Thoroughly Modern Mural; Bathroom Remodel; Guest

I am so glad that Amy of Hey Now, Whoa Now sent me the link to her awesome bathroom transformation.  Not only did they do a great job but I LOVE her style!  Check it out, I am sure you will love it!

A few years ago we were on HGTV’s My House Is Worth What? The comment I remember most is that though we’ve updated most of our townhouse, the half bath felt like you’d stepped back into the 70’s. That wasn’t a compliment.

The bathroom’s most notable attributes were a light fixture that nearly had the power to make you gag, a counter that ran all the way across the wall (why? please tell me why) that effectively blocked the lid to our new (free!) low-flow toilet, and a toilet paper inset cut into the side of the cabinet.

Not anymore!

Here’s what we did:

Paint! Light gray with teal accents. (Glidden Totally Teal in high gloss.) I’ll get to the inspiration behind the stem and leaf design in a bit. (And you may recognize my favorite bowl on the toilet tank.)

New light fixture. Found this for $10 at the Habitat ReStore. We actually turned it around so it hangs up-side down. Right-side up, it looked like Gaston’s lodge to me.

New faucet. I love the white porcelain knobs… they feel very vintage to me. Rare stroke of retail luck: this was a) my favorite option, and b) one of the bottom-of-the-line models at Home Depot, so it only cost $25!

New vanity/countertop. Found this on Craigslist for $75. Had to drive 40 minutes out to a lovely country home to get it, where it was new in the (decomposing) box in a shed. Thankfully the gal who sold it to me wasn’t afraid of flexing her muscles to help me get it in the car. That beast was heavy!

The vanity came with plain, brushed silver knobs, but I swapped them out with knobs from an upstairs cabinet we ripped out. I love how they match the faucet handles.

New towel/toilet paper hardware. From TJ Maxx. Installed them myself. Who loves a power drill??

New mirror. Well, different mirror. I actually salvaged this from an alley in Chicago years ago when I was a nanny there. I love all its antiqued imperfections against the modern graphic wall mural.

Did I mention paint? I even painted and poly’d the back of the door, which is a fun surprise when you use the lou.

We did all the work ourselves (with profuse thanks to Dennis’ handy-man padre!), so total we spent about $300.

Can you guess which of the above is my favorite feature? I drooled over the graphic mural in this bathroom on Apartment Therapy, and toyed with doing the same design, same color. But I kept running into this design:

It was on a card I got in the mail from a friend, on wallpaper in a magazine I was flipping through, on the tree branches outside a client’s house, on this storefront I passed while lunching with a friend. By george, I’m doing it! So I did, in what appears to be my favorite color (unintentionally dotted my living room with it, too): teal.

I’m pretty happy with my rendition.

And just because you deserve one more angle:

I think this is such an awesome makeover!  Totally stunning and I just love it!

What do you like the best?