Style…

I was asked what style I’m employing in the renovation of my house. It was a good question.

I had to do some thinking about it and after awhile it hit me. I don’t have a style. I want to evoke certain feelings in each room and the truth is, I don’t have it all pictured or felt out yet. I want to pay respect to the age and history of the house. The history is currently unknown to me but that doesn’t mean I can’t be respectful of all the years it has stood.

The starting point is the main floor bathroom. It’s a powder room, shower, and laundry, all in one space. And that space is not very large. When I bought the house, there was a full sized washer and dryer in the room. In order to get into the shower stall you practically had to turn sideways and drying off required moving out of that area to behind the door. The pedestal sink slanted so much that soap pumps would not stay upright and kept falling into the bowl of the sink. A pedestal leaves no room for any storage. To be honest, I’m really not sure where the former owners kept laundry essentials, like soap, dryer sheets, or anything else you might use. And those full sized machines were very interesting to load and unload. Yikes! It required some special stretching to get to the clothes in the dryer, if you didn’t want to stand in the shower to do so.

So, what was I going to do? In my opinion, making room was the number one requirement. Brightening it up and making it friendlier was the second. Thank goodness for a great contractor! A stacking washer and dryer, slightly smaller than the full sized set was installed which meant cutting a hole in my house to the outside! I didn’t even think of the need to vent out. I figured it wouldn’t change. After all, there’d been a dryer there already. But alas, it never is exactly what you expect. The vent was put in and the plumbing was moved. I bought a small vanity so there would be storage space for the laundry essentials. The floors in this old house are pretty much all uneven. The vanity is propped on one corner so that it’s level. And what a treat that is.

I like colour, rich colour. I like it on my walls and my furniture and in my decorating elements. The bathroom had been painted a blue colour, not sky, not navy but some sort of in-between. And the back of the very ancient door, that doesn’t have a door knob and only stays closed with a hook set up, was another shade of that blue. So, I like colour but I don’t like blue walls. Don’t ask me why, it’s just me.

Shockingly, I decided I wanted this tiny powder room that is doing triple duty to be bright and clean and sparkly. I wanted white walls and a white ceiling, with my white vanity and white laundry set. And I wanted sparkly accessories that take the light and bounce it around. I bought everything in shiny chrome. And I wanted to do it myself. Once the contractor was done with putting in the laundry and vanity, I was taking on the rest. Painting, installing a new light fixture, mirror, towel bar, etc. was going to be all me.

It’s almost complete. The bathroom still has to have accessories installed, although the painting is done. I couldn’t help it, either - I had to put a small splash of colour in the room. The strange cabinet on the wall above the toilet and the back of the built in shelves have this wonderful shade of green. Initially I figured the floors would be one of the last things done in the house. Now, I don’t know. I’m researching ways to paint the bathroom floor. It’s a small space and I keep reading about how easy it is to paint and stencil. We’ll see. That’s for another chapter. For now, I can share the “becoming” of my main bathroom and first renovation.

What did I learn about me through this part of the process? I don’t like painting as much as I thought. I also found out the pandemic has impacted my motivation level. It can be tough to put 110% in at work all week and then do the same at home for the weekend, especially when you’re occupying the same space. I keep going, though, as I know everyone is and I still enjoy dreaming about the transformation of this house into a home.

BEFORE…

BECOMING…

BETTER…

Not quite finished but a transformation nonetheless.