Bathroom "Sketch" Art

I'm no artist, and I don't pretend to be, but that's something that I always wished I could do... draw.  It's amazing to me what artistic people can do with just a pencil or paint.  I was looking for some art to add to the powder room that would go with my Renoir print that has been my inspiration for the powder room.  Seriously, he painted that.  Amazing.


Renoir's "Dance in the City"

I wanted something simple and monotone like an etching or sketch.  I hinted at this before when I told you about the paint colour for the bathroom.  So I looked to my good friend Google to help me out with some ideas and stumbled across this really inspiring idea.  It was perfect, but could I pull it off?

From starterhometodreamhome.blogspot.com

Step 1: Find and print out clip art pictures (from Microsoft Word or anywhere online) that you want to sketch (resize if necessary).  I wanted to do 4 frames so I found a bathtub and toilet (similar to above) and added a sink and a roll of toilet paper (so cute!).
Step 2: Trace the clipart in pencil using "sketchy" strokes.  You want the lines to be soft so that it looks like a real sketch.  Add some shading... just follow the darker areas in the clipart and shade softly.  Trust me, if I can do it, you can do it too.
Step 3: Sign your art.  You can just do a squiggle, or sign your (or any) name or initials... no one will know!

Voila!  Beautiful custom made art... for FREE.  Can't beat that.

I have some amazing "after" pictures coming I promise.  Painting the powder room is really taking WAY longer than we'd hoped.  Looks like it will be FOUR coats of primer to cover that sponge painted madness.

Powder Room - The Plan

So although we're in full party planning mode (read: procrastinating on making all the food/cleaning so that we can run around like idiots before the party)... we have picked the colours for the powder room.  After holding up many paint swatches to our lovely green tiles... we've decided to go green-gray with the paint colour.  Etching to be exactly. 

CIL paints

I think this will look lovely with our inspiration art and the name "etching" has given me an idea for an art project... can you guess what it might be?

So for the rest of the bathroom, yes, we will be removing the pink toilet and ugly vanity that I showed you before.

For the toilet we're going low-flow; it's good for the environment and for the wallet.  We managed to snag this beauty (can a toilet be beautiful?) for 30% off from Home Depot and we get a rebate from the city for installing a low-flow model.  In case you're really curious this toilet it a 4.8 L or 1.28 Gallon flush.  We thought about going dual flush, but decided against it since I think its weird to flush a toilet by pressing a button.

Kohler Cimmaron Comfort Height Elongated Toilet from HD

Moving along... the vanity that I wanted was this one (but in dark brown), but even on sale it was over $700 and that was not in the budget. 

Magickwoods Sonata Base w/Porcelain Sink from HD

I love the shallow porcelain sink, which I think is perfect for a powder room.  Nice and wide so lots of kids (in the future) can wash their hands and since you almost never plug the powder room sink to say, wash your face it seemed perfect and very pretty. 

After more searching I found this much more affordable option from Ikea for around $200.  It has doors below the sink for hidden storage, which I actually prefer, AND it was on sale!  At Ikea!  They almost never have sales.  15% off.  Booyah!

Freden/Hollviken Sink Cabinet from Ikea

So there's the plan for the new and improved powder room.  Let me know what you think!

We're hoping to go low-flow with most of our plumbing to save money and water for the environment.  Are you going low-flow at home?  Faucets, toilets, shower heads?  How do you like/hate it?

Powder Room - Inspiration

Since I always start every room with an inspiration item, I'd like to show you what the inspiration for the powder room will be.

Renoir's "Dance in the City"

We have an art print on canvas of this Renoir painting that was an engagement gift from my mom.  I love it and I like to plan for "art" that I love to be in rooms where I will get to see it a lot.  Since the powder room is just off the front hall it will likely be a high traffic bathroom... enough said. 

The print has a nice elegant feel to it, which fits in with the completed front hall, and there are lots of pretty greens in the background, which works great with my plan for the powder room because we have the green tile from the front hall in here as well.

As you know, this room will require a gargantuan effort in painting and will further serve to buff up my arms... so we will be doing multiple coats of primer and paint (boring!) before I have any pretty pictures to show you.  But at least I will be one step closer to killer tank top arms.  Stay tuned.



My dirty little secret

I hope you've been enjoying the progress so far on the house.  We're really happy with how the family room and the front hall have turned out, but there is one room that I've been hiding from you.  You've seen the door for this room, but I haven't showed you inside yet.  Have you guessed which room it is yet?  Well, it's the powder room, which is just off the front hall.  You can see the door to it here.  It's the first door on your left... come on in...

Boo!

Whew!  Are you scared?  I know I was.  Yes, the whole room is sponge painted, even the ceiling.  Didn't notice that?  Scroll back up and check it out.  Yes, that is a matching pink toilet and vanity top.  Yes, the light is a gold bar with bare bulbs.  Now you can see why I've been hiding it.

This bathroom is original to the house (i.e. 1981) and has not been touched at all, I'm sure there are lots of people our there with "original" bathrooms in similar condition, but it you can find a scarier paint job, I would be shocked out of my socks.

This bathroom would give almost anyone "the fear", but next post I will share with you my inspiration and plan for conquering "the fear" and becoming queen of my own castle powder room.