Happy 100th Birthday - Bathroom

Happy birthday dear bathroom, happy birthday to you...

You may have already gotten a glimpse into our bathroom from my Quick Bathroom Updates post, where I detail the transformation our vanity underwent {before picture on the left, after on the right}.

Our bathroom was remodeled on a budget of almost nothing. Most of our projects involved the help of my dad but this project was done almost entirely by my talented husband.

After some blood {ok, maybe not blood}, sweat and tears {yes, with every home improvement project there are tears} we lovingly updated our bathroom {before picture on the left, after on the right}.

Removing the bulky cabinets made a huge difference. We {actually, he, the husband} built a new radiator cover that we use as a bench, hopefully giving more of a spa feel to our bathroom.

With some inspiration and stained glass {that can be bought at any hobby store}, we were able to give the tall oak cabinet a custom look by removing the wooden panel inserts and replacing them with the glass.

Using some gel stain, we covered the dated oak finish with a dark, rich mahogany coating. We added some crown molding to the top of the cabinet and bronze knobs to the drawers to give it a more finished look {view of the cabinet from the bathtub, where I perched trying to get this picture}. Can you believe this is the same oak cabinet?

My decorating philosophy with our bathroom was 'decorate with what makes you happy'. Instead of hiding away all my meaningful mementos in a box, I dug them out and put them on display in our bathroom. Most of which were from our honeymoon and other travels.

This may not look like much to the casual observer BUT this shelf makes me smile every day and brings me back to happy memories of my engagement. The picture of the sunset, is the sunset in San Jose del Cabo on the night we got engaged. I was a little annoyed that in the midst of a romantic moment {getting engaged}, my fiance stopped to take pictures of the sunset but will now admit that I appreciate I have that picture now. The vase contains sand and shells from that same beach and the scroll a special poem.

The corbel supported shelf, my husband built, displays more treasures from our travels, another picture from our honeymoon, some coral, 2 tiki men {these tiki men were given out by our hotel, much like chocolates left on your pillow at turn down service}...

and we have glass bottles filled with sand from each place we've visited. It's interesting to see how different something as simple as sand can look from region to region.

All the pictures in our bathroom my husband in took, matted and framed. I love the idea of filling our walls with personal pictures from our adventures.

So, that's the story of our 100 year old bathroom.

I hope we made our house proud with the updates we made.

We are proud to be part of our house's hundred year history. Happy Birthday Bathroom!