One of the first rooms we tackled after moving into our home, was the powder room. It’s one of the first rooms you see when you walk into the house (literally, you can see it from our front door, yikes!), so we wanted it to make a better impression than it currently did. Here is a listing photo of how it looked prior to to the updates, just to give you an idea of why this one was at the top of our priority list.
While I do appreciate their use of a wide-angle lens (gonna need to get one of those if I’m going to become a serious blogger, sorry sweetie…hehe!), the decor is dated and not at all our taste. So we set a budget of around $900 and got to work.
Of course, since it wasn’t in said budget to gut the whole room, we worked with the tile flooring, sink and toilet that were already in place, and focused more on the decor. The wallpaper was the jumping off point for the whole design and I love the way it came together with this gorgeous one by Rifle Paper Co.
Once wallpaper was decided, I ordered paint samples. Since I knew I would be painting a pretty small space, I splurged for Farrow and Ball’s Hague Blue (although I did actually end up needing almost the entire gallon-sized container to cover the wainscoting effectively). Again, with this being a powder room, having such a highly pigmented color on the walls really adds a richness that makes a big impact in a small space.
From there, we added artwork, accessorized new wall shelves, and prettied up the sink area with a fresh Kohler faucet — technically supporting a local business here, since we live in Wisconsin;). And of course the ubiquitous Murchison-Hume hand soap, such a simple update, that makes such a nice difference aesthetically.
Before actually making any purchases though, I created the mood board below to get an idea of how everything was going to work together. I had originally started with Artemis Wallpaper from Anthropologie and while it was beautiful, it was leaning a little more pinky-purple when I started combining it with the other items in the room. That is one reason I always try to start with a mood board like this, to help avoid costly mistakes by ordering things that might be hard to return (says the girl with a collection of rugs we “just need to find a spot for”, haha!).
To try and stay on budget, we decided to add a couple of vintage (read: used;) pieces to the space, and I’m so glad we did. Even if we had an endless budget though, I think they were the right choice. They add so much character to a space, but fit wonderfully with updated-traditional styles. The Artwork is an original oil painting from Paris, that I found on Etsy, and the mirror is from Chairish, the secondhand online retailer. The seller claimed it is a late 19th century Louis Philippe mirror. Not sure how accurate that is, but the rustic-ness provides a nice charm to the room amongst the many other brand new items.
I really love how it turned out, and it is one space in our house that I can say feels 100% like “us”. Many rooms in our house are still living it up in their 90’s-oak and valanced-window-treatment glory, but it makes me proud every day this one now represents the house’s current inhabitants. Over time, I think we will be able to say that about every room in our house, and I hope you come along with us for the ride!!
This post contains some affiliate links, so if you purchase something I’ve linked to, I will get a small commission. However, I only promote products I love and actually use, so thank you for supporting the brands that help keep my blog running.
