Young House Love

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A Nautical Bathroom Renovation

Last year Lilly and her husband Markus spent her Independence Day making over her half bath, so we thought we’d celebrate her sweet makeover on their one year bathroom anniversary. Here’s her (hilarious) letter:

After living in our 1952 house for three years, I was so excited to finally be able to remodel our tiny but crazy powder bathroom that connects to our bedroom. We did all of the demolishing, painting, tiling, plumbing, painting, beadboard and trim ourselves and it was a Fourth of July weekend blast!

Lily Before

I let out my aggression on some wallpaper one day after work. It was stuck on well, much like our previous bathroom makeover, but after borrowing our neighbor’s Scunci steamer it started peeling off easily.

Lily During Demo

We took a full day to mix the mortar and lay all of the tile. We purchased a wet saw at Home Depot for about $90 and snipped some tiles off of the sheets and cut them down to fit the edges and corners using the saw. We accidentally mixed a second match of mortar too thin, which caused our tiles to not stick to the floor and nearly brought the end of our marriage, but soon we had completely tiled floors!

Lily Tile Down

I think my favorite part of the entire bathroom experience was grouting. You start to see it all come together, it’s almost idiot proof and it’s good for the upper body. I chose a grey grout to pop against the white tile and stay neutral for future home owners. With that said, after spending so much time on this bathroom project it is unlikely that I will be selling this house before my death. I picture George Banks in front of the wrecking ball in Father of the Bride II.

Lily During Grouting

I knew I wanted the room to have a midcentury prep feel, with nautical elements even though I hate theme bathrooms. I thought the rope mirror, polished chrome hardware, and navy wall gave the look I was going for without going overboard (overboard?? heh? …a little nautical bathroom humor).

Lily After Mirro

This piece [on the right wall] was originally a gift to my grandfather and he took so much pride in it, hanging it over his easy chair up until he died. My grandmother processes her life through shopping for furniture, so everything in their house is different now and while I love our family today, I cherish having a piece of the house that used to be with me in my new family’s home.

Lily After

My secret favorite part of the room is the built in magazine rack that I saved from the original architecture and reinstalled and painted to match the beadboard and trim. It’s a perfect place to stash some of my “never will I ever recycle these in a million years” editions that I still enjoy flipping through. – Lilly

Life After Magazine Rack

So a big thanks to Lily for sharing her makeover! We especially love that she included the art from her grandparents’ house and restored the original magazine rack. Be sure to hit up Lilly’s blog for the full story and a complete source list. Happy Fourth of July weekend everyone!

Comments

  2. Tina says

    Brilliant and absolutely lovely…I’d
    never seen a magazine rack like that for a bathroom– love it!

    Reply

  3. Rosemary says

    Love the magazine rack! At first, I thought it was a hole where one of those old gas heaters used to be. We’ve considered taking our gas heater out and putting a box of sorts in its spot…so I think I know what I want to do with it now!

    Reply

  5. Emma says

    Love! Great job. Guess what. I currently have the delightful flooring in the “before” picture in my 1959 kitchen. :\

    Reply

    • Rebecca says

      That’s the kitchen flooring I grew up with in the 70s and 80s! Never forget that look.

  6. Anastasia says

    While I am a huge nautical lover (anchor tattoo on foot!) I too dislike theme bathrooms. This one definitely has not gone overboard and captures the essence! My favorite touch is the lobster on the toilet! Thanks for sharing

    Reply

  8. janice says

    Lovely and WELL DONE! The little built in is great and I’m so relieved to hear the marriage survived! :)

    Reply

  12. Kristen says

    This looks great; thanks for sharing! I love the tile and the wall color!

    I’m about to update a bathroom that has wall paneling/ beadboard as well. I have two little ones, so I’ve been thinking about painting the paneling the dark, “bold” color and then painting the upper wall white (in order to avoid dirty fingerprints on white paneling). I know that this in not the “traditional” way to paint paneling in a bathroom. Any thoughts on painting a bathroom this way? (In other words, is this idea a mistake?!)

    Reply

    • Kaely says

      My parents had a beadboard bathroom with a dark color on the bottom and a light color on the top and it was lovely. They stained (nstead of painting) their beadboard a really deep forest green and had a pale pale butter yellow on top. I loved that room.

  13. Beth says

    I thought I was the only one who got my reno on during holiday weekends! Haha! Love to see this post as I am redoing our first floor half bath at this very moment. Well, not *this* very moment. I am taking a break while some paint and spackle dry.

    Nice work! Love the beadboard!

    Reply

  17. Amy says

    1. I love that you don’t have double sinks. It is my biggest peeve on House Hunters – “Our marriage will never survive… blah blah blah
    2. Love the colors – looks so clean and fresh.
    3. People are lying to themselves if they don’t love a good magazine rack in the potty room.

    Reply

  20. VANESSA says

    Ok…this has nothing to do with this bathroom but did you know that Clara and Burger are on the home page of People.com today dressed in the burger and hot dog costumes?!?!?!

    Reply

  21. Carla says

    Awwwww……we had that god awful orange and grey linoleum in my kitchen when I was a child. The grey lines were often used as roads for my Weebles! What a good memory. That being said, the new tile is WOWZA! The whole room is beautiful, and definitely not overboard (haha). Great job, Lily!

    Reply

  23. Lindsay says

    I adore that magazine rack! The rope mirror is such a beautiful, unique touch too~ without going into flying-seagulls-anchors away nautical! Great find and great job;) I laughed out loud at the Father of the Bride comment!

    Reply

  24. Natalie says

    Hi guys! Love the post today… but my comment is unrelated. I was just over at people.com and there is a picture of Clara and Burger on the main page!! In their halloween costumes from a few years back. SOooooo adorable!! Just wanted to make sure you guys knew :)

    Reply

  25. Meghan says

    I hope I didn’t miss this from the post or other comments but what paint color is the blue? I love it!

    Reply

  27. Wendy says

    Why are people gushing over this? Except for the cool magazine nook, this bathroom couldn’t be more boring. And horrible placement of the towel hook.

    Reply

    • Jessica says

      Ouch, mean! I like the bathroom. Although I do agree that the towel hook is oddly placed. The towel is resting on the sink and that would bother me. Any reason, Lilly?

    • Hannah says

      I think it’s a lovely bathroom (exactly my style!) but I too am wondering what’s up with the towel hook?

    • Kaely says

      The towel placement is odd. I would have put it on the window wall so that it wasn’t resting on the sink. I don’t know that I would use the word boring though. It’s classic, which I guess is boring to some people?

    • Lilly says

      Yes, the towel hook was a hard battle! The spot it now rests is was the only place between the sink and toilet we could find a good stud. I tried it more to the right and it kept coming out of the wall where I had to spackle my new, gorgeous bead boarding. Maybe it was a series of rookie mistakes? The towels hang more straight. I think I spread it over the sink a little more in the picture to get the embroidery. Wendy is super invited over to a home I do not have to resell down the road. Those are sure to be much less boring! Thank you SO much to John and Sherry for the gracious feature!

  29. ChelseaNeu says

    I love that rope mirror!! Awesome redo!

    I am currently doing this same red,white and blue in my son’s/guest bathroom! We remodeled the bath before he was born but it has never been “right” so I’ve got new towels and am getting my paint on tonight! He will love it when he wakes up tomorrow :-)

    Reply

  31. YaYa says

    I’m with Wendy, the awkward placement of the towel rack throws off the whole room or me, it looks like an accident. I do love that magazine rack though :)

    Reply

  32. KimberJ says

    My dad, when he was in his late 80″s, began to think of the porcelain throne as his “easy chair”. He would have loved the irony of hanging his favorite picture over it.
    (Sorry… I know that’s probably the tackiest comment EVER but it just struck me funny)
    Lily’s makeover is really beautiful and I can’t believe they did it over the 4th last year!

    Reply

  33. Corinne says

    Fabulous redo…I am sure they have been enjoying it all year….a little side note my parents installed the same exact linoleum that Lilly had in her bathroom previous to the redo in their kitchen in 1973…brought back lots of memories.

    Reply

  34. Ang says

    Oh my gosh- We used to have that orange floor in our kitchen!

    Their after looks sooo great- :)

    Beautiful bathroom!

    Reply

  36. Alisha says

    I am a huge fan of that fun tile floor!!

    AND of anyone who will admit that a home improvement project has almost ended their marriage, lol!!

    When my husband and I got engaged (12/22/11) our New Year’s resolution was to buy a house THAT MONTH (actually, that was HIS brilliant plan) AND he wanted to have a destination wedding in Arizona (when we and both sets of our parents live in Michigan) at the end of March. We couldnt close on our house til the end of February–which is also when he told both his and my landlord we would be moved out by. During that time, his uncle unexpectadely passed away and his dad’s cancer returned so he had to start chemo treatments (so he wouldnt be able to travel to our wedding). It was such a chaotic, high stress time, I didn’t know if we were gonna make it as a couple!!

    I just remember trying to move two apartments worth of stuff into one house, with one pickup truck, and no help from friends, in one day, in a foot of snow in the dead of winter, and us bickering and me crying and carrying on so loudly in the front yard that I was sure the neighbors were going to deem us the “Crazy New Neighbors” and avoid us at all costs. It was one of the toughest times we’ve been through together, but it has made married life just that much sweeter!!

    (BTW–I flat out refused to get married in AZ without his dad so we pushed the wedding back til that August–and moved it to MI–which was actually when his dad was declared Cancer-free again! Woohoo!)

    Reply

  37. Terresa says

    What THE HELL is on that toilet?? Is that a lobster, is it a giant crawfish?? I don’t think I could turn my back on that thing even knowing it’s dead.

    Reply

    • Stefanie says

      Oh my gosh, I don’t know how I missed that the first time but I totally agree! Love the rest of the look but I don’t think I could use a toilet that has animal parts on it…

  38. Lynne says

    I love what you’ve done with the bathroom. It’s not a style I would have ever thought to use and yet it looks so crisp and timeless.
    Magazine racks in bathrooms baffle me though. Who on earth spends so much time sitting there that they have time to read?

    Reply

  39. Danielle says

    I love the overall vibe of this space, especially the tile she worked so hard on! Personally, I think the hand towel placement would drive me nuts. Perhaps it could be swapped out for a smaller-diameter ring or something where the hardware doesn’t hang so low and cause the towel to drag on the sink? Maybe something like… http://www.houzz.com/photos/2212509/KOHLER-K-11277-G-Forte-Traditional-Towel-Ring-in-Brushed-Chrome-traditional-towel-bars-and-hooks-

    Reply

  44. Bethany says

    Nothing to do with this post, but I realized today is 7-7 and wanted to wish you guys a happy anniversary! Love your blog, adore your family. Ü

    (I’m a moron and couldn’t find an email address to send this to. Heht.)

    Reply

  45. Andrew says

    Very nice job. Love the floors on this small bathroom. I’m sure look into a pattern like that when I get around to the guest toilet.
    Thanks for an inspiring blog.

    Reply

  47. Manda Wolf says

    Ah, holiday weekend renos. You have an extra day to accomplish more, or to a day to crash and recover before work. Anyone else every feel like you need a vacation to recover from your vacation? Looks really nice, I love the tile, bead board, and color.

    Reply

  50. Leonie HF says

    What a fantastic makeover, so impressed that it only took a weekend. It takes me several weeks to finish painting a room! Love the floor tile and mirror – so unique and quirky!

    Reply

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