A Bathroom Update – Finally

First, let me apologize for my unintended absence lately. I’m still adjusting to growing a human inside of me..it’s kind of exhausting. But I’m almost out of the first trimester, and I hear you get some energy back after that. So, here’s hoping that’s true!

As promised, I’m back with a guest bathroom update for you! When I posted about making some changes way back when, I posed two different color schemes that I was waffling between. Well, I know you all have been waiting for me to reveal my choice and the day has finally come! I decided to go for the bold (is it too late for an Olympics pun??) and went with the coral/yellow scheme! And I was happy to see that many of you voted that way too :)

The first step in bringing coral into the room was painting the vanity. So I headed to Home Depot and picked up some swatches.  It came down to two different colors: Firecracker or Poinsettia, both by Behr. My gut instinct said Firecracker, but  just to be sure, I got a sample of each and painted them on the picture frame of a painting I was using for color inspiration.  I decided on Poinsettia because it matched the flowers in the picture really well.  Then it was time to paint.

I started by removing the cabinet doors and drawers and priming everything. When you’re removing hinges and doors, make sure to somehow mark things as you remove them so you can remember where they came from when it’s time to put them back. Sometimes doors won’t hang quite right if you get things mixed up.

Once everything was removed, it was time to prime. I just did one thin coat…two probably would’ve been better but I was too impatient.

Then I started my first coat of paint.

I read that it’s best to use a small foam roller and an angled brush for the grooved portions, but I found that the foam roller sucked up a lot of paint and made the paint bubble so I ended up skipping it and just used a nice angled brush (Purdy brand).

After I got the first coat on, I realized that the color I chose was reading a little neon and decided to go back to Firecracker, which had been my gut instinct all along. Lesson learned: when it comes to your house, follow your instincts…it will save you time and money!

It took three nice and even coats of paint to cover the wood. And I should mention that the wood grain still shows through. Oak is one of those woods where you will most likely end up with wood grain showing, which is totally fine with me. It just looks like a painted wood cabinet, which is exactly what it is.

I let the paint cure for 3 days before reattaching the doors. This gave time for the paint to harden up so that I wouldn’t scratch up the fresh paint job when I was rehanging the doors.

Once I had the doors hung, it was time to add some hardware. Starting with the drawers, I marked the exact center of the drawer. Once that was marked, I drilled a pilot hole all the way through the drawer and screwed in the knob. I opted not to add a knob on the fake drawer in the middle because I figured it would probably just get in the way when people are standing there to wash their hands, etc.

For the doors, I more or less eyeballed where I wanted the first knob to be and then just put the other two in the exact same position.

So here’s my lovely Firecracker in all her glory:

It’s kind of impossible to get it to photograph correctly because the room gets no natural light, but I’m totally in love with the color. I’m so glad I decided to go with the bolder option..it feels good to take a risk.

Now just a few more things to finish up in here before I call this project done-zo..yippee!