Monday, May 9, 2011

My New Art Inspired Bathroom


Before pics of my tiny, duck papered bathroom

About 8 months ago, I decided the blue and taupe ducks that resided on the walls of my bathroom walls needed to find a new home- in the trash. 


The overall scope of my bathroom remodel seemed very manageable. After all it was just a half bath. There where only two hideous things about the room- the aforementioned duck wallpaper and the dull, dated linoleum floors. Sounds easy enough to conquer- right? 


I thought so, too. But.... after stripping miles of navy blue and mauve wallpaper from my kitchen, and yards of other images of pseudo cross-stitched farm- couples holding hands in my dining room, you would think I wouldn't even consider putting up more wallpaper. Ever. But.... guess what? Wallpaper is making a major comeback. If you don't believe me, look at Anthroplogie's collection, or any good design book - it's everywhere. And it's cool. Most of it, anyway.


Have you ever seen anything so HIDEOUS?
I was convinced wallpaper was the way to go. Unfortunately, after 6 months of obsessively scouring the Internet, I was becoming more and more baffled by the endless array of choices. Finding beautiful wallpaper is kind of like looking for a bobby pin in your purse. It's a bit daunting.


Meanwhile, we had our toilet and sink removed, took out the old floors and installed wood. So, while I obsessed over chinosiserire or damask... our toilet sat on the back porch.

Then one night- it hit me. I was looking up "Chinosiserie" and this website popped up. I immediately had a vision for my entire bathroom. Forget the wallpaper. I would by this print below. Paint my bathroom light pink and be done. It was almost that easy. I immediately ordered the print.

Fell in love with Catherine Nolin's work, check out her blog here and her etsy site here. Woke up the next day and told my hubby "today is the day". Imagine my shock when he said "I don't want to paint the bathroom today", even though he had asked me several times about it over the last 6 months. So my response was, "okay, I AM painting the bathroom TODAY. Get out of my way." I know this isn't nice, but I was truly on a serious mission at that point.




Inspiration for the new bathroom. Print from Catherine Nolin

I painted the bathroom pink in one day, including sanding and priming. As I was painting, my husband walked in the bathroom. Here's the conversation that ensued-

Matt: (Walks in slowly. Looks apprehensive). "What color is this?"
Desha: "What color do you think it is?"
Matt: "What color is it?"
Desha: "I think it's called blush."
Matt: "Is it Pink?"
Desha: "Yes."

Matt walks away. Ladies, men don't go for Pink. So you should not ask their opinion. Just do it.

But, the pink was too pink, even for me. So, two days later. I pulled out some old cream paint and mixed it together with the original pink and walla- the perfect shade that I had imagined that starry night of my vision.














The print above is from Matou en Peluche and the cute black and white knob is from Anthropologie.

AND. THE. Bathroom is Complete...
AmEn.

15 comments:

  1. Hi Desha!
    Wow the print looks great. I love that frame too. Thanks for mention. Catherine

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  2. LOVELY color...good job mixing. The room looks so pretty now...inspires me to change up our "manly" bathroom!

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  3. looks great! that print really pulled together the other objects, especially with the dark wood and smooth colour. i'm sure he secretly loves the pink x

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  4. i enjoyed this post so much ... very entertaining and with just a hint of southern sass in there to keep me guessing {apparently one needs a bit of that to get through a bathroom facelift project!}. i can just hear that conversation about the color choice {actually maybe i HAVE heard it before but in the kitchen over a shade of green}. Looks to me like it all turned out very pretty .. i really do like your style.

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  5. Thanks for all the comments ladies! My grandmother "memaw" had a lovely pink bathroom full of makeup, nail polish and perfume. I wanted a touch of her in there, and I really do love the shade~

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  6. What a beautiful transformation! Good job.
    Thanks for the lovely comments you've left on my blog: unfortunately with bloggers' "crash" on Friday, all my comments I had approved were wiped out and unable to be recovered (frustrated!) So if you feel like stopping by again... ;-) Have a great weekend.

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  7. Desha!! This is a spectacular make over. I LOVE the new look and the art that you hang there.

    Believe it or not, I especially lovee the hand towel. Is it a towel or? Adore the colors!

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  8. Hey Starlet, do yo mean the linen towel? Yes, it's one of those really nice feeling old linen towels, really meant for dishes. It has big faded red tomatoes on it~

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  9. Tough guys like pink, Desha. :P Your bathroom looks so cute now. Hanging Catherine Nolin's artwork above the toilet bowl was a great idea, not to mention the flowers which added more life to your bathroom. Come to think of it, it has this tropical island feel to it, don’t you think? :)

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    1. Hi Randell, I like your attitude- dudes can totally dig pink, I like dudes who like pink! And yes, I could see a bit of tropical in the mix, Asian/Tropical :)

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  10. Whoever said that you cannot put some creativity in your bathroom is definitely wrong! In fact, the art pieces made the bathroom look lovely. The floral patterns and other elements give the space a much needed design to make it pop. It goes to show that art and space always go well together.

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    1. Thanks Gabrielle, it's a small space but it's simple and sweet and I enjoy those little touches, too~

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  11. Like what Randell said, tough guys like pink! My brothers love pink while I love blue. I really like the paintings in your bathroom! It’s actually my first time to see a bathroom with a painting hanging inside. It looks good, honestly! Nice one!

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    1. Hi Mya, that's funny- I never thought of it before- I guess I have paintings everywhere in my house b/c I love art! Thanks for stopping by~

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