BEFORE: MASTER BEDROOM

One of my priorities for the first few months of this year is to finish off our master bedroom. I have been doing things in dribs and drabs (some early progress here). But somehow making decisions for the room you spend most your time in is much harder than making decisions for the guest bathroom! Lots has been done - kind size bed and upholstered bed head, built in robe a new rug and roman blinds. But I still need to make a decision about reupholstering the small couch (early deliberations here). Before we go any further, I wanted to post some photos of the room when we moved in (and from the sale materials). 

The sale photos

The day we moved in

The walls had an "interesting" grey marble paint effect up to the picture rail.

AFTER: GUEST BATHROOM

Just as I was my retirement was cut short by gainful employment, I was planning to refresh the guest bathroom. Having to work for a living, unfortunately meant that this project took much longer. However eventually Mr B offered to help out with the plastering and painting. So now it is all done, and I am disproportionally pleased the outcome. Check out the Before photos here.

New plaster capping added, white paint and vintage oval mirror

New shower hardware and showerscreen re-sealed

Woodwork all painted white

Vintage hotel china soap dish

Handtowel from my mega-visit to NY's ABC Carpet & Home

New taps (same as main bath)

Vintage milkglass light

Refurbished linen press

The finished product

BEFORE: GUEST BATH

The current indoor project is the "refresh" of the guest bathroom. We can't justify a complete re-fit (nor is it really needed) so I have decided to do a few small DIY things to spruce it up. This is how it looked when we moved in (and it was only workable bath).

Since we moved in I have replaced the tapware with the same chrome and white taps which were used in the main bath (here); replaced the toilet seat and had the shower screen re-sealed and the brass hinges replaced with chrome ones.

What's left? I am refreshing the linen press (more to follow); will enlist Dad to help me install some plaster capping to finish off the tiles; I need to find a (vintage) oval mirror; and finally I will paint all the woodwork and walls white.

AFTER: GUEST BEDROOM

I have finished decorating our main guest room. This bedroom is at the rear of the first floor and is ready for inter-state guests. The room holds our old queen size bed, a set of painted bedside drawers (here), a small wooden pot cupboard (my first furniture restoration project), the blue and white lamps (here) and the most recent addition - the re-upholstered Ebay-found mustard retro chairs (here).

BEFORE: GUEST BEDROOM

Before I post the "After" photos for our guest bedroom, I thought a couple of "Before" shots were in order. It is a good size room at the back of the house. The ceiling is lower than the rest of the rooms, but it still has the ornate ceiling rose, picture rail and cornice. Note the lovely rose glass light shade and faux wooden blinds. 

BEFORE: COURTYARD

We are making progress on the courtyard, so before we go too far a few "before" photos to remind us where we have come from. Pretty miserable.

This mustard pot with the selection of half dead plants is one of my favourite features!

It is a good sized space, but our outdoor table just looks lost.

AFTER: MAIN BATHROOM

After quite a lot of "palava" with the shower screen the main bathroom was completed a week before Christmas - the perfect present.

Plaster capping on top of subway tiles to chair-rail height. Hexagon carera marble tiles worth every cent.

The re-surfaced cast iron bath made its way back upstairs and looks fantastic with its original feet.

The custom marble-topped vanity is just large enough to hold all the bathroom clutter. Towels are in the linen press in the spare bathroom. I painted the vanity myself with Dulux Design Silk product in white. The finish is very matt which is unique for a bathroom, but actually quite practical because it wipes clean with a damp cloth very easily and is easier to touch up than a high gloss paint.

The vintage pendant light and vintage-style scone lights were sourced from this Etsy store and I think work fine.

And the mirror? The first "pie crust art deco mirror" sourced from Ebay turned out to be a dud, but the second one was a gem. Mr B tightened up all clasps (after I rubbed off the rust with steel wool), painted the mounting board white to blend in which the walls and mounted it on the wall (took three goes!).

I realise it is all a bit "vintage" but I think by keeping the palette all white, I just got away with it. New bathroom towels (Christmas present) complete the look and I treated myself to some bathroom accessories - vintage soap dishes and vanity trays - which I hope will arrive from the various Etsy sellers soon.

WIP: MAIN BATHROOM

It has been five weeks since the bathroom renovation started so I thought a WIP update was required. It will hopefully be finished in the next few days, so I will be able to show the finished product soon.

First a few "before: shots. Lots of brass, maroon, wood and multicoloured floor tiles. However no operating shower or storage.....

So first everything got ripped out.

Then the new concrete floor went in and plumbing was installed. The plan is to put a stand-alone shower in the corner where the bath used to sit. Shimmy the bath over to under the window, leave the toilet broadly in its spot and replace the pedestal sink with a vanity.

Then the floor tiles went down. After a little umming and ahhing I did choose the carera marble hexagons and really pleased I broke the budget on these as they look fantastic after they have been grouted (which they haven't been in the photos below). I used a coloured grout product in "misty grey".

Then the walls went on - I chose a very budget friendly white subway tile. I decided to tile all the walls with the exception of the shower to "chair rail" height (about 1100mm) - the shower is of course is tiled to full height.

I decided to use plaster capping (this one) instead of tile capping as I couldn't match the white tile caps with the white wall tiles. We also replaced the cornice and the walls were then plastered. Then Mr B stepped in for a day of doing all the fiddly parts - patching the door and frame to adjust for the new floor height, generally filling various gaps. 

While all this was happening, the old maroon and cream bath was resurfaced by Thermoglaze in pure white (inside and out), however I kept the original feet untouched.

I pulled out my paint brush to paint the vanity which was custom built by Aramis Kitchen and I organised a carrara marble vanity top from Medmarble. The sink and new taps are just resting here (back to front) in the sunroom for now.

The painting is underway today and then all that is left is to put it all back together and have the shower-screen installed next week.

PS - After a few false starts I am also hopeful of having solved the bathroom mirror puzzle.....fingers crossed.