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Upstairs
Bathroom Makeover
 Welcome
to our first installment of Weekend Projects. For our first
project we have chosen to do a bathroom makeover with a budget of
under $100.00! This is a great project for the do-it-yourselfer with
basic knowledge of painting, wallpapering and light woodworking. If
this is not you, you may want to enlist the help of a friend or
relative with these skills or pick up one of many books or videos on
painting and papering from your local home center.
As
you can see from the before picture, The walls and ceiling in our
project bath were painted all white. The homeowners chose a white
vanity, blue countertop and white tile with blue accents for the
floor during construction. The tub is white with a white and blue
cultured marble tub surround.
For
our weekend project, we wanted to add some much-needed color to the
room. The only window in the bath is a small transom window in the
shower so a bright theme was chosen. Using the existing white and
blue colors in the room as our guideline we headed out to the local
home center to start shopping on Friday night.
Armed
with the room’s measurements we started by going into the kitchen
cabinet area and looking for a color chip that matched our bathroom
countertop. If you can find the chip it will help you to visualize
how any paint or paper selections will work with the countertop. We
found ours, it was Wilsonart® brand Blue Nebula.
 For
our wallpaper, we selected a white paper with light blue vertical
pinstripes from Laura Ashley. We also chose a Laura Ashley border
that worked well with the paper and gave us the color we were
looking for to brighten up the room. Once we selected the border we
took a sample to the paint department to select our paint. We had a
number of choices on the border, light blue, medium blue, green,
gold and yellow. We selected yellow to brighten up the room. We
compared the border sample to the paint chips until we found the
best match.
The
last item we needed from the home center was a molding to install
between the wallpaper and the lower border. We selected a chair rail
molding and purchased it pre-primed white. If available, purchase
the pre-primed molding. On a two day project, the less work you have
to do the better! Before you head out to the home center check to
see if you have any extra trim paint at home. Sometimes builders or
painters will leave small amounts of paint for touch up of
baseboards, door trim etc. If not, you will need to purchase a
quart. We used oil based high gloss enamel on our molding to match
the baseboards and trim.
Saturday-Day
One
Our
goal for day one was to get the painting done. We started by
painting the molding first. Since we used enamel paint, we needed to
do this first to allow proper drying time. Follow the paint
manufacturer's instructions for preparation and clean up.
Next
we painted the upper portion of the walls. We selected a height for
the molding to be installed level with the counter top. We measured
up from the floor and marked a level line around the entire bathroom
wall at ½ inch below the counter top. This line will separate the
paint and the wallpaper.
We
then painted from the line up to the ceiling with our eggshell latex
yellow paint.
Sunday-Day
Two
We
started out the day by installing the wallpaper below our paint
line. Since we painted down to ½ inch below our molding height, we
papered up to the same line. The molding covered the line when we
installed it.
After
we installed the paper, we took final measurements for the molding.
We cut and installed the molding level with the top of the
countertop (1/2 inch above our line) everywhere the paint and paper
came together.
After
installing the molding we measured and installed the wallpaper
boarder above the molding and around the ceiling. Then we went back
and filled any nail holes in the molding and touched up the molding
paint as needed.
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