bathrooms | Beneath My Heart

Beautiful Bathroom Vanities

April 30, 2013 AT 6:15 am 7 Comments

April 30, 2013 By traci 7 Comments

Hey friends!

When decorating our homes, sometimes our bathrooms get the least amount of decorating love. It’s a small space that we sometimes overlook. But making a few small changes in your bathroom can make a HUGE difference. One of those changes is to update or install a new bathroom vanity.

I was so happy to create a bathroom vanity ideas clipboard for Hometalk. Have you heard about Hometalk? It is a great site where people talk about and share ideas for the home, on every subject you could ever think about…gardening, diy projects, decorating, and more!

Some of my favorite vanities from the bathroom vanity clipboard are this cottage bathroom….

And this beautiful buffet that was turned into a vanity…

Isn’t that a beautiful color?

And I super duper love this gorgeous vanity made from a piece of furniture as well!

To see all of the bathroom vanities that I clipped to my clipboard, just click on the graphic below.

Do you have a bathroom in your home

that is in need of a little TLC?

Share on Tumblr

Filed Under bathrooms, Uncategorized 7 Comments

How to Cap Off a Wood Plank Wall with Decorative Trim

January 29, 2013 AT 8:31 am 9 Comments

January 29, 2013 By traci 9 Comments

I’m still trying to answer all the questions about our bathroom makeover through individual posts.

So far, I revealed our bathroom makeover to you HERE.

I shared with you how to build your own butcher block vanity HERE.

Then I showed you how we installed our wood plank walls in our bathroom HERE.

Today, I am going to share with you the three pieces of trim that we used to cap off our wood plank walls.

As you can see in the picture below, adding the trim work to the top of our wood plank walls made a huge difference.

It was SUPER easy to do.

You only need three trim pieces.

* 1×4 wood trim piece

* stool trim piece

* base cap trim piece

We purchased all of our trim pieces from Lowe’s. I took pictures of the two smaller trim pieces for you…

First, nail the 1×4 trim piece to the top edge of the wood plank wall.

Secondly, nail the “stool” trim piece on top of the 1×4 trim piece.

Lastly, nail the base cap {upside down} underneath the “stool” trim piece.

Be sure to fill in all the nail holes with wood filler and sand if needed.

Then paint the trim work, and you are finished!

Easy-peasy!

It’s the little finishing details that can make a big difference! It definitely gives the space a more custom look.

I hope this little tutorial helps! If you have any questions, or if I forgot to mention anything, just leave me a comment.

Thanks!

Share on Tumblr

Filed Under bathrooms, DIY projects, Uncategorized 9 Comments

White Subway Tile Shower {Our Master Shower is Finished!}

September 19, 2012 AT 6:00 am 17 Comments

September 19, 2012 By traci 17 Comments

Guess where I am flying off to today?

Detroit, Michigan!

I have never been there before in my life until this year, and now I can say that I have been there TWICE in 3 months! Crazy, I tell ya.

I went in July with GMC and Onstar, and now I am headed back there today to work with Home Depot and their Celebration of Service program.

I cannot wait to be a part of this wonderful program. We ALL owe so much to our Veterans, and I am honored to give just a little bit of my service back to them. What a blessing!

So please say a prayer for me for safe travels. I will only be gone one day, so it is a super quick trip.

Watch for updates on my facebook page and twitter stream.

Before I head out, I wanted to show you our finished master bathroom shower.

We haven’t used it yet because I still have to hang the white fabric shower liner, but I will “christen” it when I get back from my trip.

We chose to use white subway tile in our shower. It is inexpensive and classic.

Cy finished the trim work to match the trim work around our windows and doorways. Don’t the faux wood beams from AZ Faux Beams look awesome?!

Our shower faucet is by Bella Foret.

I love the little cross handle faucet! Definitely adds that old house character that I love.

Our first faucet had a faulty valve, so Cy contacted Bella Foret, and they sent us a new one. Whew!

We used grey grout on the walls and floor. That is Carrera marble on the floor of the shower.

We went back and forth on whether to tile the foot step into the shower, but we decided on a oak wood foot step to match the floor. It really does look beautiful, although I think it looks a little too much in these pictures. I think it looks better in person.

I am so thrilled to finally have a working shower. Now all I have to do is get the chandelier and some sconces for the vanity, and the bathroom will officially be finished. (Well, except for a little décor of course.)

Yeah!

BTW, here is the chandelier that you loved most when I asked you last week. Hands down, #2 won.

Do you think it is my favorite?

You’ll have to wait and see! Winking smile

Share on Tumblr

Filed Under bathrooms, Uncategorized 17 Comments

How I Painted my Vanity with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint

September 4, 2012 AT 9:36 am 47 Comments

September 4, 2012 By traci 47 Comments

Hey, friends!

I hope you had a wonderful Labor Day Weekend!

Today, I wanted to show you how I painted the vanity in yesterday’s post.

Warning: I am not a professional painter and never will be. Smile

There is no special or secret method that I use.

Basically, I paint, I sand, I seal.

For this project, I decided to use Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. I have attended one of Annie Sloan’s workshops on her American tour, but I have never painted a piece of furniture with her paint.

source

Although I have wanted to for a long time.

I have heard GREAT things about ASCP. The qualities I am most attracted to is that you don’t have to prime or sand a piece of furniture before painting with ASCP, and it distresses beautifully.

source

If you want to know more about Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, I highly suggest you reading about it HERE, from Shaunna at Imperfectly Perfect. She also sells ASCP, so if you want to purchase some, go HERE.

The color of ASCP I chose is called French Linen.

Product Image 3

source

Since I didn’t have to prime or sand, I just began painting with my regular paint brush.

When the paint is wet, it is several shades lighter than the finished color. It will dry into a deep, warm, beautiful gray.

It dries fairly quick. I painted two coats.

Then I sanded the dresser with a sanding sponge on all the raised areas.

It was late at night when I took the next two pictures, so I used a flash. That is why the paint looks like a different color.

After I sanded the raised areas, it was ready to wax.

Before you wax it, the paint looks dry and chalky.

But when you apply the Annie Sloan Clear Wax, that is when the REAL beauty of the paint comes out!

source

(For a great video on how to apply ASCP wax, watch Shaunna’s video HERE.)

Annie Sloan has awesome brushes to apply the wax, but I don’t own one. Sad smile So I just used a cheese cloth. I am hoping to buy one of her brushes soon, but they are a little bit pricey.

I was smiling from ear to ear and filling pretty giddy when I was waxing this piece.

Girls, I was falling in love. Ooh-la-la!

I cannot tell you how much I love this color of paint!

The original hardware looks amazing on this piece. It’s old tarnished brass, I believe.

Painting this vanity was exactly what this bathroom needed.

I’m gonna see how the wax holds up to water drops around the sink. I talked to Shaunna, and she said it should be fine. But if I need to, I will apply Minwax Wipe-on Poly.

That’s it!

SUPER easy.

I love ASCP! It’s pretty pricey, though. Over $30 for a quart. But you don’t have to buy primer, which is nice. It was definitely worth the extra splurge on this piece.

If you have any questions, just let me know. I’ll try my best to answer them.

Have you ever used Annie Sloan Chalk Paint?

What did you think of it?

Share on Tumblr

Filed Under bathrooms, furniture makeover, makeover, makeovers, paint, Paint Colors 47 Comments

Dresser turned Vanity Makeover

September 2, 2012 AT 10:19 pm 62 Comments

September 2, 2012 By traci 62 Comments

I am soooo very excited to show you this project!

I gave you a sneak peek of something I was painting last week.

It was our bathroom vanity! You know…the one that we just re-did?

Yep! We re-did it again!

(I just started singing Brittany Spears’ “Oops, I did it again” in my head.) Smile

The second makeover turned out WAY better than the first.

Let’s take a look back shall we?

We bought this dresser at a thrift store last fall for $50.

I immediately knew that I wanted to turn it into a vanity for our master bathroom.

I was picturing something beautiful in my head. Like this…

4116784323_67f4631d69

Cy worked really hard on sanding and staining our dresser…

He added a drop in sink…

It really was beautiful. I loved it.

But as we continued to work on the bathroom, something wasn’t jivin’ and I couldn’t put my finger on it.

I loved the hard wood floors…

I loved the faux wood beams and white washed brick…

I loved the claw foot tub….

But there was something about that vanity that wasn’t sitting well with me.

I think I was having trouble with the dark cherry stain. It just wasn’t working with the walnut floor and beams.

I started thinking about painting it, but I didn’t want to tell Cy.

He was going to kill me.

But it kept bugging me.

And bugging me.

I mentioned to Cy that I sort of wanted to paint it. And guess what? I’m still livin’!

I guess after being married to me for 15 years, nothing really surprises him any more. Smile

So then I started rolling around in my head, “What color do I want to paint it?”

And here is what I decided on…

Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in French Linen.

Perfection!

(If I do say so myself!)

I was able to add the original hardware back on the vanity, and it looks great.

It is the exact contrast I need between the vanity and the flooring. I was probably more giddy about this project than any other that I have done during our renovation.

I was DYING to show you guys last week! It is EXACTLY what I was envisioning for my bathroom, and I am SOOOO glad I painted it!

So here is my advice to you for what it is worth.

If something isn’t jivin’ in your décor…change it!

Trust your gut!

Just do it!

You’ll be so glad you did. I know I am. Smile

Let’s look back and the transformation of this $50 dresser…

Tomorrow, I will show you how I painted the dresser. It was super easy.

I will also give you a breakdown of the total cost of this dresser turned vanity.

So what do you think?

Do you like it better stained or painted?

Linking this project to…

and

“Show me What You’ve Got” at Not Just a Housewife

“Furniture Feature Friday” at Miss Mustard Seed

Share on Tumblr

Filed Under bathrooms, furniture makeover, makeover, makeovers, New Home, paint, Uncategorized 62 Comments

How to White Wash Brick {Bathroom Update}

August 22, 2012 AT 4:28 pm 95 Comments

August 22, 2012 By traci 95 Comments

For anyone who is new to my blog, my family lives in a 1400 sq ft ranch that we are updating and adding on to.

The addition to the house includes a master bedroom and bath downstairs and two bedrooms and a bath upstairs.

When we added our master bedroom and bath to the side of the house, I knew I wanted to leave the brick wall exposed instead of covering it up.

The only problem was the brick was not pretty. If you can see where the lamp is shining on the brick, it is very orange-y.

It looks a little darker in the picture below, but it definitely had an orange hue to it. Try as I might, I didn’t think I could decorate around orange brick.

So at about 11:30 pm the other night, I got a hankering to white wash the brick.

I posted about my idea on my Beneath My Heart facebook page, and I got a bunch of “Yeah! Do it!”

So full of courage, I mixed my wall color paint (SW Natural Choice) half and half with water.

I actually used my glass measuring cup, added two cups of water and two cups of paint, then mixed them together.

It gives you a milky consistency.

(Some people white wash with a lime and salt mixture, but not I.)

Then I just painted the brick with the mixture. Be sure to put down a drop cloth because it can get really messy!

It goes on white, but as the white wash dries, the brick color begins to show through.

Here is what the brick looked like with the first coat of white wash on it.

It looked really good, and I was excited about the process. I shared the pic on my facebook page again, and everyone gave me big thumbs up!

But the brick color still showed through a little too much for me. I needed the brick to be a little whiter.

The paint mixture had thickened up a little by the time I got to the bottom of the measuring cup, so I added a little more water. I had to do this several times. I would add a little more paint, then water it down. There is no perfect formula. You just want to water down your paint color

NOW HERE IS WHERE I FREAKED OUT!

It was about midnight, and Cy was tiling the shower next to me. I add the second coat of white wash on and the brick turned completely white.

It wasn’t pretty. I said to Cy, “Oh no! I’ve ruined it! The brick is going to be completely white!”

But there was nothing I could do at that point, so I had to finish.

Luckily, as I continued to paint up the wall, the brick below me began to dry and the brick color began to show through. WHEW! It just takes a minute for the brick to soak up the paint to give it that white washed look.

I was so relieved! And I was very satisfied with how it turned out. You can still see the detail of the brick, but it got rid of the orange color. And it gives me a more neutral palette to decorate around.

We have not finished the trim work around the doorway or the ceiling.

Cy will finish that this week.

I definitely love it! And now I cannot wait to white wash my orange brick fireplace!

I plan on doing that in the next couple of weeks. Can’t wait to share it with you!

Here is a little white washed brick “eye candy”

for you!

source

So what do you think?

Do you like the brick natural or white washed?

(You won’t hurt my feelings.) Smile

Have you ever white washed brick before?

Linking to…

Share on Tumblr

Filed Under bathrooms, makeovers, New Home, paint 95 Comments

How to Refinish an Antique Claw Foot Tub {Check out my New Tub!}

July 9, 2012 AT 12:32 pm 65 Comments

July 9, 2012 By traci 65 Comments

Last year, we found this great antique claw foot tub on Craigslist.

You can see the video HERE.

Well, it was finally time to refinish this baby!

So Cy set the tub up outside on some saw horses this past week.

I’m not totally sure how completely safe this set up was, but it worked for us. Smile

As you can see, the tub needed a little TLC.

I took a picture of the bottom of the tub to show you when it was made. How cool is that?

Cy used an orbital sander, with 80 grit sander paper, at first to get the flakes off the outside of the tub. With a cast iron tub, it is hard to get a perfectly smooth surface.

Next, he sanded it with 120 grit sand paper, and then 220 grit to get it as smooth as he could.

There were a few spots on the tub that sanded down to the metal, so he sprayed those spots with a spray primer so the paint would adhere.

Next, he chose to use white automotive paint from PPG that we had left over from another job that he had done a couple years ago. Many people use automotive paint for the outside of the tub, but it is not necessary.

You could use the same tub and tile kit that we used on the inside of our tub (see below) on the outside of the tub if you wanted.

Aaaahhh…doesn’t it look beautiful already?

Next, it was time to apply gel paint stripper on the inside of the tub. Cy didn’t have gloves on at first, but he quickly put them on, along with safety glasses. This stuff will eat your skin up!

Let me tell you that my husband did this work in 100 degree temperatures! It was BRUTAL!!!

He spent hours in the sun stripping the inside of the tub. This was the most difficult part of the whole process by far.

He used a scrapper and wire brush to help strip off the paint.

I kept bringing water and gatorade out to him about every 10 minutes. The boys and I watched him work from the comfort of our air conditioning inside the house.

He is such a hard worker! I think I fell a little more in love with him that day. Smile

After he cleaned up all the paint residue from inside the tub, he used his sander again to smooth out the surface.

He used 180 grit sand paper.

You can see that there was rust around the drain.

So Cy covered the rust with a spray primer/sealer.

Here is the spray primer that he used. This will keep the rust from coming back and help the paint to adhere to the metal.

To paint the inside of the tub, Cy used this Tub and Tile refinishing kit from Lowe’s. It’s about $40 for a box, and we used almost two boxes.

Homax Quart Interior High Gloss Paint and Primer in One

We bought the spray on refinishing kit, but Cy said there is also a brush-on kit you can purchase as well.

You want to make sure you spray the epoxy paint on in small, smooth strokes.

We did three coats of epoxy, lightly scuffing with steel wool between each coat. Cy also used a tack cloth between each coat to get any dust/steel wool particles off the surface.

Notice the red towel Cy is holding? It wasn’t for the tub, it was for his head because his sweat kept dripping into the tub. That’s how hot it was!

For the claw feet, we just removed them from the tub and lightly sanded them before painting. You can spray them with a primer first if you want, be we didn’t.

We used some Valspar metallic spray paint at first

I wasn’t crazy with the results. It looked a little dull.

I was hoping for a shinier, “chrome-ier” look on the feet, so I went back to Lowe’s and got Rustoleum’s metallic spray paint.

I was super happy with the results! I don’t know if you can tell the difference in the pictures, but the Rustoleum spray paint was definitely shinier than the Valspar spray paint.

We left everything dry real good before bringing it back into the house.

Here is Cy hooking up the tub faucet.

Here is Eli enjoying the running water we FINALLY have in our bathroom! Woohoo!

Now we have a beautiful claw foot tub to enjoy!

I love the way it turned out! We have about $250 dollars in this tub (minus the faucet), and I think it is just as beautiful as this claw foot tub that sells for about $1,200 at VintageTub. And that is on the low end of prices. Bella Casa 54 Inch Cast Iron Classic Clawfoot Tub Wall Drillings

Cy also finished the window trim in the bathroom this weekend. I will be posting a video tutorial of that soon.

What do you think of our “new” claw foot tub? Do you think the money we saved was worth all the hard work?

If you have any more questions about this process, just let me know!

Thanks!

Share on Tumblr

Filed Under bathrooms, New Home 65 Comments

One Project Closer’s “Before and After” Series Weekly Winner!

July 7, 2012 AT 6:00 am 3 Comments

July 7, 2012 By traci 3 Comments

This week, I had the opportunity to look through all the wonderful Before and After projects submitted in One Project Closer’s “Before and After” series to raise awareness for Habitat for Humanity.

I wanted to share my favorite project with you. I feel in love with this amazing bathroom transformation from Tenth Avenue South. I love her style and I love this space!

Since Tenth Avenue South is a weekly winner, she will receive a $50 gift card to either Lowes, Home Depot, or Amazon, and OPC will make a donation of $100 to Habitat for Humanity in her honor! She will also have a chance to be the grand prize winner. At the end of the Summer, the best submission, as voted on by readers, wins a bonus $150 gift card to one of the three stores above.

Tenth Avenue South is the third weekly winner in a 13 week series, so there is still time to win and be featured on one of twelve other big DIY blogs. Check out how to enter and contest details, joining us in celebrating DIY and H4H! If you don’t want to enter but would like to show your support, feel free to grab a button and tell your friends.

Here is the post that was submitted by Tenth Avenue South…

Before and After: Master Bathroom Edition

Here it is! 1956 meets 2012….

This was such a hard, but rewarding renovation. We did every little step (and misstep) ourselves after full days at work… demo, stud work, drywall, concrete floors, paint, installing toilets, sinks, faucets, and tile. The only thing we left to the professionals was installing the shower door (with glass that large, you’ve got to trust the professionals)!

Details here.

Sources here.

Read our whole renovation story here:

the BIG before

inspiration

the “why”

demolition

prepping the floors

drywall

paint

tile, tile, tile

and more tile

finishing up

What an amazing transformation!! I love everything about this space. I love the tile she chose for her shower, the bead board on the walls, and the pedestal sink. I love how they tore out the shower wall to make it a big walk in shower with a glass door to make the room look more spacious. And I love the soothing neutral colors she used.

Well done!

What is your favorite part of this makeover?

Fun Fact

Did you know it takes about 150 pounds of nails to build a Habitat house?

To find out more interesting facts about Habitat for Humanity or to find out ways you can get involved with this great organization, click HERE.

Who’s hosting next week?

Next week, our friend Michelle, from ten june will be featuring another Before and After winner! Wonder what other awesome blogs are hosting? Check it out!

There’s still 10 more weeks to enter, so go submit your Before and After projects HERE.

If you love this series and you love H4H, please share this series with your friends on your blog, facebook, or twitter.

Thanks!

Share on Tumblr

Filed Under bathrooms 3 Comments

Masterbath {Turning a Dresser into a Vanity}

June 27, 2012 AT 2:43 pm 42 Comments

June 27, 2012 By traci 42 Comments

I wanted to show you the progress we’ve made in our masterbath. We are converting an antique dresser into our vanity.

Do you remember the antique furniture piece I got at the Habitat Store for $50 back in September?

You can read about my find HERE.

Well, then I showed you some inspiration pictures of turning a dresser into a vanity in this post. We also discussed whether to put one sink or two in our vanity. Though many of you thought we had to have two sinks in the master bathroom. Many of you (and me) thought one sink would look best with this piece of furniture.

I was so excited when one of my readers showed me how she turned the exact piece of furniture into a vanity in her own home.

It really got me excited to see the potential in my little dresser.

Getting a custom cut sink top for our dresser was out of our budget, so we decided to go with a drop-in sink for ours.

The bottom pieces of the dresser were not in the best shape. They were falling off the dresser.

So Cy took those pieces off, applied some PL Adhesive to them, and then nailed them back on to the dresser.

He did this on the sides and front of the dresser.

The top of the dresser wasn’t in the best shape, so we sanded it down so we could put a new coat of stain on it. Cy started sanding the surface with an 80 grit, then a 120 grit, and then finished with a 220 grit for a smooth surface.

Cy put one coat of Minwax Walnut stain on the top part of the dresser. Although the dresser was a cherry dresser, we felt like the Walnut stain matched close enough.

Then we did a light coat of Minwax Walnut stain all over the rest of the dresser. The top of the dresser got 5 coats of oil-based satin polyurethane. Cy used 220 grit sandpaper between each coat.

He applied only one coat of polyurenthane over the rest of the dresser.

It was looking better already.

We purchased a drop-in sink from Lowe’s to install into our new “vanity.”

The sink came with a template to cut out to help you fit it into the vanity top.

Once Cy cut it out, he measured the vanity to make sure the sink bowl would be centered on the piece.

As you can see, we had to remove the first couple of drawers to make room for the new sink.

Cy traced the sink bowl template with a pen, pressing hard to create a mark in the wood.

Then he used a drill to create a hole near the cut-out line.

Next, he started at the hole he had just drilled and used his jigsaw to cut on the line.

With a steady hand and just a few seconds later, we had a hole for our sink!

Cy then had to use his jigsaw again to cut out the wood beneath the top of the dresser where the bowl would sit.

We placed the sink bowl in the dresser and it fit perfectly. Smile

Then Cy used a very small bead of silicone caulk to seal the sink around the edges.

He also had to cut out a little more of the inside of the dresser to make room for the plumbing.

The top three drawers will not be functioning drawers. But that is okay. We will be able to use the bottom drawer, the two sides drawers, and the two side doors. There is a ton of room in this dresser/vanity!

Stayed tune to see our vanity all decked out with new plumbing and a new faucet.

I cannot wait!

What do you think about our new DIY vanity?

P.S. If you are not following me on twitter or facebook, you are missing out on the fun stuff. Here’s a pic I share of my boys while we were at Lowe’s last night picking out our vanity sink…

I can’t take them anywhere! Smile

Share on Tumblr

Filed Under bathrooms 42 Comments

Tile For Our Master Shower

June 11, 2012 AT 11:16 am 10 Comments

June 11, 2012 By traci 10 Comments

Hey Friends!

I hope you had a wonderful weekend!

The boys had their piano recital on Saturday, and I was so proud of them. I might share the video on my facebook page sometime.

Vacation Bible School started at our church last night too! Cy and I are teaching Eli’s class (4’s & 5’s), and they are so stinkin’ adorable. Although it can be exhausting, it is sooo worth it.

Well, Cy has been making some progress in our master bathroom. I quickly wanted to give you an update and share with you some inspiration pictures.

First, he put the rubber lining in the shower pan.

Then he centered the drain and covered the walls with 1/2 inch Hardi Backer Board.

The tile will go on top of the backer board.

Next, he installed a light/fan and covered the ceiling with Green Board which is mold and mildew resistant. Then just like regular drywall, he covered the seams and nail holes.

We picked up a shower box from the Tile Shop for our shampoos and such.

Then Cy hand poured the floor. He taped off the walls with black tape so he could see exactly how far up the wall the mud needed to go. He also had to make sure that the floor sloped slightly down toward the drain to make sure the shower water would drain properly.