The Powder Room

22/6/2015

It's finished (for the most part)! It has taken us weeks to get this done, mostly because there has not been much time to work on it. I'm loving the new vanity we created. So simple, yet very modern. It was created by sawing a piece of pine to size and staining it! Here is all about our process.

Taking Everything Apart

First step was to rip out everything we didn't want in the bathroom anymore. This included the mirror, towel rack, toilet paper holder, all art, lighting, and of course the sink and vanity. After all of that was out we cut open the wall, where the plumbing was, in order to be able to move the pipes for the new floating vanity.

Changing the Plumbing

We marked out in pencil on the wall where the sink would sit, so that we knew where the new pipes would have to be placed. Then my father helped us cut out the old plumbing, and inset the pipes in the right spots for the new sink. This included sawing out the old pipes and soldering the new ones in place.

Replacing the Tile

Under the old vanity was simply the subfloor, so we needed to put tile down. Luckily we found a few extra tiles under our stairs to use for this corner. These are not my favourite tiles, but as they continue out into the kitchen we will keep them for now, and perhaps replace them all one day. We also ended up using the grout we had bought for our fireplace project, so it didn't cost us anything. The tiles needed to be cut to fit along the sides, then we added a layer of glue to the floor and spaced out each tile. The glue took about 48 hours to dry. Once dry we added the grout, washed down the floor, and waited for that to harden.

We also had to replace the baseboard where the vanity was. Which consisted of painting it with a coat of primer and then a coat of white paint before they were on the wall. Then we nailed them to the wall, covered the nails with compound, and then added the last layer of white paint.

Adding Support for the Sink

Next we created a support structure for the sink to sit on out of wood. We screwed the wood supports into the wall studs and added brackets to the outer corners. Then we added a cross support (as seen in the third photo above) for help as the sink was really heavy. The sink then just simply sits on top of the supports. We actually ended up gluing the back of the sink to the wall, as well to keep it in place, using silicone chalking.

Next we had to finish connecting the plumbing to the new sink, and then replace the dry wall.

Replacing the Lighting and Painting

Next we took down the old lighting and added the black track lighting seen above. We also repaired all the walls with compound and painted!

New Vanity

We new vanity is simply two pieces of pine cut to size and then sanded and stained. They butt up against each other at the corner of the sink and are simply screwed into the support system we created. Simplistic, yet modern! Last step for the sink was to add a boarder of silicone chalking between the sink and the wall.

Decor

After everything else was up we then added the towel rack, toilet paper holder, and art! We also took the mirror that was there originally, turned it on it's side, and added small mirror clips to hold it up.

Before and After

I'm so happy with the results! A new, fresh powder room, all done without too many huge changes. One more thing I would like to do in the future is paint large horizontal stripes across the wall that holds the towel rack. Maybe in a soft silver/grey. Still trying to convince Jeff of that one, but that wall definitely needs something. Overall we are very excited for the new powder room!