I haven’t shown you much of the girls’ bathroom, but welcome to the land of hydrangeas.
The good news? It’s a good size bathroom with natural light and a lot of countertop space. The bad news? I’ll be the one taking all of this wallpaper down, sooner rather than later. We’ve been noticing a strange musty smell on and off for the last few months. We’ve had two different people out to check for mold or mildew, and they (thankfully) found nothing. I thought one of the kids had hidden a wet washcloth somewhere, but someone suggested that there might be moisture trapped behind the paper. Either way, stripping this bathroom has officially become project numero uno for 2014.
I’ll also be removing the towel bar and probably replacing it with some hooks. They can barely reach the bar, which means a heap of towels on the floor after every bath. Heck, maybe I’ll even buy them some cuter towels. I’m not motivated to do anything until the paper is gone. First things first.
I’ve tried to make the most of it with the yellow and white striped shower curtain (from West Elm), but there’s definitely no good transition from bathroom flowers to bedroom ikat headboards when you look from this angle. . .
I don’t have a real plan for this bathroom just yet, although I’m leaning toward clean, simple and not overly decorated. (Eventually, this will be bathroom shared by all three girls, so their stuff will probably end up taking over, anyway.) Maybe I’ll take my own advice and paint the walls white before I do anything else. . . There’s room to add fun color through the shower curtain, a window shade and some art.
Paul Rice Architecture via Houzz
New to my blog? See the two bathrooms that were completed last year here and here.
We have taken down a ton of wall paper ourselves over the years and it came down the easiest when we sopped it wet. We had towels on the floor and we would sponge water on the section we were working on as well as the next section to be worked on so that it would be ready when we got to it. The water would just run down the wall, but that seemed the only way we could get big strips of it to pull down…or you could just bead board over the walls and forget taking it down!
I’ve got my steamer and am all ready to go! That worked like a charm in our powder room. Now, I’ve just got to find the motivation :)
Getting motivated is half the battle. Good luck!!
We had the same problem in one of our bathrooms. Once in a while I would smell mildews. I cleaned like crazy and it would happen every now an than. Than one day water started dripping through our kitchen ceiling. Long story short our toilets were not properly sealed and were leaking water underneath the linoleum. The previous owner remodeled all 3 of our bathrooms and did all three wrong. When we lifted up the linoleum the floors were rotted, lots of mildew and mold. We are currently in the process of remodeling two of the bathrooms (the third isn’t bad, thankfully).
Hopefully that isn’t your problem. But you might want to peek up the flooring if possible. Good luck! Excited to see what you choose.
Oh no :( We did have a plummer come out to check for that problem, but he didn’t find anything. . . Both people that came out were perplexed–and of course, the smell was hardly noticeable when they were here. I did think we might be getting new flooring for a second, though :)
Excited to see where you take this! Always a fan of the herringbone marble tile.
Of course I will be waiting to see what you have in store for this space! It will be amazing once you get that “fun” wallpaper down! Good Luck! :)
ooohh I see a pretty grey bathroom ( not too dark), and white trim, and then pops of colour!!
love it!
I like it! Gray is also a definite possibility.
I’ve never tackled taking off wall paper before- I hope it comes off easily! Can’t wait to see what you come up with for the room!
Can’t wait to see what you decide to do! I think you’re right about the whole stuff-taking-over thing. Girl’s need a lot of bathroom storage!
By the way, here’s the source for one of the images you posted: http://marcusdesigninc.blogspot.com/2012/03/designer-profile-barrie-benson.html
Can’t wait to see! We both have bathrooms on the brain. It’s taken me FOREVER to even get the motor running. We will see how long it takes to actually get something done. Great space for the girls . . nice and big!
Oh man I’ve never taken off wallpaper but it seems bad. I think Young House Love just did some wallpaper removal so you might want to check them out. Just found out that you are from Charlotte too, after reading for like a year. Call me clueless.
What a nice size bathroom. This will be a fun project. I am just finishing up my bathroom makeover and it feels so good to get something fresh and new in there!
that is a lot o’ hydrangeas. :)
Best of luck, lots of potential in there!
I love your colorful inspiration!
Hi Emily,
Love your ideas and your creative spirit!!! I often re-read your newsletters for inspiration!
No worries…. Your creative mojo will be back soon….. :) :)
About that image of the pretty bathroom (source unknown), I think it’s from Barrie Benson, the interior designer…
Here’s the link
http://www.barriebenson.com/projects/residential/homeis
<3 <3
I’m so thankful that there was no wallpaper in our house when we moved in, just a lot of crappy paint jobs. Can’t wait to see what you do with the space!
I vote for white planked walls like in so many of your photos! That will look awesome. :) Good luck with the wallpaper stripping. I do not envy you….That’s a lot of wallpaper. Hope the kids will help you!