Only the After

My momma came to visit for a week. In that time, she and I did a tremendous amount of redecorating in my house. All the while, my husband was out of town. He only had a vague notion that the bedroom was to be painted.

The "before" pictures were overlooked, but let me describe my bedroom. There were curtains of a color that blossomed somewhere between dirty pink, dusty rose and mauve. To add that "finished" touch, there were matching pom-pom tassels with ecru stitching dangling from the valances. The combination pink matched the blushing cheeks of the maiden being pushed on a tree swing by little Lord Fauntleroy that graced the gray wallpaper in typical french provincial style. Not wanting to spend three years slumbering in a room covered with knickers and knee socks of latter day fashion, it was decided that the wallpaper had to go. Using a recipe for wallpaper remover that momma got from HGTV, we soaked the walls with laundry softener, water and soap. It made the job easier, but no less time consuming.

Once the paper was gone, a paint color had to be chosen. Round one was a dreadful mistake. What was supposed to have been a deep rich eggplant hue turned out to be concord grape purple. Lots of discussion was had before an earthtone brick color was chosen. It turned out great! I love it. New curtains were hung and the water stain on the ceiling was covered. The end result is a warm and cozy retreat were I can slumber snuggled in my bed.

The bathroom on the second floor was a dreadful mess. It is a small room, but the previous owners had decided that a dark stained oak vanity cupboard was appropriate. There was a side shelf that extended from the sink to the wall above the toilet tank. The placement of that section of counter top prevented access to the internal workings of the toilet. That posed a problem when the innards began to ware down and it became necessary to replace them. Not to worry, momma and I had a plan. There was also an over sized oak medicine cabinet with mirror. Turns out it covered a smaller cutaway hole for a smaller inset medicine cabinet and a previous cut hole for a previous light fixture. The fixture that sat above the jumbo medicine cabinet was to be removed and replaced with a more fashionable one that would better fit the smaller space and new mirror sans cupboard. The vanity was also history. It was replaced with a small pedestal sink. We opted to save the faucet to help keep the costs down. Now that the shelf above the toilet was gone, all the inner working could be replaced and a space was created for a cabinet that matched the new mirror. Not to forget paint. The previous pale tan was covered with a light green and a new shower curtain, window curtain and towels finished the project. The bathroom, as redone with a little help from a hired handy man cost $11,000 less than the Re-bath professionals wanted. Frankly, I like what we did and am pleased with the results.