Updated vanity and walls in the powder room

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Another week in the $100 Room Challenge is done!  Plans changed slightly because of what was and wasn’t available in my budget/time frame.

Accomplished this week:

• Removing glue on walls from backsplash
• Covering countertop with contact paper
• Sanded vanity and filled holes from previous knobs
• Mudding and patching holes in walls
• Painted walls
• Pulled up flooring
• Discovered (and repaired) a rotten subfloor under the toilet

The vanity countertop was TRICKY.  The hardest part was getting vinyl that had been curved for 57 years to lay flat so I could have a smooth surface for the contact paper.  It didn’t totally happen.  Once the backsplash was off, I heated small sections with our heat gun, then used a brad nailer to fasten it down while it was still soft.

In a couple places, the paper backing had cracked, so I have some pretty good lumps, but I’m just going to pretend they’re not there!

Once it was as good as it was going to get, I covered it in the marble contact paper.  This was SO easy.  Last time I did that project, I used a granite look, so the seams were nearly impossible to find.  Because this was marble, I was a little worried about the seams being obvious, but it wasn’t a big deal at all.  The application was a piece of cake too and took less than 30 minutes.  I splurged on the high quality contact paper rather than the stuff from the dollar store, and I’m so glad I did.  It’s much thicker and easier to remove and reapply if you don’t place it correctly the first time.  (And the cheap stuff only has 2 patterns to choose from, and I didn’t want either one.)

The room was repainted too!  I was planning on going with a white-ish color, but when I was at the DIY store, there was a quart of Oops paint in a warm dark gray for $1(!).  So that’s what I did.  It turned out being very dark and charcoal-y, which I loved, but it was a little too dark for this room, especially since it would have been the same color as the floors.

So I lightened it up with white paint I had on hand, and here we are:

Then finally, we ripped up the old vinyl floor so we could put down new vinyl floor tiles, but in the process, found that the subfloor under the toilet was rotten and spongy.  Boo.  Hubs had to go back to the DIY store for the 137th time this week.  (And FYI: I am NOT counting the cost of new subfloor panels towards my $100 budget–I’m considering that home maintenance and not decorating.)  

We did get the floor repaired in just a couple hours, but it delayed the new floors going down, obviously.  

Still to do:

• Finish laying new floor tiles
• Clean up caulk lines on countertop
• Refinish vanity
• Install new drawer knobs
• Hang new mirror
• Hang new light fixture

Easy peasy.  ?

Go check out what the other ladies participating in the $100 Room Challenge are doing too!