Black and Yellow - A Bath Update

First I should say that this is the bathroom that we plan to gut and turn into a master bath, once we do the large master bed/bath area.  This will be a big project, as we plan to take 2 small BR's, a hall, this bath space and steal a bit of closet space from another BR.  I have no idea when funding will be available to do this rather large scale project - unless I win the lotto :)

So, I decided that until we take on the Master Bed/Bath gut job, I would spiff up the little bath so that it looked a tad bit more cheerful.  Here is the before shot of the little bath, before I began.

Black and yellow and straight out of the 1950's!

Don't you just love the lovely mirror and florescent lighting?

Since this space is slated to be gutted, I decided to TRY not to spend more than $100.

I have been inspired by stripes lately and had never done them before, so I thought hmmmm....this might be a good time to give it a go.  After prepping the ceilings and walls, which were in really rough shape and needed to be scrapped and sanded, I thought - shit, with all this prep work just to get the walls smooth am I really inspired to put more time into this little space.  so, I closed the door and took a breather for a couple days.

This is what I saw everytime I opened that door:

So after a couple of days, I finally mustered up the energy to continue with black and white horizontal stripes.  My thought was that it might look like a prison outfit (although I think prisoners these days are more hip and wear orange)....but if it looked like shit when I was done, I thought paint is cheap....all I have to do is repaint it.

After painting the room a fairly bright white in a flat, I purchased a quart of off the shelf black

"flat" paint for the horizontal stripes.  After reading that Frog Tape was worth the extra money, I opted to spring for it instead of using the blue painter's tape.  Smart move and thanks to whoever the blogger was who made the recommendation.  Measured and taped, only to find that I mis-measured a corner and when I got to the end...where all the lines are ideally supposed to connect - mine did NOT.  Grrrrr! Now I will admit this was the second time I started thinking - really, do you really want to do this?  After a few not so nice words, I ripped the tape off where I had boobed it up and taped again.  First coat of black "flat" paint goes up.  The next morning, I walk in to find that it's not really flat paint, more of an eggshell and looked shiney against the flat white.  I knew it would always bug me, so I rummaged around and found a can of black chalkboard paint.  Second coat went up in chalkboard paint and black stripes were now flat black.

A during shot of the progress:

Ok, finally the finished result. 

A better shot of the stripes:

For the few little touch ups needed - guess what I used???

White Out worked like a charm....

and ta-dahhhhhhh.....

I love my black and white horizontal stripes, the update mirror and light fixture.

Cost breakdown, white paint $30 $15, (but enough left to paint the other small bath - so that really makes it $15), quart of black paint $8., frog tape $5., mirror HD special $40, Overstock light fixture $60.  Shower curtain and monogramed towels free - a gift from my sister who had purchased the shower curtain from Ballards and never used it.  Lucky for me both of our last names begin with "B".  So, ok I think I spent $128 total, which was pretty darn close to my $100 budget.  I'm happy with the damn stripes, but who new painting 3 bold stripes would be such a pain in the ass!  Truth is I ordered a stencil to try in the other bath - yes, if the 3 stripes were a total pain, I may just shoot myself with the stencil project :)  Stay tuned!