Powder Room Renovation

We recently completed a lovely little update to our downstairs powder room and I'm excited to share it here! It was meant to be a relatively quick and easy DIY project, but it's just unfathomable how many unexpected issues popped up over the past 12 days we've been working on the renovation! So many many many little things that we just couldn't possibly plan for caused hiccups and delays, but I'm pleased to say that we're about half a tube of caulk away from calling it all done!

I love to share stories in pictures, so here are a few "before" shots of the powder room. As you will see, it's pretty much basic construction-grade stuff everywhere.

Whew. Looking at those pics totally depresses me! I knew the bathroom needed a makeover, but I didn't realize how sad it looked until I saw it in these pictures! Wow. So happy we have a new look in there!

And here's how the powder room looks now... {squeal!}

((NOTE: We still need to caulk between the quarter-round and the floor))

I love a little side-by-side... ;) 

Flooring: TrafficMASTER Allure Plus Grey Maple Resilient Vinyl Plank Flooring
Faucet: Pfister Brea 4 in. Centerset Single-Handle Bathroom Faucet in Brushed Nickel

Towel Ring: Pfister Venturi Towel Ring in Brushed Nickel
Toilet Paper Holder: Pfister Venturi Double Post Toilet Paper Holder in Brushed Nickel
Paint: Valspar Chromium
Wall Art: 12"x12" Floral Framed Art
Bead Board: PurGroove White Hardboard Wall Panel
Threshold: MD Building Products Deluxe Satin Nickel Flat-Top Threshold

BONUS: The Ridiculous, Hilarious Sink Story

One of the things that always bothered me about our powder room was the seemingly ginormous pedestal sink. Really, it just seemed HUGE for the room. So I was super excited to find a gorgeous new pedestal sink that I thought would be just perfect for this renovation.

See? Isn't she just beautiful? So, I went ahead and ordered this little beauty on Saturday, 1/9, with delivery scheduled on Tuesday, 1/12. It would be shipped in two boxes: one for the sink and one for the pedestal. So I proceeded to do what any sane person would do: watch the UPS tracking numbers like it was my day job. Both boxes appeared to be on the move. They were only coming to me from Georgia... not very far, right? But one of them started showing updates that the other didn't. I was concerned, to say the least. Not surprisingly, I received ONE box on Tuesday... the pedestal, and no sink.

I called the lovely folks at The Home Depot about it. They did some digging and realized their vendor "forgot" to ship out the second box. Well, lovely. What were my options? Not many, apparently. The only option I was given was to (A) return the pedestal to my local HD for a full refund of my original order and (B) place a NEW order over the phone. Well, alright. But I let HD know I felt they should cover expedited shipping since it was their error. They agreed and confirmed I would receive the new sink and pedestal on Thursday, 1/14. Okay.

So what did I do? Watch those tracking numbers like a crazy person, of course! This time, I saw that NEITHER of the boxes were showing any movement whatsoever. I called UPS. They said they haven't received the items from HD. I called HD. They said the item was shipped and confirmed that yes, I would still receive the sink and pedestal on Thursday as scheduled. Mmmmmmkay... not sure how that was possible since this was Wednesday afternoon at 4PM and UPS still didn't have the boxes, but okay. Sure. I can be patient.

Thursday morning. STILL NO UPDATES on the tracking numbers. I called HD again. This time, they decided to tell me that since my reorder was placed over the phone after 2 PM, it wouldn't have even shipped until the next day, meaning I wouldn't receive the order until Friday. This guy tells me I never would have received it on Thursday (nevermind the previous two HD folks I spoke to who said I would).

Heh. Isn't that nice?

By this time I was considerably irritated for yet another delay on the sink. Thursday evening, there still were no updates (for the sink I was apparently going to receive on Friday) and I called HD yet again. Now I'm told that the item never left the vendor's warehouse. Can you even believe it? I couldn't do anything but laugh at this point.

The corporate resolutions department at HD placed another order for this sink for me, with an expected delivery date of Tuesday, 1/19. If you're keeping track, this is the THIRD ORDER for the same sink. And yes, it was due to be delivered this past Tuesday. Ten days after my original order was placed. HD also requested a "reship" of the phone order I had placed on 1/14.

Whew!

The best part? We installed the new pedestal sink. We installed the new 8" widespread faucet.

Aaaaannndddd... I hated it.

Isn't that the best? Hahahaha!

The new sink was taller and seemed to take up even more space than the original one did. And I just didn't love the new faucet I had selected for that sink as much as I thought I would. And nevermind the fact that the p-trap from the old sink didn't line up correctly with the new sink, which meant hubs had to fashion a crazy solution using 192 pipe fittings that he was "pretty sure" wouldn't leak.

So we returned the sink. Well, the sinks, technically.

And now? Now I really LOVE our old sink! It fits the renovated powder room perfectly! Who knew?

What a fun adventure this was! I can't wait to move on to the next one... :))

New Tables!

I've been DIY'ing a bit lately and am super stoked to share a recent win! Our living room coffee table and end tables have seen better days. After nine years, three kids, and extensive abuse, they were just sad and embarrassing. Hubs and I had discussed refinishing these tables for YEARS but never found the time to do it. I decided that time had arrived last week.

For starters, this is what I had to work with. The worst of the three tables. The finish was chipping and it looked just awful. See?

A close-up of the abuse. Please pay special attention to our lovely previous attempts at disguising the flaking finish with brown and black Sharpies...

My first step was to sand the finish off. I used a power sander with 60 grit sandpaper. Surprisingly, there was a LOT of finish to get through in order to get to the bare wood. I think I may have sanded through about 3 inches of furniture polish, too.

Love the cool pattern in the wood on the table top!

After thoroughly sanding the first end table, I wiped it down with a wet cloth (skipped the mineral spirits method and tack cloth method) and put on the first coat of paint.

We decided to skip the labor-intensive sanding with the other end table and instead used a primer that we had tinted gray. It was much quicker and easier to do the primer instead of the sanding, but we were most interested in how the tables looked when they were finished.

The coffee table was a bigger undertaking. We decided to sand it just to ensure the best possible finish as we didn't want to risk the primer plan not panning out.

Here they are after a coat or two of paint. Already SO in love with the transformation!

A few coats of poly later, and our shiny new tables are, well, shiny and new! I'm so happy with how this project turned out. The best part was that we can easily refinish indoors with this process. Neither the primer, paint, nor poly had a super strong odor, and it seemed the primer worked just as well (if not better?) than the messy sanding we had to do outside. This is all great news because I have a ginormous dresser next on my list to refinish!

Here's a close-up of the finish. Such a huge improvement, amiright?

And a little side-by-side of the Before and After! So happy with our "new" tables!!!

Chase's New Super Mario Bros. Room!

Saturday was a busy day around here! Several Pinterest projects over the past few months have led up to a big day... transforming Chase's train room to a ((drumroll...))

Super Mario Bros. Room!

{{insert feigns of shock and awe here}}

It seems like just yesterday we were finally getting around to updating Chase's room from sparse nothingness to a super cute train room back in December 2012. And here we are, almost 3 years later, finally transforming his chambers into a tribute to his beloved Mario!

Clearly I will be sharing a ton of photos of the transformation below, as well as Chase's first look at the big unveiling. For a sneak peak of the inspiration behind his new room, take a look at my Pinterest board!

So fun, right?? I started working through the various projects about 2 months ago. With 3 kids, homeschooling, and a myriad of outside commitments, I knew I wouldn't have a ton of uninterrupted time to focus on any one thing. So I made sure to give myself plenty of time to accomplish everything I wanted to include in his new room.

I'll share the details on the individual projects and purchases at the end of this post. But first, I want to share how excited Chase was to discover this huge surprise awaiting him once he returned from a full day of fun at Mona's with his big sister and little bro.

Here's his first look at his new Super Mario room! He was SO surprised... and I think he liked it! :)

He walked all around his room, taking it all in. There was a LOT of Mario happening in this small space, and it was awesome to watch his response to each and every new thing he noticed.

What?? That trash can looks like a pipe! And Luigi is about to go down into the pipe! Haha!

Here he is explaining an incredibly interesting Mario fact to me.

He loved the new light switch cover! He's a big fan of all things superstar!

He had to identify all of the characters on his new bedding.

And he was so pleased that he could reach his radio/CD player now that it isn't out of reach on top of his dresser as it was previously. He explained to me exactly how to turn it on and find his favorite Christian radio station.

Wow! His books were so nicely organized and categorized. Obviously mommy was here! LOL!

He thought the new Question Block bins were sooooo cool! Plenty of storage space for his favorite toys!

It didn't take long for him to dive into his new Super Mario Bros. bed! It was just amazing to see him so happy! His response was so worth the time and effort put into this transformation. He is so incredible! I just love him SO MUCH!!!

I have to share this next photo because it was stinkin' hilarious when I first saw it as I looked through all of the pictures I had taken of the big reveal. This was LO's reaction when she first saw Chase's new room. You could say she was pretty surprised, too! Bwahahahahaha!

And here she was just seconds later. She really loved it and was so happy for Chase!

Awesomesauce, right?! So are you ready to take a look at the exciting details? So many fun projects and purchases to bring it all together. Let's take a look! Oh, and links to the sources of my inspiration are in {brackets}, while links to the products I purchased are not.

To begin, we needed a Super Mario themed bed (duh) as the focal point of the room. I picked up this Super Mario Sheet Set and made the red "M" throw pillow, then added Chase's Super Mario stuffed friends to complete the look. We painted the accent wall behind his bed a shade of blue similar to the sky from Super Mario Bros. called Grandma's Sweater by Benjamin Moore. Then I added these vinyl decals from eBay to create a fun mural above his bed.

Next up, I picked up a KALLAX shelving unit from IKEA along with four DRÖNA storage bins in yellow to create these adorable {Question Block Bins}. NOTE: I used no-sew iron-on adhesive to attach the fabric question marks and circles to the bins rather than the process used in the inspiration post.

Seriously. This is the cutest. thing. ever. amiright?? This little {Bob-omb Lamp} is one of my most favorite little projects in the room! I purchased this adorable mini ceramic globe lamp, painted the eyes and cut out the feet from a piece of yellow card stock. It was one of the easiest and quickest projects! Love it.

If the Bob-omb Lamp is my most fave, these {Piranha Plant Lamps} are a very close second! Two TERTIAL work lamps from IKEA, a bit of hand-painting, spray-painting, and wire-splicing, and BOOM. Adorable! These lamps are perfect for reading!

This next project was another favorite (there are so many!). I found a {Super Star Canvas Print} on zulily as my inspiration and customized my own design with the help of a talented designer friend. Because of course, my sweet little guy is the most invincible person I know!

No 6-year-old's room would be complete without a nightlight, so I picked up a set of Star Shaped Night Lights and painted them yellow. They are LED lights and not very bright, so I was glad that they came as a set of two.

When we updated LO's room back in 2013, I covered her light switch plate with fabric and modge podged it like a madwoman. I decided to rock out the same technique for Chase's new room. If you need a tutorial for this project, I found this {Upholstered Light Switch Plate} that follows my steps pretty closely. Such a fun, easy, and cheap way to add some fun to a room!

Haha! This next one was hilarious! We all worked together as a family to put a 550-piece Super Mario Bros. 2 puzzle together about a month or two ago. It had been on our dining room table for quite some time before I swiped it away into my secret work area to frame it for Chase's room! I watched this YouTube video on {How to Use Jigsaw Puzzle Glue} since I hadn't done it before, and it was super easy! The best part was that it took forever for them to notice the puzzle was gone, and once they did, they were crazy disappointed thinking I had taken it apart and put it back in the box. All that hard work, right!? So they were both so excited to see it up on the wall!

I saw this super cute {Cloud Garland} on Etsy and decided to make my own to hang up on the accent wall we had painted. I so love how cute it turned out! I can see this sort of thing as a super fun party decoration (because, let's face it, we'll probably see another Super Mario birthday party or two in our little guy's future).  :)

Oh! Oh! Oh! This next little project was super simple AND super cheap... my favorite! I purchased two of these Question Blocks candy tins from Amazon, had hubs drill holes in the sides of them, and put them onto the ends of Chase's existing curtain rod to create this fun {Question Block Curtain Rod}. Bonus? The kids loved the coin-shaped candies from inside the tins!

I picked up another set of vinyl Super Mario Wall Decals to put on one of the walls where Chase could easily reach them and rearrange them to create his very own Super Mario adventure.

How adorable is this {Pipe Trash Can}?? Another super simple and inexpensive addition to the room.

And finally, what little brother's new Super Mario room would be complete without a one-of-a-kind original artwork from big sis? Love.

Whew! I think we have a very happy 6-year-old Super Mario super fan. Awwwwww... LOVE HIM.

Hope you enjoyed this crazy lengthy recap of our big bedroom transformation project! And in case you observant folks are wondering where all of the adorable train decor ended up after we removed it to make room for Mario, you'll be happy to know it all found it's way down the hall to a brand new owner! More on that big reveal up next!