I decided this past winter that our 3/4, first floor bathroom just wasn’t doing anything for me. It felt dark and uninviting. And yes, I said “this past winter”, and I realize it is September. Apparently this fell off my blogging radar for several months!
I decided to paint the bathroom a crisp white, and finally decided on SW Simply White. Once the white went up, I still wasn’t sold. In the end, I decided to stripe all of the walls with the light blue/grey color we have throughout the rest of our house. What a difference a little paint (and A LOT of patience) can make!
I painted three coats of Simply White and started with a blank canvas (here is a before shot of the paint color and me testing out two different whites).
Cutting in along the ceiling was difficult because the ceilings are high, and it required wrangling a large ladder into this small space. I knew right then that the top stripe was going to be white, so I didn’t have to worry about cutting in again.
I decided to go with 10-inch stripes. I worked from the top down. As you can see, there are a lot of small walls and angles. This project took me several hours, over several days to complete. Good thing I love the result! I might not ever do it again though!
I measured 10-inches down, made a mark, and used a large level to draw a line across each wall. I used Frog Tape to tape off the lines, painted 2 coats, and ripped the tape off when the paint was still wet.
After one wall was complete, I would move along to the next wall, started taping, and repeated the process. I used the completed stripes from the adjacent wall as my starting off point (so I didn’t have to remeasure the 10-inches every time). Sorry if this is confusing, I’m still not sure how I got these to look straight myself!
I read online that a good way to secure your tape and get a straight edge is to put a small amount of paint on a paintbrush and lightly brush over the edge of the tape before rolling the stripes. This really worked in my case, and I would definitely recommend taking the time to do this extra little step.
The trickiest part was getting behind the vanity and trying to keep the lines straight. A short level came in handy for this.
The blue/grey paint I used for the stripes is Big Chill by Sherwin Williams. This is the color throughout our house, but it presents itself very grey in this small bathroom, which doesn’t get any natural light.
I am now happy with the walls, but I am itching to paint or replace the vanity and the mirror. The vanity is just not my taste, but it is a nice piece that came with the house. I think if I painted it and added new hardware, I could grow to like it. The combo of the dark mirror and vanity are just not doing it for me, so I am on the hunt for a mirror replacement. For now, this bathroom got a major makeover for the cost of the white paint (the blue/grey paint was leftover from the build) and the Frog Tape!
This was a project that required a lot of patience! In the end, I am so happy I challenged myself and went for it. This room looks much more like “us”, which is what projects for me are all about!
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