The crash project to create a vintage style black-and-white bathroom is: Done! And oh my gosh, did we have fun. One of the highlights, for sure, was at the very end, when Aunt Mary Anne and I were decorating. I remembered that I had just seen a bag of vintage costume jewelry in another bedroom, which Mom had picked up at an estate sale. We used it to bling-ify the bathroom, giving it a sparkly girly-girl lift. Aunt Mary Anne thought to put the vintage earrings right onto the shower hooks. We created: Shower Curtain Rod Ring Bedazzlers! LOVE!
Aunt Mary Anne rocks! She is the the most AMAZING decorator in the world. I learned SO MUCH from her. Note the shower curtain. It — and the pink sculpted towels — are both from the Target Shabby Chic collection. As part of my “get this bathroom done in 7 days” constraints, Target and one nearby antique mall are the only places I shopped for decor. I went right for those sculpted Shabby Chic towels. She also guided me to buy the deeper pink towel (“Home” collection, I recall) and to layer them. She then draped a costume pearl necklace over — clipping the earring at the bottom.
Target Shabby Chic sculpted pink hand towel with costume jewelry. Aunt Mary Anne sees this photo and says, “What happened to the earring?” At left: A peek at the $98 white vanity countertop from Lowes. Cultured marble = plastic, but I like it!
We initially thought that we would use a sliding shower door. I actually have it, and am stuck with it — Lowe’s will not take it back because it was a “special order” (even though it was very simple and was in a stockroom waiting somewhere. This annoys me to no end. Shame on you, Lowes, you lose mega points off your otherwise near-perfect score for overall wonderfulness for this ridiculousness.) We changed our mind to go with a shower curtain, rather than a sliding glass door, to give my mom more space to maneuver in the relatively narrow shower area.
Above: The Lowe’s vanity that I painted black using Rustoleum Cabinet Transformations — the whole project turned out great. I want to paint everything using the Rustoleum kit process! New pulls and knobs from Home Depot. Kohler Fairfax lav faucet from FaucetDirect.com. Soap dish: Vintage, from a rapid-fire shopping trip to Peddlar’s Mall in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. Wastebasket: Old popcorn tin that Mom had saved. Aunt Mary Anne is mortified that we did not have “real” wastebasket liners, available from Bed Bath & Beyond, and that we had to use an old Target bag instead. She is a totally convincing role model about “do it right.” Vintage bracelet around the hand towel. Paint colors: Regular Gray (wall) and Alabaster (trim), both from Sherwin Williams. The gray has a bit of pink in it – when the sun comes through in late afternoon, it even looks a bit lavendar.
Jeremy laid the tile. The grout is Delorean Gray, from Tec — a wonderful grout color. The threshold of the shower is Carrera marble. Yum yum yum.
We even styled the top of the toilet. I found the big, heavy round vintage shaving mirror at Peddlar’s. Mary Anne and I are both super detail-oriented. She totally approved of the fact that I replaced the stock toilet flushing lever with a satin-nickel one from Moen. Toilet is American Standard, comfort height — the complete kits from Lowe’s. We actually replaced the toilet in the hall bath, too. However, they IMMEDIATELY started exhibiting problems. BOTH of them. IMMEDIATELY. They run after you flush and you have to jiggle the handle to get the tank to fill. This is also Ridiculous and will have to be remedied. Shame on you, American Standard and Lowe’s, for selling piece- of-crap crappers.
Rug also is Target Shabby Chic. Mom had the infuser around. She loved the bathoom. She said it was “just what I dreamed of.” 🙂
Lauryn says
Wow, kudos to y’all for pulling this project off. What a feat. Love the floor and especially love the vintage soap dish. It’s been fun watching it all come together from the comfort of the computer screen!
Re: Lowe’s. You probably already mentioned your blog to them, but I would think that they would want to keep on the good side of someone who has so many readers and is in the position to influence those readers on where they shop. Maybe mention it again, see how they respond.
Anyway, congrats! Great work, it looks fabulous.
Tcpr says
Awesome bath, and I especially have to thank you for the mention of Rustoleum Cabinet paint — it’s just what I’ve been needing, and I hadn’t heard of it yet! I just wanted to encourage you with an idea for the shower doors if you can’t return them. I use my old shower doors placed on top of folding sawhorses as outdoor tables! I got the idea from noticing that a patio table I bought had the same tempered glass as the doors. They are incredibly useful this way, and I think it’s a pretty good way to recycle perfectly good glass.
Amy Hill says
It looks beautiful! And what a nice thing you did for your mother. She should be able to safely use that bathroom for years to come. The walk-in shower complete with stool is perfect. Love the Rubber Ducky, too!
susan says
The shower curtain jewels are the perfect finishing touch. Congratulations!!!! Job well done in record time.
Lori says
Great job it looks wonderful!!
I can’t believe that Lowe’s will not work with you on that return. As a Lowe’s employee I have seen all kinds of special order stuff returned. Did you talk to a manager?
I hope this will not deter you as Lowe’s shopper in the future 🙁 I tell my customers in the paint department about your site all of the time. By the way we can mix those Sherwin Williams colors at Lowe’s and it would have saved you some time.
nina462 says
Very nice indeed! Love the bling on the shower hooks – reminds me of something I saw last year at a sale—someone was making refrigerator magnets from those old vintage earrings. I thought to myself, hmmm I’m gonna have to make some myself!
Cynthia says
Looks awesome! Great job!
Melanie says
It looks fantastic!
Gabbie says
Wow. It really turned out lovely. I think the floor is my favorite!
Jana (Berniecat) says
Pam — You and Aunt Mary Anne are the bomb!!! Your mom’s bathroom is awesome!
I adore the floor tile- it ties everything together so nicely! The shower curtain “bling” is truly an inspiration! You both did a wonderful job in such a short time- wow! It is a sense of accomplishment when you finish a difficult project for yourself, but it is even MORE rewarding when you finish a project together with someone you love for someone you love! 🙂 . P.S. Love the touch of kitch with the rubber ducky.