I don’t talk about my failed attempts at projects often but they do happen, more times than I care to admit. Recently I had one of these big oops moments when I was trying to add a bit of privacy to our glass bathroom barn door with frosted glass spray.

I’ve used this spray before and loved the results so I was confident it would work for this project. I was so confident that I decided to do the project on a Facebook Live. It turned out to be a huge failure. What’s worse is that it failed in front of the 2 whole people that watched it live. 😉

If you saw my last post with the powder room reveal, then you saw our barn door. We were lucky enough to find it on the curb when we lived in Illinois. I’ve been hanging onto it in the hopes of using it for a special project and our new powder room was the perfect place for it.

The door obviously has glass which was both good and bad. It’s good because it lets light in and you don’t feel like your in a little box when the door is closed. It’s bad because…well, it’s glass. Nobody wants to be peeped at when they’re in the bathroom, so we had to try to fix it.

I thought about using window film but I went with what I had, which was frosted glass spray. Like I said, I’ve used it before and knew how quick and easy it is to do so I was confident it would work. To add a bit of interest, because every powder room door needs interest, I decided to create a frame with tape.

Before we get to the big fail, let’s talk about what I did to prep the door. First I painted the front and back of the door. Then I scraped the window and cleaned it well. You want to make sure you get every speck of paint off or it will show up when you frost it.

Once it was clean it was time to apply the tape. My first thought was to go thin so I used 1/4 inch painter’s tape. We measured 1 inch in from the edge of the window, all the way around, and applied the tape.

To secure the tape, and to prevent seepage, I quickly went over it with a spoon. I didn’t want the oils from my hands getting all over the glass and interfering with the spray so I used the spoon trick on the tape.

After the tape was on we papered and taped the rest of the door and took it outside to spray. This stuff is pretty toxic so I suggest painting outside. If you must do it inside, make sure you have an open window and lots of ventilation.

Once we were set, hubs pushed play and we made our Facebook Live video. I gave the door a good 3 or 4 coats on the video, letting each coat dry in between. We stopped recording after a few coats and I waited for the spray to dry so I could remove the tape.

I pulled the tape off and the dried spray came with it. UGH! I’ve never seen that happen in all the times that I’ve used it.

We left it dry a little longer and tried again. Nope…the dried spray was coming off in sheets. I even tried lightly scoring along the tape with a razor but nothing worked.

We made the decision to pull all the tape off and scrape the window clean. I didn’t want to rush into another mistake so I let the door sit overnight to think on it.

My first thought was to do a test so I scrounged up a scrap piece of glass from the basement. On the scrap glass I took a piece of 1/4″ tape and a piece of 1″ painter’s tape and sprayed the same amount of coats over each piece. I left it sit to dry overnight. The next day the 1/4″ piece pulled the spray off with it, just like it did on my door. The 1″ piece came off clean.

I also tried to pull the tape off when the spray wasn’t completely dry. That was a total disaster with both the 1/4″ and 1″ tape.

So the verdict was to use the 1″ tape.

The next day I was ready to try again so I prepared the door…again…and gave it a another shot.

I couldn’t leave a failed project on Facebook, so I had to do another Live video and explain what happened and what I did to fix it.

Thankfully it all worked out. I did wait a little longer before I pulled the tape off, and took my time, but it all came off without incident.

My only conclusion is that the tape was too thin and I may have done too many coats (?). The second time around I only did 3 light coats to be safe and it covered well.

It wasn’t easy to go back on video to announce that my project was a fail but I’m glad it all worked out in the end. Failed projects are just part of DIY. Well, part of DIY in our house anyway. 😉

You can check out my videos from our Facebook Lives. The blue shirt is from day 1 and the red shirt is day 2. These were really live so there was no editing done, which means you get to see the hubs’ thumb during all of video #2. I also want to point out that these are my working duds and hair. DIY is not pretty, ya’ll. 😉

 

 

Turning a bedroom closet into a small powder room.

I shared the new closet reveal last week and today it’s time to share our brand new small powder room. It took a little longer than I’d hoped, but we’re finally done with construction and I’m excited to share. I’m also sharing a video of the new powder room so make sure you check it out at the end of the post. 

Let’s take a quick look at where we started.

This is the closet that’s in our guest bedroom. A previous owner added this space to the bedroom when the main bathroom was remodeled so it isn’t original to our 80 year old house.

We’ve talked about adding a powder room to our cottage since we moved in and this closet seemed like a good spot.

It’s actually our largest closet and is right next to the only bathroom, the perfect spot to tie in the plumbing.

It took a while for us to plan everything but once we felt comfortable with our plans, we quickly got to work framing it out and wiring it. You can check out the whole process here.

We added DIY shiplap to the walls and built a custom vanity. Most of the surfaces in this space were painted in my fave paint, Benjamin Moore White Dove, Advance, Satin, including the DIY shiplap, ceiling and barn door. Best. paint. ever!

Once the shiplap was up and painted, we had to build the vanity in place. Uneven floors plus tight space means we had to do it this way.

After the vanity area was complete (and our new Moen faucet was installed), our work came to a standstill.

We needed to replace our 80 year old plumbing so that we could hook up the new toilet. We’d never tackled a project like that before so it took some time and a bit of research.

Once we tackled the plumbing we picked out a toilet and continued with the build. Picking the toilet for the new powder room was a job in itself. It had to be a certain size so it would fit in the space, and actually allow you to sit on it without smacking your head on the vanity.

Woohoo!

I never thought I’d be so excited to see a toilet.

There isn’t a whole lot of space but it’s just enough….just.

Our daughter came for a visit in December and used this space. She gave it 2 thumb’s up and said she had more than enough room. She still had to use our main bath to take a shower but that was it.

It feels like a real luxury having this extra space, even though it’s tiny.

I’m really loving our brand new space but can we talk about our powder room door? I’ve been waiting 3 years to use this beautiful door. I’m so glad that I was able to use it here.

I found this door on it’s way to the curb when the hubs and I were taking a walk in our Illinois neighborhood. To say I was excited is an understatement, I may have even squealed.  After making sure that it was actually out to the trash (it was), I ran home to get my car so we could haul it home. Hubs had the job of standing on the sidewalk, with his hand firmly grasping it, in case any door snatchers decided they wanted it too.

I’m happy to say that we got it home safely. It even made the trip to North Carolina, where it’s been waiting for it’s reincarnation.

I really wanted to use a door that had a window in it so you didn’t feel like you were in a small, dark box when the door was closed. The hubs made it a point to tell me that a window wasn’t a great idea when you need privacy.

I thought it would be ok because this space is in a bedroom so it’s a little more private, and there’s no traffic walking by while you’re using it. To add a sense of more privacy, and to make him happy, I used frosted glass spray paint. (affiliate link added for your convenience) You can see the video I made when I was doing this project, here.

I think the door with a glass window was definitely the right call. I’m loving the way it turned out.

Thanks so much for coming along on this journey. All the work we put into our new small powder room, and the closet, was well worth it. I never expected it to look this good.

Now we have to finish the guest bedroom. It’s never-ending.

(Make sure you check out the video!)

 

 

Have you seen the new closet that we built next to the powder room? You don’t want to miss it, here.

We’re just singing the summertime blues here. Not only is the weather hot, dry and miserable here, our powder room and small bedroom closet is at a standstill.

The good news, though, is that the brand new small bedroom closet has taken shape since my last post. We are slowly making progress so I wanted to share where we were and why the construction has stopped.

Just a few short weeks ago, this is how the guest bedroom closet looked. It was just your standard closet with bifold doors.

We’ve wanted to add another bathroom since we moved in and this space seemed to make the most sense. With almost all the decisions made, construction began.

We gutted the closet and started the powder room addition by framing out a doorway and adding new electric.

Wood planks, a DIY vanity, sink, faucet, mirror and lighting were added to finish one side of the powder room. The plumbing for the toilet will take some work so we stopped the powder room construction and started on the new bedroom closet.

Although it’s a small area, a lot of thought and planning went into creating both spaces. We knew that if we were going to turn the closet into a powder room, we would have to carve out space for a small bedroom closet. Our house only has 3 closets, one in each bedroom, so for storage sake (and resale), we knew we needed to add one back.

A previous homeowner added the closet (now powder room) in this room, so it was bigger than the other bedroom closets. It also had a weird dead area in the corner next to the doorway. Since it wasn’t good for much of anything, we thought it would be a perfect place for the closet.

It will be smaller than the one that was in this room, but it will still have a good amount of storage.

We debated about where we should put the wall and decided to take it almost to the entry door trim. In a small space every inch counts, and we needed as much space in the closet as possible.

We framed out the closet and ran the electrical wiring. We had to relocate the switch for the bedroom ceiling light and we added a light and switch inside the closet. A small bedroom closet doesn’t really need a light, but it didn’t cost much to add one.

Once the framing was done, we added the sheetrock and spackled all the holes. The hubs and I can do a lot of things but spackling is not something that either of us can do well. It takes a ton of practice to do it well, and neither one of us like it enough to practice. 😉

With the spackling and sanding finally complete, it was time to decide on trim options for both doorways. This has been a struggle because we can’t decide what we want to do. We talked about matching the 70 year old trim but we have a few ideas for both doors and the trim is just too big.

To sum it all up…trim. A decision on what trim to use has halted construction. Lame I know, but as soon as we work it out, we’ll move onto the next issue…doors.

We have a few ideas about what we want to do but we need to make sure everything works together and looks good. Once we figure it out, we’ll get back at it.

We have to do it soon…

I’m so tired of the mess and dust of construction. It looks like a bomb has gone off in almost every room. Funny how it spreads around the whole house.

No pretty pictures to end with today but we’re working on it. We’re definitely making progress and it’s exciting to see it turn into a whole new space. If you want to check out behind the scenes during construction, you can follow along on Instagram. I usually share what’s happening on IG stories daily.

Hope you have a great week!

Thanks for following along with us!

 

Check out the beginning stages of construction and the powder room details and progress.

 

 

When I was growing up, my family and I lived in a tiny town and a small house that only had 1 bathroom (with no shower). After we moved into our big (to us) house with 2 1/2 bathrooms (and a shower), I never wanted to go back. I learned at the ripe age of 13 that you don’t really realize what you’re missing until you have it.

I’ve lived in 10 different homes since that “big house”, and most of them had 2 bathrooms. The home we’re in now, our little stone cottage, is not on the 2 bathroom list. We only have one (small) bathroom and no room for another.

Or so we thought.

We’ve been talking about adding a 2nd bathroom since the first day we looked at this house with our realtor. Once we moved in, we went from room to room looking for extra square footage to add that precious 2nd bath. It didn’t have to be fancy, or big. Just enough space for a toilet and sink.

After a lot of thought we finally found some extra room for a small powder room. It’s tiny, to be sure, but it will house a toilet and a sink, which is all we really need. A big plus is that it’s right next to our existing bathroom, which means the plumbing will be easier to do.

So where did we get this extra space?

We found it in one of the guest bedroom closets. There are only 3 closets in the whole house so it was a difficult decision to get rid of one. Once we started measuring and planning though, we found a way to make a smaller closet next to the powder room, that was dead space anyway.

There was a lot of planning, measuring and debating going on about this tiny space but I think that it’ll all work out. The room isn’t completely done yet, but I thought I’d share what we’ve done so far and ideas on how we’ll finish it.

Here’s where we started. We’re pretty sure that this closet was added to the bedroom by a previous owner. It’s pretty evident by the look of the doors and the sheetrock they used to build the outer wall.

We removed the shoes and clothes and began demo. The shelves and rods came out as well as all the molding and the sliding doors.

A lot of measuring and planning went into this tiny space. Everything has to fit just so and, of course, nothing is square.

Once we had a plan and a list, it was time to shop for supplies. We purchased the lumber and building materials at Home Depot (*affiliate link), but the sink, mirror and lighting were all bought online.

The first thing we had to do was frame the walls and place the electrical boxes. The plan was to add two sconces, one outlet and 2 light switches.

Next we hung the sheetrock on the newly framed walls.

We debated between paint and wallpaper but found that the original plaster was in pretty rough shape. After a couple of debates (he wanted paint and I wanted paper), we changed our plans and made the decision to plank the walls.

Even though it’s a small room, it took a lot of planks (we used 4 sheets of plywood). We cut the sheets into planks, sanded and painted the edges.

The easy way (or is it the lazy way?). 😉

I wanted to have spaces between each plank, and didn’t want to see the blue paint showing through, so we threw a quick coat of paint up before we installed the planks.

Once the planks were up, I got busy patching and sanding the holes (all 5000 of them).

Just kidding…but it felt like it was 5000.

Next it was time for paint. I went with Benjamin Moore Advance in White Dove to help the space feel bigger and brighter.

We used this same paint color on our kitchen cabinets in our Illinois house so I knew I would love it in here.

The space is looking great and nothing like the closet it once was. I still have to caulk the ceiling and corners and we need to add molding. The next big project though, is the custom vanity that we’ll build for our new space.

This project is coming along quickly and I want to keep you up to date, so I’ll share more next week. It’s all about adding some pretty touches!

Happy weekend!

Another remodel project we did was the kitchen reno in our Illinois house. If you haven’t checked it out yet, you can see more of it here.

Kitchen Remodel Reveal

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