Our Half-Bathroom - Before

Almost 3 years ago, when we remodeled our kitchen, we decided to remove the red quarry stone floor that was original to our home. It was a difficult color to work with, and no matter how often I cleaned it, it always looked dirty. It ran all the way from our laundry room, half-bathroom and entry, through our living room and dining room, and ended in our kitchen. Quite the span of red!

In our kitchen, dining room and living room we chose a natural hickory hardwood floor that we're still very happy with. In the laundry room, half-bath, and entry we had a 12x12 ceramic installed in an offset pattern. We love the look of it, but about a year after it was installed the grout started coming loose, and tiles were popping. I tried to re-grout them myself, and I even put gorilla glue down as a quick fix, but within days the tiles were loose again. 

We've been told by a couple of tile installers that the installer who put the tile in did not properly prepare the floor underneath, therefore it's bouncing slightly when anyone walks on it, making the grout crack and the tiles pop. Not what we wanted to hear... so we threw a rug over it!

After trying to fix it, and waiting a few years, we're ready to bite the bullet and replace this tile. It is the first thing you see when you come into our house.

But along with replacing it, we've decided it's time to renovate our half-bathroom. As with most half-bathrooms, it probably gets the most traffic in our house. Here's how it currently looks:

I decided to remove the green stripe wall paper about 4 years ago and paint it a purpleish-gray. We also replaced the ornate brass sconces with an economical chrome set from Home Depot. The vanity used to be green to match the wall paper, so I painted it White Down (a Benjamin Moore color) like the rest of our house. Oh, I wish I had a before before picture!

 I'm so excited to begin this renovation, mainly because I'm going to try my hand at some woodworking. A "simple" vanity... don't quote me on that simple. I just received the legs for it today, and while I'm giddy, I'm a bit nervous I might ruin these beautiful stems! Here's a sneak peak:

I'll be back with a design board to check out!