White and Gray Vintage Bathroom Refresh

Life has sure changed in the past couple of months, hasn’t it? I never could have imagined living in a time like this, but here we are. I hope all of you are managing to stay healthy both physically and mentally as we battle this crisis time “together alone.” I, personally, am holding up well although we have all battled some form of illness or another in the past several months. Everyone seems to be healthy now and we continue to stay close to home.

This time has had its number of challenges as we strive to figure out our new normal. My top priority is keeping the kids healthy and safe as well as myself. Whatever else we manage to fit in is bonus. I am trying to keep up with the schoolwork and give them each one on one time but some days are harrrrrrd. I fail, I feel guilty, I wake up and try again. Thank goodness for God’s grace and mercy that are always present and new every day. We will get through this!

Today, my hope was to give you some fresh spring cleaning and remodeling inspiration (on the cheap of course since that’s how I do things). I know many people are using their newfound free time for spring cleaning and decluttering. I’ve seen many large piles on the side of the road in my neighborhood over the past few weeks! I feel bad for the sanitation workers but am so thankful for their service. My husband is in property management and is an essential worker so he is going out every day facing similar challenges.

This makeover project is the upstairs bathroom from our Mumford house that we sold in the spring of 2017. It was our first home: a circa 1930’s, two bedroom fixer upper that was just right for us at the time. The village was quaint, the neighborhood friendly and the character of the old house made me fall in love with it immediately. Especially this bathroom’s original claw foot tub! Even though the bathroom was in rough shape when we bought it, I always imagined how lovely it could be.

Unfortunately, as time went by we neglected this space to work on other projects and three kids later it was basically last on our list. We had another full bathroom on the main floor that we used more often, so this one became an after thought.

When it was time to sell, however, we knew we couldn’t leave it as is. Our realtor, highly encouraged us to do whatever we could to make it shine. We took on the challenge!

Here are the before photos of this bathroom. It had several layers of old wallpaper (that I kinda loved), as well as holes and crumbling to the plaster walls. The sink was old and didn’t work well, but the tub remained in decent shape.

And here are the results. It did not cost much except time and hard work. My husband patched and fixed the walls. Then we painted the lower portion bright white and the upper portion in Benjamin Moore’s Revere Pewter. The trim got a shiny coat of white paint. We replaced the bathroom vanity with one for less than $100 from Lowe’s. That was actually the biggest expense for the space.

For staging purposes, when we were getting ready to put the house on the market, I began by deep cleaning the entire bathroom, then purchased new towels, a new bathmat and added some fresh flowers from the tree in our backyard. It was spring at the time, so a lot was in bloom.

We didn’t have a large budget, so we left most everything else as it was including the window, flooring, light fixture, towel bars, built in cabinets and medicine cabinet. I personally felt these added character to the space and after giving them all a serious scrubbing, they shined and looked very different than when we first saw this space.

I found some other ways to update the space without spending any money including using a scarf from my closet as a window valence and added some artwork from another room.

I really wanted to emphasize the clawfoot tub, so I asked my husband to cut a piece of wood to use for a tub caddy. This was literally just a board cut to size. I placed a new candle and new washcloths on it when we had showings. I was definitely wishing I had thought of this while we were living here!

Doing all of this right before we moved, was a good lesson in not procrastinating. Waiting for things to be perfect or until you have more money or until you can do major renovations just delays the ability to enjoy a space. I am working hard in the new house NOT to make this same mistake. I keep reminding myself of a quote I saw once…”done is better than perfect.” So true because perfect, in my case, most likely means it will never get done!

When we moved in, I found an old American Druggist Counterdoses for the Home chart tacked inside of the cabinet. We left it there even when we moved. A nod to the past in our vintage bathroom.

Once again, I hope you and yours are staying healthy and well. Leave me a comment, letting me know how you are getting by during this time. I am striving to enjoy the closeness of this time and embrace motherhood with my little ones during these uncertain days. I hope you are able to find a silver lining in it as well 🙂

Till next time…be safe and well.