The downstairs bathroom is was awful. For 19 years, we’ve lived with hideous peeling wallpaper, an ugly pedestal sink with a faucet that leaks, ugly oak trim, unpatched holes, etc, etc.

George is the primary user of that bathroom, since it’s right by his cave, but it’s also used by anyone who comes over, which is just embarrassing.

So George went to the UK for two weeks, and I decided I was going to renovate it as a surprise.

Kiki came to visit and help. I could not have done it without her.

Some fun befores and afters:

Here’s a video of the whole thing before (and obviously I didn’t go in and straighten it up beforehand.)

Okay that’s enough befores and afters. Here are just a bunch more afters:

Some details:

• The paint is half sea fog by Behr
• Almost everything is from Home Depot, really.
• The vanity (I got a screaming deal on it)
• The light
• The hardware
• The blinds
• The faucet
• The mirror is from Amazon, though (I only paid about half this, though)
• As are the knobs
• The adorable garbage can and toothbrush cup are from Home Goods
• The medicine cabinet is from Costco (a few years ago)
• Shower curtain(s) are from Target (I recut and hemmed the one in front of the shelf)

We also removed one of the shelves from the nook behind the tub so George can hang his clothes there instead of from the shower curtain (the closets in this house leave much to be desired.)

The vanity was definitely the trickiest part. First of all, it was very heavy. Steph and I got it from Home Depot and we needed five teenage boys to help us get it off the truck and into the house. One of the doors was extremely broken (they’re supposed to be sending me a new one.) And then our friend Darrell installed it, which involved removing part of the baseboard which was much harder than expected. Suffice it to say, we will never remove the vanity.

But for the most part, it went smoothly. And I could not be happier with the results.

***

Okay, I wrote most of the post before George came home, but last night he did. I was worried he’d be underwhelmed or not surprised (it’s hard to hide these things when we have cameras inside and outside) but he had no clue and he was very surprised and pleased! Yay!