trying job.
No worries, I usually use Laura Ashley wallpaper from England & it has to be pasted. I've done that before, so off to the hardware store with Bill to do a Mike Holmes & 'make it right'.
The walls are now finished & I'm so pleased. Oh yes... let me tell you about my stepping off the small ladder & onto the wallpaper trough that I had filled with water to hang the first piece.  Grrrrrrrrrr,  As my foot came down I upset the whole trough, it emptied all over the floor & flowed into the hallway & down into the basement.
I cleaned everything up & downstairs too!!

In this black/white bathroom I was beginning to see red! I just wanted it done!! For such a small room it had created havoc to my daily living. With the wallpaper finished...

 Bill started doing his job of baseboards.

 The toilet was re-installed, the chair rail, cove moulding on the ceiling & the roman shade. Yes at the time of doing the bathroom in the 90's I had found a small piece of matching fabric to the wallpaper, just enough for a roman shade.

 The sun is shining too bright here to see the stained glass window insert I made for this room. It provides privacy & allows the light to shine through too.

It's a small room, the width of a bathtub

 I'm so glad to have everything in its place again! For being one of the smallest room in the house, it sure is filled with things that make it an enjoyable soak in the tub!

I may do just that tonight...have an enjoyable soak in this newly refreshed room.

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This week I had some fun embellishing a pair of oven mitts for Mitch & making a rug mug quilt for his morning coffee.

He really likes the Real Tree fabric, so that's going to be his theme from me for his new house this spring. The wildlife theme from oven mitts to quilts...


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This weekend has been one of sewing too. I made a table runner & potholder for Marnia, my Russian girlfriend. He husband is in Canada on business & will take this gift back to her.

I'm really pleased with the look of this table runner. All the flowers were hand appliqued & the top was machine quilted.

 The colours were such a delight to work with, after seeing all the black/white wallpaper. lol

 I quilted it even more, for more durability.

Leftovers turned into a potholder

I doubled the batting for more insulation as a potholder.

Next week this will be in Russia to brighten her day.

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