The Master Bathroom Remodel-Part Uno

While Bicep’s was away on tour, I got a wild hair to remodel our Master Bedroom and Bathroom. We’ve never lived in one of our houses long enough to want to “remodel our remodel”. After only 3 years of living in our “Current Remodel“, it seemed a little ridiculous to remodel, but the green we chose for both the Master Bed and the Master Bath had to go.

In the beginning, we loved the green. Then I began to loathe it.

Nothing matched it. Nothing. Notice how bare this room is of any accessories? This is after 3 years of living in this house. No rugs, no paintings on the wall, no warmth.

(Sorry for the quality of the photo-this picture was taken with my phone and I forget to up the anty and pull out the fancy camera).
I taped off all the areas I knew I would slop paint on, vacuumed all cobwebs, rolled up my shirt sleeves and got to work. I chose a deep gray paint that would compliment the purple I had just painted in the adjoining Master Bedroom.

We had spent an arm and a leg “staining” our concrete. The staining process didn’t work and we aren’t sure why. The stain did take in another bathroom in our house. Just not this one. And the “stain” would stick to our feet, our shoes and our kitty cat paws anytime we would walk through the bathroom.
The stain was a pain.
It, much like the green paint color, needed to go.

Using a wall scraper, elbow grease and a few choice words, the concrete “stain” was removed.

The stain on the sink vanity and my makeup area was removed with a very technical procedure of placing packing tape on the surface of the vanity and removing the tape-along with most of the stain. I had to scrape the stubborn areas with the wall scraper, too.

Next came El Diablo-Muriatic Acid-to clean the newly scraped concrete. Diluting the acid with water, I scrubbed the floor armed with chemical safe rubber gloves and eye protection. I don’t mess about. I taped off and saran wrapped anything the acid might touch-including, don’t laugh, my shoes. Probably overkill, but again…I don’t mess about.

With the concrete clean and dry, the next phase of the remodel was to paint the vanities. And it was about to get kuh-razy.

I chose a canary yellow concrete paint-made for garage floors, porches and patios-to brighten the lives of my two vanities.

I used a foamy brush and applied four coats of the concrete paint, allowing it to dry according to what the can told me to do.

I was a little shocked at first with how bright the yellow was. However, I had a plan. I will be adding accessories to compliment the gray and yellow motif going on here. It’s all part of my master plan. I will soon post Master Bathroom Remodel-Part Deux-don’t you worry.

The Master Bedroom Remodel

While Biceps was away on tour, I had a couple of weeks to myself.
And what does any good girl do when her hubby is away? REMODEL!

This is the BEFORE. When we chose this color, we didn’t realize the problems that this shade of green would pose. Reds paired with the green gave it a Christmas vibe. Pinks, purples, or blues alongside the green, made our bedroom feel like a victorian bed and breakfast-and not the good kind. Orange seemed to be the only thing that matched, and it wasn’t our favorite.

Secondly, the north facing wall was almost entirely a white brick fireplace. I decided that something must be done. With a few weeks and a few greenbacks, I had just enough time to be sneaky and remodel our Master Bedroom.

We already had a violet-colored comforter that I had picked on clearance somewhere years ago. I remember paying $10 for it, buying it with the intention to just have an extra blanket in the house.
And from this cheapo purchase, inspiration was birthed. I painted the room a complimentary purple that Biceps had insinuated he liked at some point.

Armed with several cans of gold spray paint, I scoured flea markets, thrift stores and a certain BFF’s garage for free or cheap picture frames. I spent a few hours transforming ugly frames into gold masterpieces.

From our earlier remodeling of this home, we dismantled a lovely (disgusting) mirrored shower door in one of the guest bathrooms. Deemed the “fat mirror”, like one you would see at a carnival, when you moved up and down, you would become fatter or thinner. Of course, I didn’t throw it away-I knew it would come in handy.

This mirror was tempered and when smacked upon with a hammer, it spiderwebbed out in really cool patterns. If you would like to make something similar, I have a tutorial called Broken Mirror Art.

I added “non-fat” mirror to the fat mirror and then hung gold frames on top of the entire piece. I made two of these to flank the fireplace.

In the center of the fireplace, I found this gorgeous and super heavy mirror for $35 at a flea market. I had to wait for Biceps to return home before I tried hanging it. Trust me, I tried to do it by myself and it did not go very well. Sections of the fireplace had to be painted.

What goes better with gold than silver? After much flea marketing, goodwilling and thrift storing, I found this small dresser at a “Quality Thrift Store”. It was a horrible green, but had great hardware and I couldn’t resist. Plus, I talked them down from $12 to $10. It houses or DVD player, holds up our ancient t.v. and has provided other useful storage for blankets, books, etc.

I found a four drawer antique wooden dresser that was beat up, scratched and missing wood chunks. But, the dresser had great details, cute little legs and the hardware matched my other $10 smaller dresser.
It was perfect and for $100, it was mine.

I first painted both dressers with a metallic silver paint (about $14 at Lowe’s), using a “foamy brush”. The foamy brush prevented brush strokes that a regular paint brush would have left. After the silver paint had dried, I watered down a high gloss black paint until it was the consistency of coffee. Wearing gloves, I lightly ran the rag across both dressers. On the detailing of the dresser, I left a little more black, to give the dressers an antiquey look.

Here’s my romantic, all ready for Biceps to come home.

I was so very sneaky, he never suspected what I was up to. And he loved every bit of the room.

To see what I’ve done to the bathroom, go here and here.

Oh, How I love Thee Mr. Remodel…

Has your master bedroom ever looked like this?

The sad thing is, it took us a year and a half to get to this point.

Has your ‘breakfast nook’ ever looked like this?

Or your back porch ever have this problem?

Want another look from a different angle?

Have you had any part of your house torn down to the studs with your toilet sitting in the living room and you have to repeat these words to yourself every time you wake up,
“We made the right decision in buying this house.”?

Be happy! You have a friend in me! That is, if you want to be friends. I know what it means to have sheetrock dust in your lungs, “Great Stuff”, stuck to your fingers and the smell of mineral spirits constantly in the air. Hold your head up high.
You are a remodeler.
And someday, I promise you, YOU will be done.
Even though I am not.