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.
Mark says
Great job. It i funny you were looking for the bowtie or butterfly lights…..and I have been looking or the kind of lights you replaced.
Pam Kueber says
Hi Mark: I did a story on where to find porcelain ceramic lighing fixture, it’s a bit old but likely still relevant: https://retrorenovation.com/2012/06/14/17-vintage-reproduction-porcelain-lighting-fixtures-and-1-places-to-hunt-for-vintage/
Note to clarify: I wasn’t “looking” for the bowtie lights — they found me at an estate sale, in a box buried in a garage of an amazing time capsule house.
Karin Jeffrey says
Pam, I guess you saw the recent eBay ad featuring a pair of these sconces. Did you see the price? I was truly gobsmacked. I’ve also seen them on First Dibs. Gotta give you props, you sure know how to pick ’em. And I thought the Rejuvenation Geminis were expensive LOL! Now,
not so much…I guess I’m ordering the Geminis. They’re not quite as glamorous as yours, but at least they’re available.
.
pam kueber says
Yes, and I found mine buried in a box in newspaper in a garage! Honestly, I paid like $0 for them. Yes, ZERO. ‘Cuz I buy all kinds of odd stuff, put it in pile, and they say, like, $10.
Margie C. says
Seriously amazing and beautiful re-do, Pam! I am in awe. The room has a really classy look now with everything tied in so well. Love your love letter to the sconces.
Mary Beth says
Those sconces are totally dreamy – I would spend large chunks of my day just staring at them!
Karin from Toronto says
Pam, this bathroom will be all over the web like your kitchen. I’m speechless over those sconces. What a find! Love the gold touches on the glass and the delicate fluted edges. Gorgeous!
Kristie says
I love this so much. Yes, the original paper and lights were nice in their own right, but this just makes the space. It is funny that you started out wanting “Victorian farmhouse”, because in a way, I think this new decor channels the mid-century version of that look. We always think mid century was about modern, but as you have pointed out in various articles, historical influences were regularly used as inspiration for mid-century design.
October Afternoon, a company that designs paper for papercrafters had a line they called “farmhouse” that I think perfectly captures that mid-century meets Victorian farmhouse look: http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/product_view/SongbirdCrafts/5394560/farmhouse_double-sided_paper_12_x12_-gravel_road/craft_supplies/scrapbooking
The colors are even reminiscent of your bathroom! And this isn’t just a look confined to modern interpretations of mid-century design. In the 50’s, this look was everywhere- even the famous “Duck and Cover” film- look at 2:27 to see the quintessential mid-century “Victorian farmhouse”:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKqXu-5jw60
denise says
The sconces are beautiful, the room looks light and airy. I like the idea of getting a metallic flick of light now and again.
Towels: what about getting white ones and dying them to the perfect shade of butterscotch to match?
Melody says
Pam, I wonder if vintage Cannon bathtowels in Camel would be a good butterscotchy tone?
Christa says
Kudos on a job well done. Since finding this sight about 5 years ago, I am starting to warm up to wall paper although whether or not I ever hang it in my house, only time will tell. Maybe in another 5 years!
Pat says
I liked the new fixtures, but I really liked the old ones too, wish I had them for my bath!