Good-bye 1970's Bathroom

I am so tickled that after about a month of working on our kids' bathroom, then I am finally finished. This project has been a labor of love for me! It all began with the notion of taking off the retro wallpaper and little did I know how much work that would entail once it was down off the walls. What I thought would be a simple project... was anything except simple!

I did alot of research (by research I am referring to DIY blogs, Pinterest, & YouTube, ha!) along the way and am so pleased with the results! I am excited to share the process with you! For this woman, who used to consider herself stupid and incapable of doing anything good or right... somebody who felt worthless to accomplish much in this life... and this wife who thought herself incapable of handling even day to day chores.... I am overjoyed at the redemption that even something like this plays in my life!

The truth is that I *am* capable, smart, worthy, accomplished, and a redeemed woman in the eyes of God! If you feel incapable in your own life, then I challenge you to read the Word of God. What does He say about who you are and who He created you to be?

I am learning that I *love* these home improvement projects. This one was time consuming, but overall I really had fun transforming these bathroom walls from a retro 1970's to a modern day 2016!

These are the BEFORE pics. When we first moved in, then my idea was to embrace the retro quality of this wallpaper. I was going to paint the vanity a yellow/orange (thankfully, I hadn't gotten around to it yet, ha!) I bought a picture to match these orange flowers and although it wasn't my favorite room it did it's job. However, I noticed several months later that some of the paper was beginning to peel. I had removed a border from our daughters' room and that was easy. So I thought, "How hard could it be to remove this wallpaper?" Oh blissful ignorance...

Here are the DURING pics. I removed the wallpaper. Evidently, they put the wallpaper up on bare drywall? That's my best guess. Getting it off was a feat in and of itself. I tried *everything* and I do mean everything just to remove it. Finally borrowing a steamer did the trick, but the paper also took parts of the drywall off with it. Whoever hung this stuff... hung it up to STAY!!

With all of the drywall repair that would now need to take place, I had to prime the walls with special primer (Guardz). I like to paint and I have about 4 partial gallons of different types of primer in my closet. However, none of those would work. Nope, I had to buy a brand new *specialty* gallon for about $30 that I would only use a small portion of. However, I know I did the process right and that's what matters. Next, I had to skim coat the walls 3 times with sanding in between. So here is the skim coating process.

Lastly, I primed again, and painted twice. Here are my final results!! (I also painted the mirror.) I hoped to have time to paint the medicine cabinet and vanity, but I have some other pressing needs upon me right now and decided those two things will have to wait until later!! Truly though... I couldn't be happier with the results!!!

 Our kiddos are sure excited to have their mirror back in their bathroom. Apparently, it's really hard to be 7 years old and brush your teeth without a mirror, ha! Thank goodness for good paint, good blogs, and people who have shared their knowledge online so that I could learn from their expertise!!

One day we'll replace the outdated tile & change the countertop, but for now... white tile with brown speckles & a blue swirled counter will have to stay.... and that's perfectly okay with me!