Stuck in Cary: Volume 3

Once upon a time, there was a lovely couple who bought a lovely home in a lovely town. They had a lovely wedding, then had a lovely daughter, and the lovely mother only worked a lovely job part-time, which was a lovely schedule. And then, the lovely mother decided she would paint the lovely rooms in the lovely house THE MOST GOD-AWFUL COLORS UNDER THE SUN. And then, the lovely couple decided to sell the lovely home to another lovely couple. That lovely couple, you may know. They are none other than Aubrey & Ben Eckerson. This is the story of conquering the ugly.

Our downstairs bathroom and/or powder room was wall-papered. Or, IS wall-papered, depending on whether you're a glass-half-full kinda gal. It's neutral wall-paper and light colored, which is great for such a tiny room, but it's still wall-paper. I, for one, am not a huge fan of wall-paper in general. It's nothing personal, and there's plenty of folks who can pull it off, but it's not for me. This particular paper was starting to peel up, so I asked my father-in-law (the eternal handy man!) if we could borrow his wall-paper steamer. He brought it over and as we discussed possibilities for our tiny bathroom, the next thing I know my mother-in-law is tearing off huge chunks of the paper. So I guess our demolition began Sunday!

The before:

Not-horrible wall-paper, the vase that the previous owners left behind + flowers I added, and the photo Ben had of NYC that seemed to go with the whole black & white theme

My least favorite light fixture of all time, I think. Also, here you can see the obnoxious blue that the bathroom was painted before the previous owners decided to sell. Good choice on covering that mess up, guys

Beginning the demolition / a look at the complementary wall-paper and border

The little toilet paper holder that can barely hang on!

I actually did some minor improvements on this bathroom a few months ago, which basically consisted of: 

• Removed the tacky "gold" plastic mirror and replacing with a silver one
• Replaced the non-matching, tarnished towel rack & toilet paper holder with new silver ones
• Upgraded the cabinet pulls to match the rest of the fixtures
• Purchased the replacement light fixture, but we haven't installed it since we know we're doing a whole lot more.

Our plan is as follows: 

• Remove the wall-paper
• Buy a new "drop-in" sink
• Replace the counter with granite
• Patch the shoddy installation of the towel & toilet paper racks
• Paint the walls
• Purchase shades for the new light fixture
• Upgrade the hideous brass light fixture (this brass WILL be out of my house if it is the death of me!)
• Re-install the brushed nickel towel & toilet paper racks I purchased a few months ago (but have been barely hanging onto the wall)

*whew* I think that's everything. So here are the beginning steps of our journey, I imagine this will be a long one. Input / encouragement is welcome! Especially for inexpensive sink / granite sources and wall colors (thinking a mossy green, perhaps?).