I design, You decide

We’ve hired a handyman! Thanks to a neighbor, who has ties to this home (Hi, Kay!), I was introduced to a guy who knows his sh!t and is willing to work with my personality (a true gift). He’s currently adding wainscoting to our dining room, because I’m determined to finish ONE ROOM in this house before I die.

In the meantime, I’ve moved on to the other addition.

We’ve made a list of the tasks at hand. Imagine a four square house; the left side vs the right side, with the stairs in the middle splitting the two.

The kitchen renovation, which is the left side of the house, will be a nightmare, just because of the plumbing, electricity, leveling, demolition, waiting for orders to arrive, cabinets being made, timing the subs, and the inability to have easy access to wine at the end of the day. So, I’m focusing on the right side of the house, which includes the primary bedroom/bath/closet/utility renovation, and a lot of framing and walls that I can have more control over.

One thing we’ll add before the kitchen but on the left side of the four square is a powder room. This is necessary to finish so we have a toilet on the main floor of the house while our primary bathroom is getting renovated.

So, while I think about that design, I’d love your opinions. The half bath will go here:

Looking at it from the hallway, you can see where the door will go – between the blue tape.

And pardon the mess, but this is the other side of the wall, which is currently the utility room (see, I’m keeping it REAL. You’re welcome.)

See the blue tape? That’s the half bath. The sink will be near the blue tape, while the toilet will be closer to the wicker basket/wall and face the blue tape (did I describe that well? This is my first blog post about design. Also, my husband coaches 12yo basketball, my son loves shoes, and we receive A LOT OF DELIVERIES so please lay off the judgement). Okay, okay, to maybe help you imagine it, the toilet will be to the right of this photo and the sink is on the left.

I’m getting around to the design, trust me. See the beautiful oak dresser in this photo? It’s a family piece and can be transformed into a lovely vanity for the half bath, with either a vessel sink or a drop in sink.

See below for inspiration:

Or one that drops into the vanity, like this one from Charlotte’s House:

This “reads” a little more vintage to me, but it’s more work and it would not be using what I have.

Or letting go of the dresser idea altogether and doing something like this vintage look with exposed pipes:

You may be interested to know the rest of the design in order to make the decision but I’m hesitant to put it all out there…….

(wait for it…..)

Okay, I’m in a good mood. And it wasn’t my idea, so I can’t take credit even if I wanted to.

I plan to use beadboard or wainscoting on the bottom third of the powder room and was originally planning a fun, wild wallpaper above it – what better place to take a design chance than a half bath that’s seldom used? But my best friend in Franklin sent me this photo of a house where the owners pulled the census from the era their house was built and created a wallpaper out of that and I.WAS.INSPIRED. So my dream is to get the 1870 census from Macon County and make that into something I can put on the wall that people can see while they’re doing their….ahem….business. Because if anything, we want this house to entertain. And what better way than to have people read the wall while they are accomplishing another necessary task????!?

More to come, but tell me….what do you think? Use the dresser I have for a vanity, or put it somewhere else in the house and invest in a cool powder sink with exposed pipes?