It's the last progress update before the final reveal! This point of the challenge always seems to sneak up on me. Right now, I'm wishing we were a bit further along but, at the same time, I have some degree of confidence that everything will come together quickly at the end. At least, I'm hoping for that!
WEEK ONE - WEEK TWO - WEEK THREE - WEEK FOUR - BLM - WEEK SIX - WEEK SEVEN - ROOM REVEAL
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Sink
I know you've all been waiting with bated breath since last week, wondering if our sink cabinet ever arrived! So I won't delay any longer to tell you that the fourth delivery arrived - intact - the day after my last blog post! It was a huge relief to finally get it and, better yet, it was just on time for the weekend so that I could get working on it.
Funnily enough, the colour of the cabinet was incredibly close to the colour I wanted to paint it. I considered leaving it unpainted, but it was neither different enough to stand out, nor similar enough to blend in. So I went ahead with painting it as planned.
I started by giving it a light sand, then primed it with a high-adhesion primer before painting it the same colour as the walls and the woodwork. Because this is a small room, I don't want it to feel too busy by having lots of colour in here. Instead, I am reining in the colour palette and focusing on a few special details (and the sink isn't one of them!).
Plumbing
The room had been plumbed for a pedestal sink like our old one, but this obviously wasn't going to work with the cabinet (unless we cut a hole right up through the middle of it!). So Hubby re-plumbed everything to suit the new sink. I think he did an amazing job! Now the pipes will come up through the dedicated space at the back of the sink cabinet.
Wall Panelling (Wainscoting)
I have given the walls a second coat of paint and have started attaching the battens to the wall to create the panelled effect. However, it wasn't a straightforward road to this point - because why make things easy when they can be complicated?! When creating the panelling, I don't want it to look like I just nailed store-bought boards to the wall ... eventhough that is, in fact, exactly what I've done! Instead, I want to "fancy it up" a bit by modifying the boards to give it a more custom look.
I started by cutting the boards to make them narrower than standard. Then a family member (who has some specialised woodworking equipment) helped us by re-thicknessing the wood to make it thinner than store-bought boards. The thinner boards sit conveniently on top of the skirting board, and seem less intrusive in the small space. Finally, we used the router to create a custom profile along the edge of each board.
Left: store-bought plank. Right: modified boards for panelling.
After sanding them, I primed each batten before cutting them to length and nailing them to the wall.
With the battens attached to the new wall that we built in Week 4, you can see how I designed everything to hide the joins in the plywood sheets that we used to face the wall.
I have yet to add a dado rail around the top of the panels, and then some filling and finishing work will be required before I can paint the panelling the same colour as the walls.
The final wall treatment will be to wallpaper above the panelling.
Toilet Roll Unit
Remember my little cabinet for holding toilet roll?
Gosh, I'd almost forgotten how much the room has changed!
That too has gotten a makeover. As with the sink unit, this is not a key feature of the room, so I painted it the same colour as the walls (after sanding and priming it). I did, however, add a fun little accent with the door knob on it. If you have been following me for a while, you may already know that I always include a bird detail in every room of the house, and in this room it comes in the form of a little chaffinch! I actually purchased this years ago from The Gaiety Vintage & Antiques (which has recently re-opened its doors after lockdown and is definitely worth a visit).
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To-Do List
That's the summary of progress in the loo this week. Still on the to-do list are finishing the wall panelling, plumbing in the toilet and sink, and wallpapering the walls. Plus a few other little bits & pieces, like hanging the window blind, re-installing the pendant light, and making a towel rail from scratch. I think there are going to be some late nights in my near future, but I am looking forward to revealing the room here next week!
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