I am participating in the One Room Challenge this fall as a guest participant, and decided to tackle our powder room. While we are doing renovations throughout the entire house, the powder room felt self contained enough that it could be managed in a few weeks, compared to something like our kitchen (which started a few months ago and still isn’t complete…). You can read more about the One Room Challenge here.
Our powder room is basically a blank slate: it’s a 5′ x 5′ room that had hardly been touched by the previous owners for the past 20+ years. Other than changing out the flooring when we did the rest of the house last month, nothing has been done to it. So we have started gutting it and are ready to make some progress. As you can see below, my plan is to add vertical shiplap half-height, and then wall paper above that. We will use a pre-built vanity, but add in a nicer faucet and other finishes. It will also get a much needed toilet upgrade.
I did not want to try and find a good wood match with a pre-built vanity, and the room already has enough white (plus our kitchen now has white cabinets) so I decided to go with a dark charcoal grey vanity with a marble top.
Below is the “before” of the powder room.
So far we have removed the toilet and sink, switched out the floors when we did the rest of the house, and started prepping the walls for shiplap and wallpaper. Not one to do things simply, James decided to add a backer board for the shiplap to make sure it was very secure and flush to the walls, and negate the need to use glue/liquid nails. And since our drywall has an orange peel texture, I have begun installing a wallpaper liner to ensure the wallpaper lays as smooth as possible. This is my first time installing wallpaper (we’ll see if it’s my last…).
Since the powder room is quite small (it’s 5′ x 5′), and the sink was positioned such that anything too deep would impact the door opening, we had to find a small vanity (24″ or less). Ours is #4 below and is 24″w x 20″d. I rounded up a few other small vanities, from 20″ – 30″ wide. I actually had originally planned on purchasing #1 below, but the ship date isn’t until early February, and after the number of backordered items we have been dealing with already I didn’t want to deal with yet another.
Make sure to to follow along on the One Room Challenge Blog to see my progress, along with the other participants!
