Powder Room: Drab to Glam

Powder rooms are so fun, you can get really creative in a small space and take risks you might otherwise skip.

Here’s one that was a full gut job and evolved over time. The cabinets, toilet, sink, lights, mirror – even the floors – were all demolished. It sat vacant for a while after the floors were complete and over time become a sexy space.

The counter is poured concrete thanks to my buddy Ray at BC Coatings.  Ray did the floors as well, in this home and my previous home. Once the sink was done I felt it was a bit too contemporary for my otherwise more European or Old World style in the home. So over time the stacked stone was added to the back wall along with a square mirror (we tiled around the mirror so it looks built-in while saving about four square feet in tile), vessel sink (one of my least favorite picks in the remodel) and a glitzy light on a dimmer and metallic paint.

Still working on the right accessories but the lion’s share of the work is done, now it’s down to the easy stuff.

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Kitchen Disposal Air Switch, one of my Favorite Things

It’s the little things that can make all the difference.  Case in point, a kitchen disposal air switch that costs all of about $60 at your local home improvement store.

No longer must you reach across the counter or open a cabinet for the traditional “light switch” to flip for your disposal (all the while dripping water across the counter or down your cabinets) but instead it’s mounted on your counter top, alongside your faucet.

Besides the cost of the air switch itself you’ll need a dedicated outlet under the sink (if your existing switch is on the wall an electrician can easily pull the power from there) and the labor of an electrician and/or plumber if you aren’t the handyman (or woman) type.  I’m not, so I used both, one to pull the power and the other to install the disposal itself.

Here are a few photos of what it looks like. This along with my counter depth fridge may be my two favorite choices in the kitchen.

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Front Door Transformation

Just a few hundred bucks and these front doors took on a whole new look.

While I would have preferred to replace the doors entirely, they were decent enough to save (and new ones weren’t in the budget) but I couldn’t stand the glass inserts or the color. The glass had an arts and crafts look to them and the color of the doors was far too red. The house itself was pink so when it finally came time to paint the house the doors were ready for their facelift.

But prior to the paint I had the glass changed out to a simple textured glass that lets in plenty of light yet you can’t see through it. When the inside of the house was being remodeled I had my glass guy who was doing the showers and liquor cabinet cut a couple of pieces for the front door. That was phase 1.

A year later the doors were primed and painted a brown/black color that made a nice contrast with the lighter color of the home. I had a glaze added but it didn’t look right so had them repainted again to a simple satin finish as seen in the after photos. Between the glass, paint and labor it cost about $400,  well worth the transformation it created.

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