Demolition In The Studio Half Bathroom
Yesterday, I shared my decision on what I plan to do with the doors in the back entry of the studio. If you missed that, you can read out it here. Since my idea is a little more complicated than just purchasing a quart of paint and painting a few doors, I’m giving myself time to figure out exactly how to go about getting the look I want. So in the meantime, I decided to do a little demolition on the studio half bathroom to get it ready for its new wallpaper.
I finished this bathroom a few years ago. I did a very colorful and busy hand painted wall design, custom yellow accent tile, and a coral vanity. You can see more of this first iteration of the bathroom here.
But now I’m in the process of making some changes so that the bathroom will flow better with my new vision for my studio. I’ve already repainted the vanity, painted the floor, and designed a new wallpaper that will go on the walls. That wallpaper looks like this…
So when this is finished, the bathroom will end up being every bit as colorful as it is now, but I think it will coordinate much better with what’s going on in the main part of the studio.
A few weeks ago, I decided to replace the yellow accent tile with a reed-type design using dowel rods. I spent a lot of time removing the yellow tiles in half of the bathroom, and then cutting and sanding pieces of dowel rods and gluing them to the wall.
That was a fun project, and I would love to see it completed, but I decided that it just wasn’t right for this bathroom. So last night, I spend some time popping those off of the wall with a little 5-inch prybar.
I started out using my heat gun to soften the glue before prying them off, but that turned out to be really messy and sticky. I found that there was actually no need to heat the glue before removing the dowels. They popped off the wall quite easily and cleanly without the use of the heat gun.
The same cannot be said for the yellow tiles, though. The half of the room in which I had already taken the yellow tiles off of the walls had three big gouges in the drywall from me prying those tiles off of the wall. I didn’t bother patching them before gluing on the dowels, but now that my plans have changed, and they’ll be covered by nothing but wallpaper or paint, I’ll have to repair them.
So when I started removing the tiles from the other half of the room. I used the heat gun. The tiles had been applied to the wall using Simple Mat adhesive sheets from Home Depot. And let me tell ya, those things are sticky! On the first half of the room, I was using a big prybar and a hammer to get the tiles off of the wall, and those things didn’t want to come off. That’s why I left three big gouges in the drywall.
But using the heat gun to remove them made things so much easier. I was able to get the second half of the tiles (and the sticky sheets) off of the walls with no damage to the drywall.
It did peel off a lot of primer and paint from the drywall, which has left a lot of very uneven areas that will need to be mudded over and sanded smooth before I can move on with paint and wallpaper, but that’s pretty simple.
Now that I’ve decided to remove the accent and chair rail, I’ll be able to have a full apron on the window trim. Because the chair rail came up so high, I’ve had this tiny little 1-inch apron sandwiched between the window sill and the chair rail all these years. That’s one of those things that really irritated me, but I didn’t really have any other choice if I wanted a chair rail.
But now that the chair rail is gone, there will be plenty of room for a full apron. It’ll look so much better!
The trim around the mirror, which was done exactly like the window and door trim, was also missing an apron.
Even though there will be plenty of room for an apron now, I’ve decided to remove it completely and find a nice framed mirror to use in this room instead.
When I did this bathroom (and the hallway bathroom) years ago, I loved the idea of framing out the mirrors to match the windows and doors. But I’m ready to move past that look now. I want to keep the window and door trim on the windows and doors, and then take the opportunity to bring in a little extra something with the mirrors.
Unfortunately, I glued this mirror directly to the wall, so I’m sure getting it off will cause some damage that will need repair.
So things in this bathroom look like a complete mess right now, but it has to get worse before it gets better. I’m very glad it’s a tiny bathroom, so even though the walls will need some repair before I can wallpaper, at least I don’t have a lot of area to cover. I’m just really excited to finally get the wallpaper on the walls! I’ve had the wallpaper for weeks, and I’m ready to see some progress on it.
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.
Try using fishing line to remove the mirror. It causes less damage to the walls. Hope that helps!
That is the same thing as a Giggly Wire which you can buy on Amazon and does a better job of actually cutting the glue. They are used for lots of things like removing ceramic tile without breaking it, cutting horns off livestock and even pruning when you can’t get a saw in place to cut. Under $10 to buy. I prefer the ones with the surgical handles. you can thread the area you want to work on without also trying to get a handle passed behind something in close quarters.
Girl, you are going to remodel yourself to death. Changes, changes, charges. Gives you something to do, I guess. You simply have way more energy than the average bear. Extremely talented. Full of ideas. Committed to success. Again, extremely, extremely, talented. Hard working. Faithful to God. Just about a perfect individual.
We love you.
I got exhausted just reading this post! My goodness that girl never sits still! I love her energy and determination to be flexible and change ideas.
I love the glass paneled doors painted whit, it shows off the curtains and I also like the door frames painted white.
I still think the green wall color is too dark. It’s making the entire hall appear dark and not keeping with your “light, airy” feel of the rest of the space.
Have to say, I agree with many others, that I like the sapphire color on the other doors. Perhaps when one is standing in the studio and looking down that area, the walnut color would look good too.
Have a wonderful weekend!
This was one of my favorite rooms that you’ve done, I’m sorry to see it go.
Wow, that wallpaper is kinda hard on the eyes.
I know you have gotten criticism over the years for remodeling/decorating rooms and then changing them, but I have to tell you that it is one of my favorite things about your blog. I love that you try new things, change your mind, and then ACTUALLY go and make the changes. It reminds me that it is okay to redo something and to continue working on things until it is something that I love. Love your work and love your blog!
Gosh, don’t you ever just get tired of redecorating?!
No. There’s a very good reason I named my blog “Addicted 2 Decorating.”
My grown daughters always criticize me because I don’t change much in my decor once I complete a room, and here you are changing things almost every time I peek! Well, not THAT much, but I have the same living room and bedroom setup since 2015, (in a new house too!) and my dining room is also the same from then. You have redone your living room and bedroom a couple times since then! I’m making some small changes in a couple rooms, hoping that will refresh things enough. Can’t wait to see this bathroom redone again, even though the wallpaper scares me! You always seem to make it awesome!
I can’t wait to see that wallpaper up on your walls. It’s perfect!
It’s gonna be so awesome! Will you alter the vanity style in any way?
The look you mocked up has a more modern feel to it – the turned posts on the vanity are rather country…I imagine you could remove those and replace them with straight posts or those with a sleeker, turned, vertical curve or such…or straight, reeded posts painted with your gold leaf for an art deco feel!
I noticed the last mockup has a black vanity 👀
Is a black vanity coming in the future??
I can’t wait to see it finished! As a graphic designer, I love the wallpaper! <3
I liked it before and I’m guessing I’ll like the new look! I don’t think you’ve done any bad design choices over the decade of fixing up your home!!
Liking the direction this is going…love the wallpaper! It is going to be SO nice, and look like it belongs with all your other choices!
What possibilities are there that your new bathroom wallpaper will be available for sale? I LOVE IT! I’d be thrilled to be able to order it to use in my house.
Keep up your great work … you’re an inspiration on so many levels. 😊
It’s available! You can find it here: https://www.spoonflower.com/designs/15326409-colorful-squares-by-kristilinauer