Style Saturday: The bathroom "after"

OK! I was tempted to show you shots along the way, but I hate half-finished things as much as I hate muddy paw prints on the hardwood (go away, rain!)

Let's start with the color. The color remained the same (Carolina Inn Club Aqua), much to the displeasure of the man of the house. Of course, I didn't hear his thoughts on "seafoam" being outdated until I bought a gallon of it an hour before. I did a quick Pinterest search that turned up with the evidence that this shade is certainly still hot. It is relaxing and very Restoration Hardware-looking to me. That's my side of the story:o) Here's our step by step...

1. Dennis pulled out the old tub and shower surround and replaced it with this beauty. He had to come back another day and fix the fact that the company didn't include a foam backing for the surround. This included cutting through a wall in another room and he did it out of the goodness of his heart and to get the job done right!

2. I removed all the chrome towel bars and replaced them with a shelf/hooks and a towel ring. No more folding towels to put on a bar for the next person to dismantle. I watched this to help me.

Those Thomas O'Brien 3 inch frames (Target) might be my favorite accent in the house. I filled them with scrapbook paper.

3. Next, I took off all the "cute" hardware from the cabinetry, painted them white, and replaced them with brushed nickel knobs. You can see the pictures of these at the top.

4. We went to Tile Outlet to find granite tiles to refinish the vanity. We came home with a vanity top that included a back and sidesplash as well as an undermount sink. Matt and Rex took a day to install this mother, and then we just had to fix the giant gap that was left from installing a 37" countertop in a 38.5" space. We knew this was the case, but knew it could be fixed.

5. After some panic, Dennis came to the rescue and was able to cut the back/side splashes to fit in a way that would work (yeah, they only include ONE sidesplash in the box. That is "standard".) He tiled the glass tiles I've had my eyes on. This tile and the Moen faucet Matt picked out are mesmerizing. I love them!

We even found some matching tiles (at $3 each!) to do the alcove. Bonus!

6. I actually put up the light myself. I thought it would be easy, and I can assure you that it was not. During the hour-plus installation, I had to make sense of a stripped screw, two white wires instead of a black and a white, and make a quick call to dad regarding "grounding". But it is up and is SUCH an improvement. I didn't know what we were missing. Thanks, Dad for putting up the second light!

You can see the vanity light at the top. These are those fabulous $20/set of two lights you can get at Home Depot or Lowes.

7. Storage. Oh, this was a doozy. For as much room as there is in this room, there is really no usable wall space except the spot under the towel hooks. But we had to go lower. I traded out the seagrass drawers for a low white drawer unit from Target.

I know, this awful picture again. It's for emphasis on our improvement.

Do you know how happy this drawer makes me? We have been trying to find a spot for TP for 2 years.

8. And finally, the mirror was a situation. We checked Target, two Lowes, Bed Bath and Beyond, Pier One. Finally, I just chose one that was "OK" and Matt toned down the massive glossiness with some flat white spray paint. Dad hung it up today after he inspected my terrible estimate of where to drill. You can see a picture of it at the top.

What did I learn from all this? I need to know what I should and should NOT do, and delegate. I should NOT have installed that light by myself. I enjoyed the transformation and am thankful for the help from Dennis, both the dads, Matt and painter Kate! Thank God it's over is all I have to say.