A Small Success and a Large Failure

Or maybe that should be a large success and a small failure. Anyhow, I got a LOT done over the Thanksgiving weekend. So much that I'll have to break it up into several posts. First, the master bath. Here are some before-ish photos. Before-ish because these were taken after the faucet was installed, the ceiling painted, the walls sanded, one wall textured and paper put down on the floors. More boring brown.  You may have noticed that I'm not a fan of brown. I like wood and natural brown accents, but I don't really like brown paint, or brown tile, or brown metal.

Teeny tiny brown vanity, at least it's shaker style. Brown, "antique" bronze sconces.

The wall to the right had no texture so it had to be sprayed. Not that you can see that in this photo.

The ugliest tile in the world! But...it's functional and I'm broke.

If you remember, I painted a sample swatch that I didn't like.

Nooooooo.

 Instead, I decided on Benjamin Moore's Wythe Blue, the 2012 color of the year.

Better.

Trim, or "cuts" done.

Before the t.p. holder was installed.

After painting, I went about installing towel rods and t.p. holders. There were already pre-drilled anchor holes in the wall to the left of the sink, so I decided to use them. The problem is that towel rods come in 18" or 24: and these holes were about 21" apart.

Really boring photo of holes.

 So I bought the 24" rod and cut it to the right size with a hack saw.

This makes a yucky noise.

Ta-da!

Then I hung the hand towel ring and toilet paper holder. I had to look up where to place it. (About 9" above your knee when sitting on the toilet). Here is how the towel was hanging before.

Bad.

And after.

Good.

And now about those sconces...I bought some vintage 1920s aluminum ones from ebay. 

Oooh pretty.

I set out to replace the old (but not actually old) bronze ones. First I turned off the power. I flipped all the switches in the breaker since none are labeled. Note to self--label switches. I unscrewed the sconces.

 I disconnected the wire nuts.

THEN I realized that the antique sconces, although newly re-wired did not connect the same way as the bronze ones. The bronze ones screwed into the metal plate on the sides. The antique ones have one center screw. I guess I will have to screw a post into the piece of wood in the center of the electrical box before I can install my new, old sconces. Boo.

Hmmm...

I reattached the bronze sconces and turned the power back on. Everything works and I didn't electrocute myself. Phew! Next step to putty, prime, paint and hang the antique mirror/medicine cabinet I bought from Craig's List.

It's really hard to take a picture of a mirror without showing in the mirror.