Category Archives: Bathroom Renovations

First Attempt at Wainscoting

I call this my first attempt at wainscoting, but to be honest, I should really call it my first attempt at making faux wood paneling that lines the lower part of a wall, because I didn’t learn about the word “wainscoting” until we had finished and I sat down to write this blog post.  Sara saw this project done on another blog a couple of years ago and thought it could help give texture to this wall in the first bathroom we renovated:

It’s been two years since we renovated this bathroom.  We re-tiled the shower and floor, upgraded to a quartz vanity top and painted the walls with the Behr color Seagull Gray in a satin finish. The project also involved removing a mirror cabinet on the wall opposite the vanity, which after finishing the project, left that wall feeling very empty.

Rather than installing paneling across the entire bottom half of the wall, I wanted to try a simpler approach: strips of pine trim.  I bought two 8 foot lengths and 5 pieces that were 4 feet in length.  I used primer before painting in a semi-gloss ultra white.  The primer helps keep pine sap from seeping through the paint later on.

Before I could nail the trim to the wall, I first needed to do a little more drywall work.  When I remodeled this bathroom, I replaced the drywall where the recessed mirror/cabinet used to be using the same 1/2″ concrete backer board I used behind the tiles in the shower.  However, the drywall in the rest of the bathroom is 5/8″.  This 1/8″ difference is quite noticeable on the finished wall, and would be even more evident with the wainscoting.

Photo from 2015 renovation shows hole for old mirror/cabinet. Drywall was replaced a couple of feet out from the tub with 1/2″ concrete backer board.

A few thick coats of drywall mud did the trick.  Flat surface!

I used a trim nail gun to put the wood in place.  The vertical pieces are just under 4′ in length.

I used moulding caulk to fill in the nail holes and also around the edges of the wood.  A quick sanding with fine-grit sandpaper, before painting the whole bottom half of the wall with ultra-white semi-gloss paint.  (3 coats did the trick)

The finishing touch:  3 hooks mounted using drywall anchors.

Finally, the before and after:

Oh yeah, we also replaced the door knob.

Frosting a Window

Mmm… frosting.

Cake dreams aside, honest question: why would anyone install a standard clear exterior window on main-level bathroom? Unless you TOTALLY trust your window treatment, this is just asking for peeping toms.

Our basement bath had this particular problem and I wanted a simple fix. I’m also not very adept with contact paper, so I didn’t want a cut to measure option that I would most assuredly mess up. One more note – this window may not be permanent to the home, as its 30+ years old and does have some water damage/past leaking issues. So, our options had to be: nothing too expensive and can be tossed if we ever save up the cash to replace it with an updated window.

All home renovation bloggers love the spray-paint isle, and I for one must practice restraint when I allow myself to go looking at the colorful cans. That being said, it is in this aisle that inspiration struck when I found Rust-Oleum makes a product that is specifically to create your own frosted glass! Perfect!

So, before we even painted the trim around the window, I went in and put on 2-3 light layers of the frosted spray. THAT’S ALL! I was sure to spray the glass with the window open, as it helped ventilate the room and limited the over spray on the trim. When the window was fully dry we were still able to tape the frosted glass and paint the trim in ultra pure white without damaging the new frosting.

Its exactly what we needed, it lets in light and the only thing you can see from the outside is the light in the room turning on and off (you can’t even perceive figures moving around in the room).

So, the moral of the story is, just let your partner peruse the spray paint aisle once in a while – they might just find a cheap solution to a pesky problem.