Color Me Badd

Remember the old school R&B group Color Me Badd?  I feel like their name has inspired this post.  Sidebar: I was mildly surprised to know they’re still together and trying to get back on the scene.  Who knew?  I’m all for a good comeback story, but I’m pretty sure that ship has sailed.

So what’s something else that’s sailed off into the sunset never to be seen again?  The boys’ bathroom paint job, that’s what.  This is the story of a lovely lady of how a bathroom’s color went from BADD to rad (or something like that).

Similar to the dining room, this room was at the top of my painting hit list right out the gate.  And let me be the first to say that I’m all for the creative use of color in a home, but this room was just too much for me.   All four walls AND the ceiling were painted a different bright shade and the light fixture wasn’t spared.  It won the color lottery and was painted all five colors….down to the screws that held the bulb covers in place. 

And because I always try to respect everyone’s individuality and perspective, I don’t want to come across as talking ill of the previous owners’ choices.  I’m sure their children loved this space and truth be told, I’m sure ours would’ve as well.  But let’s be honest.  They’re three and almost two.  They don’t give a rip what it looks like right now as long as it has a functional bath tub with lots of bubbles.  And since it’s the first room you see when you go up the staircase to the second floor, I needed it to be toned down a bit.  Also, from a practical standpoint, the bright (yet still dark…how is that even possible?!) colors were making it feel really small and closed in.  Also, due to the layout of the house and this bathroom’s placement in particular, there’s not a window so it needs all the brightness help it can get. 

Okay, time to get down to business. 

First up – remove the crooked shower curtain rod and two towel bars.  You’ll notice in the third shot there was a towel bar lounging around behind the door.  It had a slight curve to its design which ended up doubling as the door stopper for the door because it stuck out so far.  Ruh roh.  In order to save the door from a lifetime of dings, it had to go.  As for the other towel bar, it had a matching curved design that I didn’t love.  Also, I’m just not a huge fan of towel bars that are far away from the sink.  Admittedly, I’m a type A weirdo, but I hate water constantly dripping all over the counter, floor, and toilet as you go from the sink over to the distant towel bar.  I know, I know.  #firstworldproblems

After I removed the rod and towel bars, I had some patch work to do, so out came the spackle and putty knife and I got busy.   The shower curtain rod area required the most work.  I’m not sure what happened over the years, but the rod made big gouges in the wall.  I quickly came to the conclusion I’d need a replacement rod ASAP since there was no way I wanted to risk the walls being re-gouged anytime soon.  I ended up having to do two coats of spackle on the towel bar holes and three on the curtain rod gouges.  A little bit of sanding in between the coats (and after) and voila.  Move along, folks…nothing to see here.  Smooth as a baby’s bottom.

After the patch work was completed, priming was on deck.  But first I had to tape off the woodwork. Usually I use an angled paint brush and just cut in, but after a few minutes of contemplating the job at hand, I went the tape route.  Not doing so would’ve meant cutting in along a tub, toilet, light fixture, mirror, two doors, a vanity, and the baseboard.  So I sucked it up, admitted defeat (and laziness and self doubt with my cutting in skills) and taped everything off.  It took a while, but probably worth it in the long run.

Finally, it prime time.  I’m sure it’ll come as no surprise the room required two coats of prime.  Those colors were no joke!  And I apologize for no priming pics.  I was in the throes and it totally slipped my mind.  I think I was so distracted because I was amazed at just how much worse this paint project was than the dining room.  Foolishly, I was all “oh, this is a small-ish space…no big deal…I can knock it out easy peasy.”  Nope. 

Well, two prime coats later, it was finally time to slap some color up.  This color decision was easy.  In our previous house we had used Behr’s Glass Bead color in one of the bathrooms and I loved it.  It’s a soft blue with gray undertones.  And since we were reusing the same shower curtain from that same bathroom at the old house…well, why reinvent the wheel?  I know I’ll likely want to replace the shower curtain at some point down the road, but the wall color is neutral enough to go with many different color schemes so we should be okay there.

Due to the two coats of primer up there, only one coat of color was needed.  I also opted to paint the ceiling the same color as the walls.  Everyone has their own opinion, but I tend to be in the camp of painting a bathroom ceiling the same color as the walls.  It feels like it unifies small spaces better and your eye isn’t drawn up to a different color. 

As soon as I finished painting my last section, I quickly got to work with removing the painter’s tape.  I’ve always read that if you use tape, to remove it when the paint is still wet.  That way, small bits won’t dry to the tape itself and then peel off when you remove the tape later.  When the paint is wet, it’s still “workable” and will stay put.  I’ve done it both ways, and wet is definitely the way to go in my opinion. 

The next day, I was able to put up the new rod and shower curtain.  But wait, there’s more.  Remember that pesky, multicolored light fixture?  Yup, it needed some lovin’.  And since I wasn’t sure what fixture I wanted in there yet and didn’t want to make a rushed decision, I opted to spray paint it with Rust-Oleum’s line of metallic spray paints.  For $8, I figured it would tide me over for a bit.  I went with the satin nickel finish; however, it really isn’t satin nickel.  More just like a matted gray.  Fail.  BUT it does look better than it started off, so cheers to that.  And no pictures of this either…boo.  This project was so early on that I hadn’t even decided to start a blog yet, so the need for pictures wasn’t in the forefront of my brain yet.  This went really fast and quick, though.  It was my first spray paint project EVER, so I was a little intimidated but I really shouldn’t have been.  Spray paint is a thing of glory.  All I did was have Eric kill the power and remove the fixture so then I could put it outside on top of a large cardboard box and follow the directions on the can.  Basically, it just says to hold the can 10-12 inches from the item and spray in even strokes.  You can do multiple coats within minutes of each other as well.  And once all of your coats are done, you just let it dry for an hour and can re-attach it 24 hours later. 

Add now…drum roll please…the after shots.   

 

 And now the ever beloved side-by-sides.

Total Project Cost: $60 
Primer: $0, already had some
Painter’s tape: $5
One gallon Behr Glass Bead paint, semi-gloss: $26
Paint rollers & disposable paint tray liners: $0, already had some
Paint brush: $0, already had one
Spackle: $0, already had some
220-grit Sandpaper: $0, already had some
New shower curtain rod: $21
Rust-Oleum Metallic Satin Nickel spray paint: $8

In the after shots you can also catch a sneak peek of another project that’s on deck.  I’m planning on giving their bathroom vanity a facelift which is why the doors are missing as well as a patch job where the old toilet paper holder once was.  Stay tuned!

Other wish list items for this room include:

• new artwork
• new flooring
• do something with the vanity
• new vanity top & faucet
• do something with linen closet (organization)
• new/different lighting
• frame out mirror/
• maybe paint the trim and doors white  

Still lots to do, but at least it feels a little more like “us” right now.

♥,
Anne