While Kate has been hard at work on the epic task of gut renovating her 1960s bathroom, I tackled the much less ambitious — but amazingly gratifying — task of re-wallpapering my master bathroom. I know. I know. You like the “before” picture. Maybe better than the after. But the “before” wallpaper was falling off the wall after about 10 years of my using the bathroom like a sauna. So it had to come down. I found the replacement vintage wallpaper at an estate sale. One of the key things that I want to point out in this story: You can totally change the look and feel of a bathroom — just by swapping out the wallpaper. HUGE transformation. Oh, I changed the lights, too — using vintage fixtures I found for a steal. I ADORE my glowy new / old bathroom.
Above: I used DIF to remove the old wallpaper. There was also liner underneath. The wallpaper was falling down from behind the liner paper. So I think the issue may have been with how the wall was prepped for the liner paper. Or, as I said, it could be that I use the room like a steam bath that no manner of exhaust fan can process fast enough. This latter hypothesis is most likely, I believe, since the falling down / peeling was happening most dramatically at the shower-edge.
That last photo above is my decollage moment.
Above: I swapped out the Rejuvenation Selma’s that I originally had installed in the bathroom for these vintage lights that have a way more vintage-modern feel. I found these sconces at the Great Adams Estate Sale Be Still My Heart HERE and here and here and here and here and here. As you can see, before I blogged fulltime (when I had a “real” day job) I used to write shorter stories!
Another background factoid: When I first renovated the bathroom, around 2003, I still had in my heart’s desire that I wanted a Victorian farmhouse. Hence, the porcelain sconces. However, as my journey into the mid century design world progressed, I understood that my house had a much more mid modern feel. Those porcelain sconces were too ’40s for my space. I knew that someday I needed to replace them. When I switched the wallpaper, I remembered these gorgeous bow-tie sconces and dug them out of my attic lighting hoard. (Which is quite impressive, at this point.) I ADORE THEM.
Like I said, this bathroom — with its beige tile and beige wallpaper … with just a dash of yellow and grey … and dreamy frilly frosted glass sconces — is just GLOWY. I went looking for a shower curtain, and found an ivory cloth number at Homegoods for $7.95. It has small, swiss dot woven texture.
Seriously, I almost didn’t wallpaper. I almost just left the walls white. I have been super duper busy with all kinds of other things, and really, was not in the mood to dedicate the time for this project. I did it in stages over the course of several weeks (chaos all over adjacent spaces). Once the white size was up in two coats and as I procrastinated finishing the job, I almost decided to just paint over with white and hang some art and to heck with decorating complexity. But Kate — with her epic project — was shaming me. So I wallpapered. Finishing up this last piece — wallpapering — took about four hours a day for two days over a weekend. (It’s tricky in a small space with lots of cut outs.)
In the end, I am super happy I did it. The wallpaper makes me immensely overwhelmingly happy. Don’t ever try to talk me out of wallpaper again. Now, I think I really need to do the mud room.
WHO would have thought you could put yellow and grey with beige? I am on the lookout for yellow towels to match. But this may be a hard one. The yellow has no acid tones. It’s kind of … butterscotchy. And YES: The leaves on the yellow flowers are gold metallic.
For this project, I just used the plain old DIF brand wallpaper adhesive — powder you mix with water. We’ll see how it holds up to my “steam room.”
Read this original story of mine about How to Wallpaper a Room in Vintage Wallpaper.
Now for my love letter to these bow tie sconces:
Oh how I love you, you gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous vintage bow tie sconces. Certain ebay sellers want to sell you these days for $900 a pair. But I found you, forgotten and forlorn, in an old apple box in the garage of an estate sale house. All my greedy grubby dirty handed digging paid off. I found you. You found me. I don’t know who made you. But I know you are of wonderful stock. You are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. I look forward to our many hours together. I love you.
P.S. Now I need a Stylebuilt trash can.
And, an update: Lots of folks asking about my sink. When we renovated the bathroom, I put a “wanted” ad on craigslist (or was it in the local newspaper? Maybe it was the newspaper, the internets weren’t so super popular yet). I quickly got a hit. Got the sink from a woman in Dalton who had it in her basement from a previous remodel. I paid $65. It included the legs and towel bars. I had to have the faucet rebuilt. The faucet is now gunking up again, and I really need to replace it. Now I know where to find retro-style centersets.
Getting these vintage wall-hung sinks is pretty easy, I think. The legs: Much more difficult to find, although I do see them vintage now and then. (I think they just got tossed in remodels.) If you want to buy chrome sink legs new, best source I know, for selection, is deabath.com. Note, the legs do not support the sink in any meaningful way, as far as I know. The sinks hang on wall brackets — you can also get these from deabath.com. If you are buying a sink vintage, be sure to get the wall brackets if you can, you will save some expense.
KDA says
At first, I didn’t think the new sconces work with the space, but after seeing the pictures with them on, I get it.
Ranger Smith says
Ya done good Pam! So impressed that you did this without hiring out. It really looks great. Enjoy the fruits of your labor.
Diane in CO says
To-Die-For gorgeous. You don’t have to explain to me how those sconces make you feel — what a lovely find!
Hubs will no doubt be accusing you of hogging the bathroom…he’ll never get you out of there now!
pam kueber says
He has his own bathroom!
Eartha Kitsch says
The after is beautiful. That wallpaper is soooo pretty. I loved the before too but wouldn’t have been able to live with those issues either. I don’t envy you on the wallpaper removal. I bet the new lights give a softer light than the old ones did.
Kay says
The sconces you put up with your new wallpaper looked so familiar to me. I began thinking back to the 1960’s when we moved into our house, and at that time there were two of these sconces in that house! We don’t live there any longer and replaced them while there, but still many memories of this time. We also had a pink tiled bathroom and wish I still had that house like it was when we moved in!
Kim Campbell says
I love it! I actually prefer the new wallpaper. And the sconces with the small detail in the glass fit beautifully!
Kerry Leth says
It’s beautiful. Glowy is the right word! Can you please remind us about your sink? I just love it.
pam kueber says
I found the sink at the time we renovated the bathrooms about 10 years ago. I put a “wanted” ad in craigslist. I forget the brand. But the legs and towel bars came with. All for $65. I had to have the faucet rebuilt. I would not do that again, the rebuild is now gunky. But, at the time, I did not have the resources that I have subsequently discovered.
helen V says
Love the new wallpaper better than the old, didn’t like the lights until I saw the close up pictures, but still prefer the old…can you come to Europe 🙂 I’m not a retro girl, but maybe you can help with urban chalet style. Plus who doesn’t want a trip to Europe?
Cheers
Helen
pam kueber says
If you wanna hire me and pay my way, I’d love to help, heck yeah!
Wendy M. says
Beautiful! I love the new wallpaper and sconces. Also, it makes me happy to see a beige bathroom featured. I’m always envious of the wonderful pastel bathrooms you show, but we have an original beige bathroom- it’s nice to see the color scheme represented.
I wanted to share a design trick I accidentally learned in our beige bathroom. We have a shower surround that is not my first choice and I wanted to hide it, so I bought enough fabric to make a floor-to-ceiling shower curtain. The bonus side-effect was it made the ceilings seem much higher. Everyone that walks in comments about it- a couple of people even refused to believe it was an optical illusion!
MissyN says
Great idea for a curtain, Wendy!
The room is beautiful, Pam. I love the sconces and I too am pleased that you chose a wallpaper that highlights the beige tile so beautifully. Really nice work.
ChicagoMel says
Great tip Wendy! We have a muddled beige bathroom with original random mosaic beige tiles on the floors and clashing beige tiles from the 80’s (?) on the walls. I’m very excited to one day retro update with either a beige or grey bathroom.
Chaucea says
Yeah, a floor-to-ceiling shower curtain would be a great choice in this bathroom (and to replace the beigy outlet with a white one). 🙂
Robin, NV says
Oh Pam, that is just lovely and soft and perfect! I bet those colors make your skin just glow.
I need help figuring out what to do with my Ming green and yellow bathroom. Sadly, I don’t think wallpaper is the answer because I don’t have a fan at all! The walls get pretty moist but they dry quickly thanks to the lack of humidity here.