The Key West Rest(room)

When we moved into the house, we knew that the first thing we needed to do was take care of the pink bathroom. It felt a bit like being in the under-lit bowels of a human organ and it was a little gross. Now that it's been marked off the list, though, it was high time we made a couple of changes to the bathroom Scott and I use every day: The master.

This wasn't originally on the list of rooms we were really worried about. The blue-ish tile wasn't offensive, but it wasn't great. The issue really arose when I realized the tile would never truly come clean. It wouldn't. I scrubbed, bleached, and scoured to get the grime gone, but it never gave. The weird darker spots in the grout existed where you knew other people had been. Specifically, where other people had been dirty. It brought the whole room down on the cleanliness scale, and since that's where we clean ourselves, I finally decided to make a mini project out of it.

We started with this mild-mannered retro room-of-rest.

 I wasn't trying to be "oh so real". I just forgot to clean the room out and close the toilet before taking the picture. Sorry, folks!

It's a little difficult to tell (or maybe it's not. It's a palace next to the formerly pink guest bath), but it's kind of small.

It does feel much bigger than any bathroom we've had in an apartment for a while, though, due to the awesome window which lets in amazing natural light through most of the day.

I started by painting the tile white. It felt so wonderful and clean afterwards that it really transformed the space. It feels much more modern in there now. Then, I followed up with two coats of a lime green that reminded us of our honeymoon in Key West. I actually just bought two sample pots and have half of one left over, so all of the paint for the room cost $4 because I already had the oil-based primer and white paint. How awesome is that!

THEN! DISASTER!

We have painted tile before (as my MANY avid readers know, har har), so I should have known better. It takes a couple of days for the top coat of paint to cure enough to be able to take a shower. Unfortunately, without thinking, I gave it more like 14 hrs before my grossness was literally peeling the paint from the walls. We got as much off as we could and avoided using it for showers for a couple of days. The aftermath is pretty telling, though.

It kind of felt like this.

That is what the tile looks like with the completely dry oil-based primer still attached and the top coat peeled away. I would have just used the primer on it again and covered it until it was white, no one the wiser, but I know that when the primer is left for long enough, it starts to turn yellow.

I just waited the couple of days for what was there to cure, then I patched it up. No harm, except to my ego.

It was only after the Shower Debacle of 2014 that I realized that I also had another money saving update. We have an older shower curtain from our guest bathroom in the apartment that would be a little less psychedelic and match the room almost perfectly. I really liked the original curtain, but it didn't fit in with the relaxing atmosphere that I was going for.

Can you feel your face melting a little?

In such a small space, not only was it dark, but it made us feel a little more like this.

First, I tried the new one on for size.

And decided that we are Go for Curtain Oscar Shower Tango.

Win.

See how the colors match really well?

There was only one more thing I wanted to tackle before "finishing" this update. The window needed a little something.

I didn't want anything that would be a working shade because we love to use as much natural light as we can and the windows are already frosted for privacy. I remembered seeing a couple of pins on Pinterest about making fake roman shades, but unfortunately there are a thousand different approaches to this, including one with 3-5 tension rods and one that uses duct tape, so I figured I could piece this little project together on my own.

And THAT is what my next post is about (What a tease)! Until then, check out this rad before and after: