Since I had yellow "formica" countertops, I used yellow on the walls. It was "okay" for awhile.
Sponge painting (so yesterday) will hide a multitude of sins. I forgot how badly my walls were sinning. LOL When I skimmed and floated the opposite wall to cover holes left by an old towel bar and counter-sunk TP holder, it looked smooth and brand new... then there was the other side. Yikes. When I tile the floor and move the toilet, I'll skim that side too. Until then....
	But it was "cute" for the most part.

But cute only goes so far.

My youngest son used to say that ours was the only house where you could "sit a spell" and be inspired at the same time. LOL! This TP holder is now gone. I had to patch the wall, float and skim after its removal.

	As a matter of fact, I DO collect rubber duckies. Thanks for asking! (c: And this is only a drop in the ocean here. They are in the master bath too.
These little mermaids are vintage 1950's.

Always dream. I do.

NOW... Here is phase 3:

TA-DA! A little PFM (that's Pure Frickin' Magic to you) and my bathroom now has Ghost Stripes!
And may I say that I just love Target? These rugs were clearance priced.
The round one was $3 and the rectangle was $11.
And where else can you find rubber duckie yellow rugs?? I ask you!

Unfortunately, I, at this point, did not have the money (nor the time) to take up the carpet and tile. But that happens... stay tuned!

A funky new mirror from IKEA. Yeah, it was only $19.99. Gotta love that!

I couldn't resist adding the cute quotient back in. So sue me. (c:

While I was at it, I lightly sanded the finish of off the vanity and restained it. Nice huh!

I added new pulls too. Nothing like shiny new chrome.

The "ghost stripes" above the shower door. How does one achieve this? Select your color and buy it in two finishes. My stripes were created with flat as a base, and satin for the stripes...... and MILES of blue painter's tape.

I got this light on eBay for 50% off list. Yay!
Add in new chrome accessories such as a free-standing TP holder, matching towel ring, a free-standing towel ring, and new cabinet hardware... and all that sparkle and shine is practically blinding!

I made this little mermaid knick-knack "box" at a ceramics studio. I thought she looked cute in the guest bath now, with the new paint job and all.
And yes, my vintage 50's mermaids had to go back on the wall.

The little chrome flowers in various sizes were purchased from a company in Canada.

November 2011... Here is phase 4:

No carpet! Yay!

My plan was to "not" repaint. However, laying Hardibacker (the underlayment under the tile) was somewhat difficult for someone my height and weight so I dinged up my walls. That's okay, I guess. I used the opportunity to color match the new paint to one of the decorative colored tiles.

Buh-Bye ghost stripes!

The carpet was fairly new when I bought the house. But one should never install carpet in a bathroom. Here is why. The pad held onto any humidity that it could and had decomposed into mush! It took a few hours to scrape all this yucky stuff up.

Sometimes I wonder why they don't make vinyl flooring that looks like it did in the 70s. An informal discussion on its kitsch value on Facebook yielded the notion that there are many people that still like it! The 'original to the house' vinyl was oyster, veined with bronze and it actually had 2 metal-colored glitter flecks in it. It was quite unique in its time. If it looked nice and new, I probably would have kept it!

For years I've wondered why I have a yellow "Formica" countertop in this room. When I bought the house, the wallpaper was white with pink and blue flowers. Thinking it was original, I could not figure out why the builder put yellow tops in there. Turns out, that paper was NOT original! This is the original paper. I found it behind the toilet. I love vintage, but this is downright ugly. LOL

I kept the toilet in the foyer until I was finished with the new floor tile. Quite an experience, I must say! I only HOPED that no one would pop over for the 4 days that it took me to tile the bathroom.

Part of the reason that I never floated and skimmed the wall that the toilet was next to (after removing the wallpaper and damaging the drywall) was because I knew I would be tiling - eventually. And I knew I'd need to fix the area behind the toilet too. It was just easier to the do the entire wall at once. I use Dry-Dex pink mud. I love this stuff. It turns white when it's completely dry.

I like to reward myself after a long day of a "job well-done" with a tall glass of chilled wine and painkillers for my poor aching back. {grin}

This is the Hardibacker underlayment, cut to fit, screwed down and taped with CBU tape. It's very heavy. I did not have much room to maneuver around in the room so I put a few scrapes and dings in the opposite wall that I floated and skimmed. This is when I decided to totally repaint and not put the ghost stripes back up.

So, I repaired the new damage and primed the walls in preparation for the new paint.

The tiles are laid out, but not grouted. The mosaic sheets were of all white 1 x 1 tiles. I popped out random squares and in their place put the colored squares in. There is no pattern... it's completely random. I chose the yellow to coordinate with the countertop, which I've always liked. The blues were selected simply by merit of their pretty color tones. (c:

The floors are now grouted and the shoe molding is installed. I cut all new shoe since the old stuff looked old and worn out.

This pretty new paint color is very Zen looking and has a peaceful quality about it. I still love my IKEA mirror so it went back up.