Let’s talk about vanity, shall we? Specifically the sink vanity that we last left off as primed in this post.
This is one of those real-life stories where we painstakingly stared at about fifty swatches before carefully choosing a pretty kelly green tone that we thought would be awesome. A fun pop of color in a white room (sort of like this). So off to the store we went and grabbed a quart of Baby Fern by Benjamin Moore in their semi-gloss Natura paint. And after one coat – even though we gave it two in the hope that the second one would work a miracle – we knew…
Baaaaaaad call.
Seriously, at one point Clara said it was the same color as Kermit The Frog. How did this happen?
So we did what any self respecting DIYer would do and we whined a little and then we laughed for a while and then we went out to the garage and stared at all of the paint cans that we have sitting around and finally found the one we were looking for: Silhouette. It’s an awesome moody brown/gray tone with the slightest plum undertones. Really, photos of it hardly do it justice but we first used it for a bunch of book projects and fell in love, so it’s no surprise it was our “rebound guy.” We didn’t want our hearts broken again, and we thought it would be really sophisticated with the slate too. And happily, it was:
Now instead of the white bathroom with the colorful vanity, it’s shaping up to be the chic little black and white bathroom (ok, it’s not really black, but it’s close enough to give it that vibe). We especially love how it looks with the dark doorknob and hinges.
And although we did have some need-to-repaint bad luck, when it came to the knobs the universe threw us a bone. We went to Anthropologie just to look around (sometimes we fall in love with $14 a knob items, which are a little too steep for us) and these cool faceted knobs were marked down to $2.95!
One of my favorite things about their octagonal shape is that they mimic the angles of the mirror, which also has the same tone in it.
How lucky is that?
And we also grabbed this toilet paper holder from Lowe’s on clearance to replace the old wood one we had there before.
Remember this guy?
Definitely an upgrade.
You’ve come a long way, half bathroom.
So that’s the story of gaining a little vanity va-va-voom, with one of those surprise DIY speedbumps along the way. I think the lesson is that you win some and you lose some, but as long as you keep on trucking – and course correcting as you go – things usually work out OK.
Next up I have to scrub or replace the grout, and switch out this leaky faucet.
And we can’t forget our upside down light (remember I turned it around here to allow for a bigger mirror?). Doesn’t it look like two beady little eyes and the mirror is the mouth? Like the bathroom’s making the same face I’m making in this super flattering picture?
The light is a smidge off-centered from the mirror. The issue is that the faucet and the light don’t line up, so if we centered the mirror on the light it would be really off compared to the faucet, so we sort of split the difference so it’s less noticeable for now.
So yeah, there are a few more things that we’d love to do in here for this Phase 1 update – mainly some grout fixing, light updating, and a new faucet. I’m weirdly excited about light shopping (and completely avoiding the grout project – so we’ll see how long I can go). Even though we have plans for a more major bathroom upgrade down the line (grasscloth wallpaper? tiled accent wall? pedestal sink?), it definitely feels nice to make some cheap tweaks to make it more welcoming in the meantime. Anyone else working on a half bathroom update? How goes it?
Tamie says
The timing on this post is so funny because we spent OUR whole weekend doing our half bath downstairs! We had a clean slate to work with since our house is new construction, so at least we started with builder grade BLAH and didn’t have to remove wallpaper or repaint any trim =). The space drove us crazy because it had ZERO architectural interest. So so boring! You guys inspired me so much with your crown molding posts and hallway transformation in your last house that we decided to tackle doing crown molding and bead board walls! We even bought a nail gun, which hubby was super excited about! We bought a new vanity and new mirror and I think the space looks about 10 times classier now! I still want to add some lime green accents to finish the space (navy/lime green combo- um, hello YES!) but for now I am super happy!
I totally understand your color debacle, though! We too- wanted a bright green, fresh, space so I painted the entire bathroom this gorgeous (or so it looked on the swatch) green and then stepped back and the bathroom literally GLOWED from down the hallway. WAAAAYYYY too bright! So I panicked and ran to the store for a gallon of dark grey and painted it. Ugh. Too dark and too much purple undertones to it. Sigh. This is why I should have taken your example on buying little samples and color testing for a few days before dumping money into a full gallon. In the end, we too just went into our garage and found a gallon of paint in our stash from a wall in our old house and painted it that color. The grey-ish navy gave it the perfect nautical combo that we fell in love with. If only I had scoured the garage in the first place!! Oh well. Next up is our laundry room so hopefully some lessons were learned =)
Love your blog! Thanks for all the inspiration!!
And in case you are interested, here is the bathroom before/after:
http://i1364.photobucket.com/albums/r732/tamiecosman/powderbeforeafter_zps2944ae57.jpg
YoungHouseLove says
Looks amazing Tamie! I love it!
xo
s
Christine S. says
awesome job!
Rita says
As long as you’re testing methods of wallpaper stripping, maybe you could test out grout cleaning tips?? Here’s one to try… Woolite Foam Carpet Cleaner – Sprays out in foam stream so you can spray right on grout line. Let set several minutes, brush, wipe away. Easiest way ever to clean gross grout!
YoungHouseLove says
Someone else mentioned that too!
xo
s
Kara says
Hey Sherry!
Love the transformation, and that you shared your ‘oops’ with us!
As for the grout, I tried to scroll to see if anyone else already suggested it (too many comments to read through all of them though!), but I just painted my kitchen walls which made the brown grout look way off. I took a box of magic erasers to them and I could not believe the difference. I have tried so many different types of concoctions for getting grout clean and had mild if any success, but this was like night and day. They sell the scrub ones at big box stores, which I like best. You might want to give that a try to see if it works for you! I did have to put some elbow grease in, but my arms weren’t ready to fall off by the time I was done or anything.
Best of luck!
~Kara
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Kara!
xo
s
Julie Scherer says
Maybe try painting the grout. I just finished painting the grout in my entire shower and it made it looks brand new! I used the “Grout Refresh” from Lowes. I’ve been recommending it to everyone. I ended up painting all the grout in my entire house and it looks like I just had everything retiled.
Suzanne says
Any Royal baby predictions Sherry or John? :) I’m guessing a girl.
YoungHouseLove says
Girl! And one of the four names will be Primrose – maybe with Diana in there too. That’s my humble royal guess.
xo
s
Diana Buchanan says
Ok, I ALMOST had an “oh no they didn’t!” moment when I opened your blog and saw the green vanity. Luckily you redeemed yourselves, phew! That was close!
I think you were right to go with the brown/grey color to really anchor the bathroom. And I’m LOVINGGGG the Anthro pulls! Nothing like a good deal! We are closing on our first home on Wednesday and I have some big plans for our half bath, too. Except that ours happens to be in our master bedroom. womp womp.
Thanks for the inspiration!
Dominique says
Ugh I’m so disappointed the green didn’t work out. But you definitely made the right decision. The green was scary. Good design call Clara!
photojenic says
Is there much of a difference between painting
cabinets with regular paint vs. the special
self-leveling stuff you used for your last kitchen?
Do you find it has the same durability, especially
in a bathroom setting? Thanks!
YoungHouseLove says
If we were going with white we would have definitely used the Advance paint that we have left over, but since we wanted a different color we didn’t think it was worth spending $50 for a new can of it for this small vanity (they don’t sell it as a quart – and we’ll be replacing this sink/vanity down the line). If you’re painting a big double vanity that will be in a bathroom for the long haul (maybe in a kids bathroom) I’d totally spring for the Advance paint though. It goes on so smooth and has such great durability (it’s made specifically for painting furniture and cabinets)!
xo
s
Natalie says
I felt a little sick when I saw th green…. Not used to you getting things wrong!! So glad when I scrolled further down, looks great!
TheBrooklynFig says
Hahah love your daughter’s Kermit comment- so true! I think the new brown hue looks a million times better. Great buy on those knobs- it’s so hard to find Anthropologie items on sale that you really want.
Bboss says
Like the Nicki Minaj expression. This is why I don’t do projects, I can’t get past the whining stage when things go south.
Andrea says
Oh god thank you for not keeping the green :D Silhouette looks SO sophisticated, I absolutely love it!
I wish BM paints were available in shops in Germany, too :( There’s a couple of websites one could order it but I prefer to buy paint IRL and not online. sigh sigh.
Kim says
We are in the process (slow process) of updating our bathrooms. The floors are Linoleum and true to the quality of everything else in the workmanship of this house, they were slapped down after the baseboards were installed then “sealed” with about 1.5″ of caulk that recently peeled up. I am not upset about this as it was put down lumpy and attracted dust, dirt and mold where it did not dry well. So now the flooring is peeling up in the corners. We are trying to decide on new flooring – I would love to do tile but I always feel like it is just so cold on bare feet, especially in the winter so we might go with the cheaper and warmer but not as nice looking Laminate or Linoleum. If we did tile it would have to be ceramic – granite or marble tile would be overkill in our house. We do have large slate tiles in the two entryways but they would be uncomfortable in the bathroom as they are the rusic type. – Any recommendations of something I am not thinking of? The bathrooms are off of a hardwood hallway and carpeting in the bedrooms.
YoungHouseLove says
Hmm, we hear adding a heating pad under tile is pretty simple (roll out a mat and tile over it) so that could warm up tile for you and make it cozy. They even make tile that looks like hardwood, which is really cool in the bathroom!
xo
s
Chrissie says
I was looking forward to seeing a coloured vanity in that bathroom, but I’m a little in love with how it looks with the chocolate colour! Also, yay for grasscloth wallpaper, and boo for icky grout.
I’m itching to get nesting at the moment, but hindered by a nasty head cold that’s decided to hang around. Go away, germs, I want to CLEAN ALL THE THINGS!
Todd says
As for the grout, if you’re not able to scrub the stains away, have you heard of the products that both stain and seal grout to be (and stay) the color of your choice? I’ve been meaning to get some for our kitchen grout.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes, some folks are commenting with lots of solutions so we can’t wait to look into them!
xo
s
Ann Lamphere says
I love that you showed us the fail with the green paint! Sometimes I feel like I’m the only one who has a vision, and then the vision turns out to be wrong wrong wrong! It helps knowing other people don’t always get it right the first time.
Casey says
You might take a look at Flavor Paper. They used to be based in New Orleans but it looks like they’re in Brooklyn now. I had a friend who used to work for them, and when she contributed a couple of rolls to a charity auction, they were possibly the most bid-up item.
http://www.flavorpaper.com/wallpaper/
I’m really digging the design with the whale chasing the squid!
YoungHouseLove says
So cool!
xo
s
Kim says
“You had me several years ago, when I was still quite naive”
“When you said that we’d make such a pretty pair,
and that you would never leave”
“But you gave away the things you loved
And one of them wa-as me…” said the green paint to the new vanity!
Haha, grew up with this song- ear worm! Clara will be doing this with the songs she listens to now!
YoungHouseLove says
Haha!
xo
s
Kelly Reber says
I love bright green…. but you are so right that was not the right color – especially not with the vanity top. The new color is fab!!
I know it may not be BPC (blog politically correct) but I am linking to a post of mine about grout: http://www.primerandpaintednails.com/2012/08/oh-my-grout.html.
My Hubby and I almost made the costly mistake of paying someone big bucks to totally redo our grout until we found this stuff and hubby put it in the sweat equity to get it done on the cheap and it looks so good I was stunned. Try this route before you spend the big bucks… then maybe you can splurge on the grass cloth wallpaper with all the $$ you save. ;)
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks for the tip Kelly!
xo
s
Casey says
John might like Flower Pedal… my friends have it in their half bath: http://www.flavorpaper.com/wallpaper/detail_in_cat/79/69/Flower-Pedal#51
YoungHouseLove says
Insanely cool!
xo
s
caroline [the diy nurse] says
I love it! And I loved your idea of doing a pop of color on the vanity- I like kelly green- maybe it was just a wrong shade?? Wish we could do that in our own bathroom [we’re thinking of selling and I’m afraid of sending them over the edge considering our hallway before the bathroom is a dramatic herringbone print]!
richard says
Hi Guys-
Have you ever painted a LAMINATE vanity? We have a tile-bound one that I am scared to rip out…What do you think about painting the top, as well as the sides/doors/drawers?
YoungHouseLove says
I’ve never attempted that. I think you could paint the sides with good primer and paint, but I’d worry about painting the top since it could get scratched/chipped with use. Anyone have tips for Richard?
xo
s
Brooke says
The green was a good idea, probably just the wrong green for that room etc. I do however think the charcoal-ish colour you picked looks fantastic.
I laughed a bit when I read the comments about grout. Earlier as I was reading the post I was thinking you guys would have to do something to that grout and low and behold it was like you were reading my mind. Looks good in the half bath so far. 1000 times better.
Christine S. says
We are currently in the process of completely over-hauling our half bath. After figuring out that painted over wallpaper was not coming down with out taking the sheetrock with it, we gutted it! vanity- GONE crappy toliet with a broken tank cover- GONE Bought a new Martha Stewart vanity on clearance at Home Depot- SCORE !! Just laid new tile , waiting for sheetrock to go in- not our thing so hiring it out….can’t wait to slap some paint up and get this thing in the bag!
Love the dark color on your vanity, green was screaming a bit much…..love seeing your transformative home :)
haverwench says
Don’t worry, I’m sure that Baby Fern will still prove useful somewhere. Definitely too bright for the vanity, but maybe it will be just right for a ceramic animal.
Amanda says
Looking good! My parents are re-doing the bathroom in their late 1950s home in Baltimore and have the same slate tiled flooring that I see in your shots. Their plan was to rip it up, but when they started to have it done, they discovered that the tile was laid with a FULL layer of concrete underneath, poured to completely fill the floor joists. So, like many inches of concrete. They opted to instead tile right over the slate, and it turned out beautifully. The guys doing the work said that the work involved to get the concrete up would not be worth the time/money and that this provided for a very stable subfloor. Though I know it’s unlikely you have the same situation, I imagine it’s possible since we are in the same area geographically (well, relatively). Just wanted to tell you to tuck away in your brains for when you decide to re-do the flooring.
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks for the tip Amanda!
xo
s
Camilla @ Something Is Done says
Have you ever considered painting your grout lines? We did it in our hall bath (http://somethingisdone.com/painting-grout-lines/) and we’ve been really happy with it…it looks like new grout! Not sure how well it would work with the slate but maybe it’s worth looking into?
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Camilla!
xo
s
Christine S. says
I used White Vinegar to clean my nasty grout……pour it on, let it sit and scrub with a toothbrush……AMAZINGLY it actually worked, nice! Cheap and no harsh chemicals…..on and FYI the bathroom tile is circa 1970’s , yeah lots ‘O gunk
YoungHouseLove says
Man, I tried vinegar a while back and it didn’t work!
xo
s
Sarah says
Love the gray!
We just re-stained the grout on our kitchen backsplash this weekend with PolyBlend Grout Renew from Home Depot. It worked perfectly! Our ugly, yellow-tinged old grout is perfectly white now with only a few hours of work (for three 2’x12′ tiled areas). SO happy with a $12 easy solution, instead of having to replace the grout or tiles. Might be worth checking it out!
Good luck :)
YoungHouseLove says
Sounds awesome!
xo
s
Meg A. says
Looking fresh! However, I wouldn’t expect any less from Sherdog and J-Boom.
Susan says
I LOVE the Silhouette on your vanity. It’s amazing how different the sink color looks with the 2 different paints.
Your before and after comparison is quite dramatic; what a great example of a phase 1 update!
I feel your pain on the grout cleaning; I just finished scrubbing my entryway grout with a toothbrush and bleach/water solution. Needless to say tedious, but oh so rewarding! Instant gratification soothes sore knees…
Thanks for the great post.
Amy says
I used that exact shade of green in my baby boys nursery. I painted the old dresser and some horizontal stripes, but paired with dark blue, white, and brown and in a little boys room, Kermit works! Childish just wasn’t what your sophisticated little powder room needed! I can’t imagine what you’ll do with a whole reno if it looks this good with a cheap update!
Julie S says
Hah, I JUST had that problem with green paint on a dresser I refinished. I had to repaint twice before it stopped being too light & bright. It’s my latest post if you want to have a look. I always think complex neutrals (greiges etc.) are the toughest to get right but green might be the color that is almost as hard.
Patti says
Ooh that looks so nice now, good save! The grout cleaning is a very tedious job. I recently cleaned my kitchen grout with Clorox Cleanup spray and a stiff bristled brush. It brightened it up almost like new. I hear muriatic acid is another way to go but that may damage the tiles if they have a shiny finish on them. Good luck!
Amanda @ Living on Grace says
Haha, I had the opposite experience with that color! I painted a dresser almost that exact same color for my son’s nursery!
EVERYONE said it would look bad (my husband, my mom) but when it was finished and in place, everyone agreed that it looked great. (I wish I had pics of the transformation, but all I have is the photo of it at the bottom of this post: http://www.thekriegers.org/2012/02/six-months/ )
YoungHouseLove says
So sweet! The baby and the dresser!
xo
s
Christine says
I looooove this…so great to see a neutral colored space! I have a question…is your vanity as perfectly smooth and shiny as it looks? Are there any rough patches at all? I painted mine recently, and it does not look as good as yours! :(
YoungHouseLove says
It’s pretty smooth, although it was really dry and chalky to start with, so the paint definitely helped with the glossiness (we used a semi-gloss paint). Maybe try sanding rough spots? And smooth and even coats of paint (thin thin thin) are key to keep it from getting drippy and gunky as you go!
xo
s
Jen says
Hey, Did I miss why you gave up on green completely?? How come you didn’t try another shade of green? I mean, in your pics the green looks pretty neon…actually it looks EXACTLY the color of green painters tape… I’m sure a more muted/toned down shade would have looked lovely (more like your inspiration pic).
Jen says
Perhaps it would be a good idea to replace the counter top and sink at the same time, so you can actually achieve the look you’re going for? (I can’t imagine you’re super attached to the cream shell sink?)
Counter tops for tiny vanities like that are pretty cheap!! Even marble or granite ones. Actually you could replace the entire vanity with a new top and sink for cheap!
YoungHouseLove says
We just don’t know if down the line we’ll do a wall of accent tile or wallpaper with a pedestal sink! So we don’t want to replace part of the sink only to replace the whole thing down the line. This way we can just address the leaky faucet and even craigslist this sink as a whole down the line :)
xo
s
YoungHouseLove says
We realized that without any natural light in there most colors would read a lot more neon than they are, and we also realized that any tone of green has yellow in it (green = blue + yellow) and the yellowed sink just looked a lot more yellow and gross next to the green… so we worried other greens would have the same affect since they all have some amount of yellow in them. We’ll definitely work in pops of green in this house, it just wasn’t the right spot for it :)
xo
s
Sonia says
Hi YHL. I agree the green was way too loud to work in that room and starting over was definitely the right call. however, why fall back on brown? there are so many other colors from the color palette you posted last week you could have tried, or even a different shade of green closer to the inspiration pic? to me, a wooden vanity painted brown only looks like a fake wood color. there are so many other gorgeous color options out there to do the “pop of color” you were going for! best of luck to you and big hugs to Clara and Burger :)
YoungHouseLove says
It’s just a rich color that we’ve loved for a while (and knew it would look great with the floor and the yellowed sink-top). Fortunately we have about 98% of this house left to paint/decorate, so I promise some choices will be happy and bright while others are more subdued to let those other pops of colors shine :)
xo
s
Debbie Gartner aka The Flooring Girl says
Much better the second time around. I love the end product, it goes great with the tile color. Great job!
Yvonne King says
I bought those same knobs at Anthro for my linen cabinets! LOVE THEM! I couldn’t believe they were on sale. Such a good find! :)
lee ashley says
Um, so I just googled your Silhouette paint color and totally bought a sample. :)
YoungHouseLove says
Wahoo! It’s the best! You’re gonna love it.
xo
s
KoCa says
Why didn’t you start with a green tone closer to what was shown in your color palette last week? So far the only two things we’ve seen painted weren’t (initially) from the inspiration palette you posted.
YoungHouseLove says
All green tones = yellow + blue, so we worried any tone of green would fail (by bringing out the yellow in the sink). No worries though, we have 95% of the house left to paint, so we’ll definitely be using a ton of paint colors directly from that inspiration palette (and a bunch that aren’t on there but are derived from it as we go I’m sure!). Silhouette is actually really close to some of the darker tones in the palette, but it was just paint we already had on hand.
xo
s
AliceB says
Oh man, I feel your pain on the sink faucet not lining up with the light fixture, so therefore the mirror has to accommodate both… We bought a 1960 ranch house a month ago and have decided the theme of this place is “off-centered”. Every. single. window. is off center in each of the bedrooms and so are light fixtures, knobs, you name it. It’s killing me!
Chaucea says
Oy… please to clean/re-do the slate grout! >.<
Linda says
That green… my daughter once painted an entire bathroom that color. It reflected “Kermit green” onto anyone looking at themselves in the mirror. Highly unflattering! Amazingly, her house sold for top dollar, even with that awful color. Surely the new owners changed it, ASAP!
Cameron says
Knowing when to say when on a bad paint color is tough. I once painted my twins’ entire room the color of a booger. I realized after the first wall that the paint was all kinds of wrong, but I kept going, praying that it would get better as it dried. It didn’t. Thank goodness I gave up and headed back to the paint store instead of trying a second coat.
Melanie says
It looks great!! Have you considered a white wall with trendy hot pink stencil? I saw that on Pinterest or on a blog and thought that was beautiful. Since your room is small, you could knock it out in no time. Also…not trying to be negative, but we had a toilet tissue thingy like that, and had to replace it. Drove me crazy…the tissue kept flying off. But we did have it in a heavily used bathroom, and that may not be the case with yours.
YoungHouseLove says
So funny! Ours hasn’t flown off yet, but it’s facing the opposite way that you pull the tissue, so I think that helps! Someone else commented to say theirs worked but you had to place it that way (away from the direction you pull tissue) to help it stay on. So far, so good!
xo
s
Mags says
Yikes! That grout looks like the previous owners didn’t have very good bathroom aim! I know you guys try to go for low-chemical cleaning solutions- but wouldn’t you rather a little heavy duty grout cleaner than 40 years of someone else’s body fluids?
I think the mirror and vanity look great together- you seem to be going in a more ballard-designs-y direction in this house than pottery barn teen in house 2, and I cant wait to see whats next!
Will you let us know if you have any plans to change the vanity hinges to match the knobs?
YoungHouseLove says
I cleaned the grout before we moved, so that’s just discolored (no bodily fluids going on, thank goodness!). Looks like it just needs to be painted or bleached or re-grouted to get it looking more consistent. We think there was a leak in front of the vanity a while back that might have led to that area of grout being more beat up. As for the hinges, they’re ORB like the rest of the hardware in there (door knobs, mirror frame) so I don’t mind mixing metals, but of course we’ll let you know if we change things down the line.
xo,
s
Anastasia says
haha, that green was terrible but luckily you had a tonne of paint waiting to be used and the transformation looks awesome so far, can’t wait to see the rest of House Three’s progress. Always look forward to your posts
Amy says
I’m so excited to see what you guys do with this room..because we have the EXACT same bath down here in Texas- down to the same shell shaped sink and ‘interesting’ faucet. At first I wanted ours to be all white and very spa like..until my sweet mother-and-law suddenly gifted us a homemade shower curtain- dark brown and blue. Funnily enough, my mom soon gifted us with dark brown towels, completely unrelated, so the bathroom has had a very dark look for 6 years and counting. And not loving the colors has caused us to be unmotivated to update anything else in there. Maybe that will change with your inspiration!