Plaster & Disaster

We’ve been talking a lot about bathrooms on the blog lately. Sage shared her gorgeous bathroom makeover and affordable art, and I also asked her for some advice about how to update my own bathroom without spending a ton of money.

You might think we are sick of talking about bathrooms. But no! Today, I’m going to go back in time a little bit because, believe it or not, the thing that flummoxed us most in our big home renovation was the bathroom ceiling.

High stakes, I know.

You can sort of see in the above photo from the early days what we were dealing with. But let’s set aside the grayish color and varied sheens of paint – both of which are par for the course! – and focus on what’s really important here and in life: the placement of the fan/light combo.

It’s a little hard to tell from the photo, but that fixture is not centered to ANYTHING. Not even the wall segment that juts out near it. Not even the negative space. Nothing.

And it was only making the asymmetrical ceiling situation worse, if you can believe it. The ceiling itself is a really odd shape: the width near the door is NOT THE SAME SIZE as the width over the toilet.

This might help you see it a little better (not quite to scale):

It’s the kind of thing that you can’t un-see. It drove me crazy anytime that I thought about the bathroom – let alone anytime I walked near it. Don’t even get me started on going in there.

Now, if you’re still reading and haven’t decided to leave the crazy yells-about-her-bathroom-ceiling-lady’s blog forever, you are probably as insane as I am and are finding this tale of lopsidedness emotionally difficult. Let me pause here to assure you that the story has a happy ending. It does.

We knew that we wanted to replace the light. In addition to its distressing placement, it was really dim. The light bulb was covered in a scratched opaque plastic piece that hardly let any light though. Also, our contractor informed us that the fan was much too weak to provide adequate ventilation of moisture in our bathroom. (He advised that we get one that is 100 cfm plus, and ours was probably more like 50.)

He was pushing a new fan-light combo hard. However, the duct for the fan ran to just that spot, so unless we wanted to spend a couple hundred dollars to run new ducts we would have needed to install it right where the original one sat, keeping the asymmetrical layout. Even if we could live with that, I wasn’t thrilled with the look or the prospect of having a single flush-mount light source. But even if we added a better light, what could we line it up with?

Not going to lie, I stewed on this for a long time. But then I came up with a solution – hold onto your seats: what if we could have the fan basically just blend into the ceiling right where it was, but add in a pair of awesome lights that could be lined up with each other?

OK, maybe it is not that exciting, but it was to us at the time. Actually, I don’t remember Brad being that excited either. Essentially I came up with a solution to a crisis that was all in my head and it was awesome.

Here is the new plan:

We went with an exhaust fan kind of like these, but with 190 cfm so we would be well over the recommended amount of ventilation. Yay for no mold! We had a lot of fun picking out new lights, and agreed on the Franklin with Cage light from Schoolhouse Electric in a matte bronze finish (shown below in nickel finish).

Franklin Cage Light - Schoolhouse Electric (Found via Plaster & Disaster)

(via Schoolhouse Electric)

I love that the lights bring in a bit of an industrial edge. I really like the industrial look when it is done well, but can’t do too much of in this house since it is bland and boxy to begin with.

Steve the contractor installed the fan and lights, and then Brad and I painted the ceiling a bright white: Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace in eggshell. (I love using an eggshell finish on low ceilings because it helps bounce the light around and make them look a little higher.)

You can also see the benefit of my big door upgrade, which I posted about last week.

See how much better?!

We can all breathe easier now. You’re welcome, world.

(Sharing at That DIY Party, Tip Junkie, Whimsy Wednesday, Think and Make Thursdays, and AKA Design)

When last we left off in the hallway, I’d painted the walls, trim, and doors, and turned the small pantry into colorful open shelving:

But I didn’t touch the stairwell, because I found the prospect of doing both in one fell swoop to be a bit overwhelming. Plus as I mentioned when I shared the hallway makeover, I’ve been intrigued by the idea of doing something kind of unexpected in the stairwell, beyond just painting the trim and walls. I’d promised to share some of what I’m thinking about, so this post is a taste of what’s on my mind (a terrifying prospect, I know).

But first, a recap of what we’re working with:

Ignore the partially-style shelves in the background — I snapped this picture right before turning my attention to spiffing them up.

The stairwell has a lot of potential I think, but right now it’s very dark because of the wood paneling, the lack of much natural light, and the poor overhead lighting. Also, the stairs are pretty beat up. So, here’s what I’ve been thinking:

– I want to paint the paneling, newel post, banister, handrail, and balusters white. Yes yes, I know that painting the natural wood is not for everyone. But I want to lighten this whole thing up, and I promise you that the wood is not in good condition.

– I’ll paint the walls above the paneling gray (moonshine, by Benjamin Moore) to match the hallway (which, in turn, matches the living room). Right now the walls are a terrible yellow color.

But beyond that, my head is swimming with options. I want to do something fun, and I’m totally obsessing over these stairs that use paint or wallpaper to dress up the risers:

Stairwell makeover inspiration -- Plaster & Disaster

Also I’m obsessing over this dog. If I paint my stairs, will a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel appear? (From BHG)

From Lonny Magazine

From Sunset

But would I keep the treads a natural wood, or maybe paint them white?

From Serena and Lily

Or, maybe I want to paint the treads a fun color instead? You know I can’t resist turquoise….

From Adriano Bacchella, via House of Turquoise

Or, maybe something more muted would work better?

From Page Blanche No11

All these amazing transformations have me wishing I had more sets of stairs! Of course, Naomi is jealous that I have even one, and is living vicariously through me with this project.

So what do you think? Colorful? Patterned? Stick with the risers, or throw the treads in the mix too? So many choices, so many hours on my hands and knees in that stairwell to look forward to!