{Mom-In-Law's Powder Room} Starting the Project

A bit of "back-blogging" for you today. And it's totally worth the trip! Some months ago, my brother-in-law had the great idea to do something really big for his mom, my MIL. Her downstairs powder room needed refreshing in a major way. The fixtures were seriously outdated and there was a very, umm, shall we say,  "interesting" toilet situation. I am so dissapointed that the photo below doesn't show the degree of "tilt" in the toilet. Yes, the toilet is lifted on one side, making any sitters concentrate a little harder in order to conduct business and remain on the seat itself.





Sorry toilet, did I catch your bad side?

 So why on earth would someone have a fun-house toilet? Well, we were all thinking that the handyman that installed the tile and toilet did something incorrect. I mean, the three inch moat of grout sourrounding the toilet gave us no cause to think this man did quality work!

But any way you swing it, the room needed help. The main complaint, (besides the obvious) was that is was dark. My mother-in-law has a wonderful and lively spirit and this room doesn't reflect it. This room must have ree--aaalllly been bothering my BIL for him to suggest that we overhaul it. It's tons of work, we all have full time jobs and the Spring temps in Phoenix were slowly creeping up. But I'm always a sucker for a good renovation, and I get to be project manager!! So I was IN before he could change his mind!! (Just kidding. He'd never change his mind. He'd do anything for his mama.)

Since this was going to be a surprise, we wanted to have all the materials on hand before we started the job. And since it was a gift, we wanted it to be spectacular! And since we're not rich, we needed to get as many deals as we could. That's the fun part for me. I love me a good deal!! I can smell 'em where they hide!

The ultimate goal for the little PR (powder room) was to feel fresh and inviting, and slightly tropical; like a polished resort room. I wanted the walls to have a color, but nothing that would take over it's identity, so I chose an interior semi-gloss in "Icy Blue" by Valspar. It turned out just perfect. To add a little detail and interest, we (my hubby) installed a bead board wainscoting from the floor, up 4'. The trim is pretty neat too. It's a product that is already shaped to fit right over the boards, making a finished look very easy to achieve.

Oh, and by the way, when we removed the toilet, we discovered that tree roots had invaded the plumbing and were actually lifting the toilet up!! Crazy!! I tried to get a pic of it, but the guys shoved a bag in the hole, and I didn't want to touch it to move it out of the way!! The guys had to dig as much as they could of the roots out and use a root killer on the rest. Let's hope it worked.....


Kind of a shoddy pic, but then again, consider the subject. 

 I'll sign off from this post leaving you feeling what we were feeling at the time. Dirty and underwhelmed. We were a long ways away from turning this room into a polished little gem.

More to come.....