Home Tour: Guest Bathroom

I have been blogging for some time now, but there are still a lot of areas of my home that I have not share with you yet. Recently, I updated the Our Home page with a lot of pictures. I thought over the next few weeks, I would take your through each room to share the details of the rooms and any before pictures I may have.

Today, I would like to share our guest bath.

I think our guest bath is a good example of taking a builder’s grade room and customizing it to fit your own style. As I have done in the rest of my home, I have combined vintage and new items. Some are functional, some are just pretty. But when pulling them together, they create a room that works well for our style, our family and our guests.

This room is next to our guest bedroom, on the first floor, so it for guest who are staying, but it is also the bathroom on our main floor so it is used by our family and guests regularly.

We did our renovations before I discovered the blogging world and certainly before I decided to become a blogger myself. As a result, our before pictures will mostly include my family – and most likely a mischievous child as you will find below. I didn’t know enough to really take “before” shots in all of the rooms. This one happens to show Peanut washing her hands, in a onesie and of course, snow boots.

As you can see from the above picture, the cabinet is a builder’s grade oak cabinet and the walls were a terracotta color. There was also a floral shower curtain. The green cabinet was there originally, left for a short while, and is now back. I must admit, I truly loved this room (with the exception of the oak cabinet) for a long time. But I was ready for something softer and more peaceful. This is the one room my husband was initially disappointed when I changed the color.

We painted the walls a gray/purple blue color from Sherwin Williams called Mysterious Mauve (6262).

The mirror on the wall was found at a yard sale ( it is actually the top of a dresser / hutch) and the chandelier was found on clearance at a light store several years ago. Similar items can be found fairly easily.

I found the towel bars and toilet paper holder on Ebay years ago and I unable to find the link now – sorry!

The new color on the wall softened things up and we now had white painted trim ( the trim around the windows and doors was added during the renovations – our original windows had just sheet rock returns). We painted the cabinet the same as the trim color (which was a custom mix).

I must admit I do not really love the floors, but I don’t hate them either. They are neutral and not offensive and for that I am thankful. I am hoping if I make the rest of the room pretty enough, the floors are hardly noticed.

The mirror and faucet were replaced (found at Home Depot) but the sink is still the same.

The branch style hardware on the cabinet was found at Lowes.

The green cabinet stores towels and toiletries. It is actually the first piece I ever painted and I still love it. I bought it from a neighbor and it was just plain oak. It is on casters which I love about it. Not that I am moving it anywhere – I just like casters. The shutter shelf and candle holder were found at the same yard sale many years ago, the pictures are from Homegoods and the ironstone pitcher is vintage.

You can see the painting technique up close here. This was a case of many steps of trial and error. There were two paint colors, crackling medium and stain involved but I do not remember exactly the process. The flower pictures are from a gift bag and decoupaged on.

The light was quite inexpensive but then we added the shades which were a splurge. I was thankful we only needed three.

I hung this ornament on the mirror last year at Christmas and haven’t taken it down because I love to look at it. We purchased it in Paris for our tree but it never made it there.

This ironstone pitcher won’t be there all the time, but I love bringing fresh flowers into a room, even a bathroom. And of course, a soy candle always works.

Towels are stored in an old maple bucket (it leaks – otherwise I would not be allowed to use it for decorative purposes!) for easy access for guests and toilet paper is in a wire basket. A reader commented that I must not have little boys if I am able to store toilet paper near the toilet which made me giggle. We have started using that paper without the cardboard roll in it and seems like there is no warning when it is running out – it is just gone! I feel it is important to have plenty of back up in those situations!

In this case, we did have painters paint the room and the cabinet. The painting of the house was part of our agreement with our contractor. When I asked how much additional to do the cabinet it was so minimal I couldn’t pass it up. Will it last forever? Probably not – you get what you pay for. However, there are so many tutorials out there for techniques and materials to do it better. So, if you are tired of a builder’s grade room – a little paint and a mix of vintage and new accessories can go a long way.

Even in a room that is as functional as a bathroom, I believe it is possible to put a personal touch and add items that are meaningful. Items like the ornament, flowers, the painted cabinet and even the maple bucket make the room very much part of our home.

I will be sharing at some of the link parties found here and at

The March Before and After Party atAnd Thanks for stopping by!