DIY

The Gentleman’s Water Closet

In late March, we began down the road of forever changing our recently acquired home. To be perfectly honest, this process had begun many months prior, but after receiving some pretty ludicrous bids from several contractors in the area, we started to lose hope. That is, until lucky bid number seven.

Up until this point in time, our presence at 95 Birds felt more like a long sojourn in someone else’s home than living in our own personal space. On April 3, 2017, demolition began on what would become our largest project to date.

The renovation was simple: turn a lonely bedroom and a paltry half bath into a half bathroom in which we could sit without hitting our knees, a mudroom with closet space, and a laundry room. We had never been fans of the single bedroom on the first floor with the others upstairs. Add to that two sets of stairs to reach the laundry from the master and we had plenty of reason to tear into our home’s bones.

 

Three months later, and our home was ours again. In an attempt to save money (as well as add a bit of personal flair to our new space) we opted to complete the finishes – painting, trim work, and installing fixtures. While several projects in this newly renovated space are yet to be completed, we would like to introduce you to the room now at 100%: our new bathroom!

Not quite. Let’s go back a couple of weeks. Prior to the install of our Kohler pedestal sink and toilet, we decided to spice up the design of the walls. Late one evening, after a quick trip to Home Depot and many earlier evenings planning, we got to work on installing our custom board and batten wall trim. The timing was tight. We would need to cut, install, prime, and paint no more than 24 hours after the tile had been put in and no less than 24 hours before the plumber was to return – one weekend. Fortunately, the plan went off without a hitch. Well, except for a few misplaced studs. That’s what Liquid Nails is for.

 


With the bottom half of the room now complete, we set our eyes on the upper walls. Hannah knew she wanted something special to go over the sink: a round mirror in a wooden frame. This turned out to be easier asked for than found. We visited custom cabinet shops, picture framers, and scoured the web. Etsy to the rescue! This mirror pictured here was crafted by Studio Rust, a shop located in Haifa, Israel! It would be almost a month before our piece would arrive from across the ocean.

So what color would we paint the upper half of our new water closet? For that answer, we turned back to our neighborhood paint whisperer. Bob has helped us time and time again decide on the colors for our home, so it was only fitting to return once again. We went in thinking blue. What we left with was Benjamin Moore 2062-20, also known as Gentleman’s Gray. And wow, what a statement it makes. A few weeks later, we had repainted all our home’s radiator covers, the finishing touch on a bathroom we can be proud of.

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