Yesterday was my first day working in the studio bathroom and as is almost always the case when I start a new project, I ran into some problems. But at least I’ve made some progress, so I’m on the right track.
My main goals yesterday were to (1) clean up the bathroom and remove everything that was lying around on the countertop and floor, and (2) get the walls up to the point where I could start messing up the rough spots left behind when I removed the chair rail and tiles.
I had installed the tile with these adhesive pads instead of grout, and when I removed it from the wall, the drywall was damaged. All over the room the primer and paint coat was removed, leaving the primer and paint coat very loose and cracked. So I had to smooth that out so I could apply drywall mud over it. This process went pretty well in this area…
I used a 6-inch metal drywall knife to do this, and when I got to that wall, the primer and paint layer came off like I was removing wallpaper. I’m a bit obsessed with peeling things off so I just kept scraping and peeling and before I knew it I had peeled so much off the wall.
I could have continued. I wanted to keep going because I once again have this weird obsession with things that come off easily. But I realized that if I didn’t find a stopping point, I would spend the next week peeling back these walls and that would be a huge waste of time. I just needed to get a hold point where all the edges were flat and stuck to the wall so I could paint over the edges with mud. I think I finally have all the details up to this point, and I’m going to mess up the room today. My goal is to have the walls sanded, primed and ready for wallpapering by the end of the day.
However, I had a problem with the mirror. I can’t get this thing off the wall.
I used to attach everything – every single piece of trim – with construction adhesive. I learned many years ago that using construction adhesive on everything is a huge waste of time and money, and if I ever wanted to remove the trim it would destroy the drywall. But obviously I didn’t learn that lesson with mirrors.
I know I used mirror mastic to attach it to the wall and obviously I used a whole tube of it on this little mirror. I can’t move the thing at all. I’m not worried about the mirror breaking since I won’t be reusing it. So I wasn’t even gentle with it. But no matter how hard I tried and whatever I pushed between the wall and the mirror to separate the two, I couldn’t make any progress. So if you have any advice on how to remove a mirror that’s attached to the wall with mirror putty, I’d love to hear it!
One design decision I still need to make is the transition from wainscoting to wallpaper. I used a range of tiles in this original bathroom design. They formed a back wall for the sink area, and then I carried them around the room as an accent.
But I can’t imagine using tiles with this wallpaper. I don’t think there is any type of tile that would look good with this square covered wallpaper.
Square tiles like I had before certainly wouldn’t work. That would be square with square, and that’s an exaggeration. Rectangular tiles wouldn’t work either. I’ve thought about using white penny tiles with white grout, but when I try to imagine that, I think it would also be way too much of a hassle.
That’s why I think I’ll stop using wood. Initially I thought that using wood might not be the best idea since it would create a back wall around the sink area, but wainscoting is used all the time in bathrooms behind and around sinks in bathrooms. It’s actually very common. And it’s really the only option that works with the wallpaper in my opinion. I’m envisioning finishing the top of the wainscoting to resemble the wainscoting in this bathroom. (Photo by Houzz. Bathroom by Rachael Liberman Design, LLC.)
Photo by Rachael Liberman Design LLC – Discover powder room design inspiration
But in my bathroom, the top, wide piece of wood sits directly on the countertop. I can imagine that, and I think it’s the only option that finishes the top of the wainscoting without doing too much work and competing with the wallpaper.
The picture frame molding must stay exactly where it is. I have no option to make it taller or swap it out for something else because the only reason I put picture frame molding in this room is to hide the removable panel behind the toilet.
This panel is removable to access the pump behind the toilet. The picture frame bar must therefore remain exactly where it is.
So that’s the progress and the plan for now. And now that I’ve scraped the walls and am ready for the drywall mud, I’m hoping to make a lot of progress here this weekend. I can’t wait to hang the wallpaper!!
