Bathroom Redo: Color & Reclaimed Wood Shelves -

At this point in the bathroom redo, you’ve seen how I faked white wainscoting and made a mess of my bathroom. Today I reveal the bold color I chose for the upper part of the walls: teal!

Wowza.

This snapshot is from when painting was all done. I mixed this custom color myself. But let’s take a step back and show some of the process:

Chairs work like step ladders, too. What a change!

Great Tip: Paint in a W motion to get even paint coverage and avoid streaks. I’m not just being super proud of my last initial, paint in a W (for Woods).

Paint in a "W" motion for better coverage painting technique

So funny story, I kinda sorta did this bathroom redo without much input from my husband. In fact, no input. I had this vision and although I complained about how badly I wanted to change our bathroom to Stephen often, I didn’t really tell him any of my plans before I got started. So the day he came home and saw the wainscoting, he said “Woah, you’re redoing our bathroom.” And the day he came home and saw the first coat of teal paint on the walls he said, “What did you do? I hate it!” Well, needless to say, we then sat down and discussed all my further plans. The good news is that it was more of a shock than an actual dislike. Even when I got the second coat on, he was liking it much better. And when it was all finished, he really liked it. So, if you’re not digging this color I painted, just wait until you see the finished project! If you like this color, also check out my living room with pops of teal.

Use rubbing alcohol to remove dried paint on non porous surfaces

Great Tip: If you’re a messy painter, use rubbing alcohol to get paint marks off plastic and other non-porous surfaces. It works even if the paint is dried! The only thing this doesn’t work so well for is wood, like trim or cabinetry.

Painting is all done! Now let me show you my beautiful shelves:

These modern, funky shelves were my little brainchild after scoring this wood for free off Craigslist. I wanted to install them above the toilet, but I didn’t want to do the plain old two floating shelves of the same length directly above the stool. So I came up with this design where the shelves alternate walls in the corner above where the toilet sits. All three are slightly different lengths with the shortest one being the top. The white metal brackets were free with rebate from Menards.