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Bright Basement Bathroom Makeover

I’ll start this makeover reveal with a little story endorsing the virtues of hoarding.  🙂
A couple years ago, I bought some outdoor furniture off Craig’s List from the sweetest, young mother.   We shared a cordial conversation about making over furniture as she gathered the chairs from her storage shed. I held her adorable baby girl for her and tried not to come to tears. She was a brown haired cutie, wearing a little romper and blue jean hat, just like our little Emily so many years ago.
Anyway, a week or so after the encounter, she sent me an email through my blog saying she wanted to give me a roll of wallpaper! I think we ended up making a trade, but for the life of me I can’t tell you what I gave her.
 
Anyway, she gave me a roll of Paeonia wallpaper from Anthropologie!
I wasn’t really sure what I would do with it, but I knew I loved it!
Fast forward to this spring, when we bought our house in Birmingham.  I was hoping I’d find a place to use this gorgeous wallpaper!
I decided it was the perfect design solution for this slightly dreary, guest bathroom in our basement.
Here is the before photo.  While this bathroom is in our basement, it does get just a smidge of natural light from the window above the tub.
As you can see from the photo, the bathroom, like the rest of the house, already had a bit of charm.  It just needed an infusion of happiness and light.
Did you notice yet that there are fewer flowers here than in the image of the wallpaper?  It turned out that my “fantastic idea” was not with out flaws.  Beyond hanging the dreaded wallpaper border back in the nineties, which honestly we really should forget, I had zero wallpaper experience.
Being the math adverse person I am I had not even measured to see if I had enough wallpaper.  Not until after I had enlisted my neighbor to help me, did I figured out that I might have just enough to paper one wall.
However, I realized the flowers were so impactful that cutting out each flower and pasting them to the wall would give me the look I was hoping for.
I think results are perfect for the space. There’s more room for the deep yellow wall color to fill the space with sunshine.
I replaced the mirror with a more simplified version and brought in a small side table that had already had many reincarnations.   Each piece received their own little paint makeovers to coordinate in the room.
Then, just a few accessories added to the floating shelf, towels and a rug were all the room needed.
I’ll share in another post how we pasted the flowers to the wall and spread this one, partial roll of wallpaper around the room.  Talk about a budget makeover with impact!
I must admit that when I first put the wallpaper color-matched paint on the wall, I started to doubt my choice, thinking it might be just a tad too bold.  But now, I look for reasons to come down here and just smile.  I hope the room gives a warm welcome to all our guests.
The finishing touch to the room is the word art I created of Isaiah 58:11.
Here’s a source list for the known items in the room.  Like I said, most of the bones were here for me to work with.
Wallpaper: Anthropologie, Paeonia  |  Mirror: T.J. Maxx, Originally it was blue and cream  |  Towels: Threshold by Target  |  Urn: Antique from a local store  |  Clock: Target, a few years ago  |  Braided Rug: World Market  |  Shower curtain: Threshold by Target  | Mini Orchid: World Market

14 Comments

  • Connie Haines
    September 8, 2014 at 4:39 am

    Just saw your gorgeous basement bathroom (linked from Pinterest) – and LOVE this adaptation of the original wallpaper design. What an original and much more impactful use of the design! Looking forward to following your blog now.

    Reply
  • Rachel Baumann - Fifty Two Weekends
    September 8, 2014 at 5:40 pm

    Hello! Just stopping by via Remodelaholic. That wallpaper is amazing! So pretty and bright. Great job on the makeover 🙂

    Reply
  • Julie Reinwald
    September 12, 2014 at 11:36 pm

    Fantastic way to extend that gorgeous wallpaper! Really impressive project!

    Reply
  • Vickie @ Ranger 911
    September 14, 2014 at 1:49 am

    Your bathroom is just gorgeous! I love the wallpaper and your little accent table painted to match! I&#39;m visiting from FFF.<br /><br />Vickie

    Reply
  • Camille Columbia
    September 14, 2014 at 11:41 pm

    That wallpaper is BEAUTIFUL!What a sweet story on how you got it too! http://www.camillecolumbia.blogspot.com

    Reply
  • happilyeverafteretc
    September 15, 2014 at 12:03 am

    I love your creativity! Where others would have threw in the towel you came up with a creative way to make the space even more beautiful! Plus it was so sweet of that gal to think of you when she wanted to trade the wallpaper in the first place! I&#39;m glad it has finally found a home.

    Reply
  • KarenAnita
    September 18, 2014 at 1:15 pm

    What a stunning room! I personally ADORE these colours together and love the walls you’ve created 🙂 Hoping to do something similar for my hallway when we finally get the walls up!<br />Karen x<br />

    Reply
  • Ashley @ 3 Little Greenwoods
    October 1, 2014 at 7:14 pm

    I swore I would never put up wallpaper but I am crushing on this pattern and color! It&#39;s fabulous!<br /><br />I would love for you to share this post at my Show Me Saturdays (party starts at 7:00 am EST). My readers would love this!<br />~ Ashley

    Reply
  • Lindsay Eidahl
    October 12, 2014 at 12:45 pm

    WOW! What a transformation! I love the punch of pattern and color! It looks great! Thanks for linking up to Show Me Saturdays!

    Reply
  • Carrie from Carrie This Home
    October 13, 2014 at 12:46 am

    I love ho you made this bathroom so much brighter! It&#39;s so pretty! I have a basement bathroom and this is really inspiring me to bring in some light!

    Reply
  • Jules
    March 4, 2015 at 5:52 pm

    We loved this so much that we are doing the same makeover! Thank you for sharing all that you did… Will you say what paint you found to match the color of the wallpaper?

    Reply
    • Leslie
      March 4, 2015 at 10:40 pm

      Jules,
      That’s fantastic! SO glad you like it enough to do your own. I just took a piece of the wallpaper to Sherwin Williams and had them color match it. Be sure to have them sample it on the actual paper to check to see if it’s a perfect match!

      Reply
  • Terri
    May 1, 2015 at 2:12 pm

    This is one of the most beautiful bathroom redo’s I’ve seen. I love your innovation in making the wallpaper go a long way. What is the name of the wall color?

    Reply
  • […] was generously given one roll of this gorgeous wallpaper from Anthropologie. I shared the story behind how I was given this wallpaper in the reveal […]

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