Grown Up Bathroom Phase 2 - How to Build Pipe Shelves

While Eaphis and the boys were having some good father-son time at the 76er's game yesterday, I decided to tackle an easy project in the master bathroom and put up the over the toilet shelves in our master bathroom.  I had been collecting stuff to fill up these bad boys for a few weeks so I've been patiently waiting to put it all together.

I usually don't write up step-by-step blogs but I've gotten a few questions from people about the pipe shelves that I built in the boys bathroom so thought what the heck, let's change it up a bit.  So following is a semi-detailed description of how to go about making your own pipe shelves - I started these yesterday afternoon and finished hanging them this morning so this really is a super quick project.

I like to draw up little sketches before I start so I have an idea of what I'll eventually be putting on the shelves and can make sure they're wide enough to hold everything.  In this instance, the widest thing I had was the toilet paper holder which juuuusssttttt fit on the wood I found in the construction site which was one long 2x9 board, perfect for some nice chunky shelves.

Because this wood was so thick, I used my table saw to cut it down into 4 - 30" boards and then set up outside to start staining. (Adding a note from a smart friend who is adept at home improvement:  Be careful cross cutting wood, particularly thick dimensional lumber, on a table saw. There's a big potential of nasty kickback.  Much safer to use a hand held circular saw or a miter saw.)

For this project I used the same process I used on my dining room table to get a nice dark and weathered look, which involves doing one coat of dark wood stain, then sanding to distress, and following up with a coat of gray stain.  If you're just planning on a solid color I would suggest sanding beforehand to get rid of any rough edges.

Once I'm done staining I go over with one coat of polyurethane.  This is my favorite kind to use because it dries very fast, doesn't leave a shiny coat, and can be cleaned up with water. 

While these were drying I ran out to Home Depot to pick up the pipe pieces.  For each shelf you will need two straight pieces that are long enough to hold your boards, two flanges, and two end caps. There are a few sizes to choose from, but I like the 3/4" size because it holds up good with the chunkier look.

At home, I assembled them together and than painted with Hammered Silver spray paint (after they dry I take them apart so I can install the flanges separately).  You can use any color you'd like (I used black in the boys bathroom) but the Hammered finish works great and gives you that worn in look.

Once dry enough to handle, I started hanging them.  I measure in the same distance from each side and then use my level to mark out the line for the top row of screws.

When I don't have studs to drill into I like to use self-drilling anchors.  I find that they hold up really well, especially with heavy things, and if you need to take them out for any reason they are much easier to remove than any other kind.  To use, you pre-drill small holes in your drywall, and then use a  screwdriver to drill in the anchors.  Once those are all in you can hang your flanges; make sure your screw-heads are large enough that they don't slip through the flange holes.

Once your flanges are up you can re-attach the pipes.  I check to make sure these are level before I put my shelves in so I can adjust accordingly, and then check again to be extra sure.

After I get the first one in, I measure out the distance to the ceiling and then divide by how many remaining shelves I have.

Lather, rinse, repeat - and you're done!  Then comes the fun part - decorating...............

I'm super happy with how these babies turned out - good luck if you decide to tackle your own set....I think you'll also be super happy if you do!

Grown Up Bathroom - Phase 1

The weather is getting warmer and the days are getting longer, which can only mean one thing - Time to Paint Again!  Hurrah!!  Eaphis had the great idea to go ahead and finally bust out our Master Bath last night and just like that we're one step closer to our "Grown Up Bathroom".  Unlike the other two bathrooms this is going to be a much more gradual process with basically everything except re-tiling the shower and bathub being a "Phase 1" and then the shower and bathtub being a "Phase 2" mostly because I'm still deciding how much I actually want to try to DIY myself and how much I need to hire help for.

I've been doing small changes to the room since we moved in but since we just finished two of the bigger projects figured it was the perfect chance to start sharing the progress in here (for those of you playing along at home I included another handy checklist at the end).

As I mentioned, one of the big projects was painting, but the other one was re-staining the vanity.  My original plan was to paint it gray (it was the boring builder honey oak) but when I saw that the Gel Stain I used for the boys bathroom came out with a Gray version I decided to give that a try first...BEST DECISION EVER!! I've said it before, but if you are thinking of doing something similiar I cannot recommend this method enough.  No crazy sanding or priming involved, and you can still see the wood grain through the stain so it gives it a much more natural look.

I also added some pull out shelves where the fake drawer fronts were...these are a super pain in the ass to put in but worth it in the end.

Right now there's a definite "girly" vibe going on but I feel confident that the updates I've got planned with balance that out....Eaphis has already brought up his go to suggestion "Add More Skulls", so there's always that if all else fails

Master Bathroom Checklist
- Add accent wall behind sink
- Replace lights
- Replace tile floor
- Replace door trim
- Add window trim
- Replace accent tile
- Build Shelves
- Replace sink fixtures
- Add picture frames and art work
- Add Crown molding

Powder Room 2.0

One more room scratched off the list before the New Year!  I had finally had it with the Nutella smeared walls and slowly worked my way through the Powder Room between Thanksgiving and Christmas and am finally ready to share.  Since this wasn't such a huge job I decided not to post on each stage of the project but just share some of my favorite updates - so without further ado...

Thankfully Eaphis trusted that I had an end goal in mind because there were no examples that I could show him for what I was going for.  I knew I wanted a mix of hard/soft and wanted it to have a little something special to it because this is the bathroom in the house that everyone will see.....so I had my mind set on adding a pattern above the beadboard.  The last time we tried to put wallpaper in a bathroom it was a complete DISASTER so I did the next best thing and stenciled the walls.  I am obsessed with how it came out and am already looking for what else I can stencil!!!  If you like the look, go check out Royal Design Studios...they have so many amazing patterns to choose from.  One word of advice, make sure you read the tips and I totally recommend using the paint they suggest.  I used the Creme Stencil paint to get the translucent look, but am planning on trying out the Chalk Paint in another room...makes all the difference.

I ended up building pretty much everything for this room, including the mirror (which I finished with Chalk Paint), the Shelves, and the vanity.  If you're interested on any of these plans here are the links to the tutorials that I followed - Mirror / Shelves / Vanity

I tweaked the vanity from a nightstand and added a Vessel Sink from Ikea and a cool faucet that I picked up at Home Depot.  I had very specific things that I wanted and I managed to get them all by building it myself - open storage underneath the sink, a small drawer to store the boys toothbrushes (we keep one set downstairs because sometimes it's just easier!), and a towel bar on the front which I once again made out of pipes from the hardware store.  The fact that thing sits level, has a working drawer, and functional plumbing is honestly one of my proudest accomplishments!

Once the hard stuff was done I added some final touches including these beautiful antique bird prints, some monogram towels I picked up at Target, and a new tissue box cover with fabric from Ikea.

I love that this room is done and came together so well from all of these random ideas that I had.  I tried to tie it into the guest bathroom and I think I was able to accomplish that without making them too similiar.

Oh - and I have to give one big shout out to my dad for changing out the light fixture for me.  He is my go to for quick electric work that I'm still a little too timid to take on.

I hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday season and is looking forward to 2016 as much as I am.  Me and Eaphis already have a really big project ready to kickoff as soon as it arrives....all I'll say is that it's something I've wanted to do since we moved in and I CANNOT WAIT to get started.

Guest Bathroom FINAL UPDATE!

So my powder room has been making me angry lately...angry enough to grab my crowbar.  But before I start tearing up molding (or a few hours afterwards...who's counting) I wanted to close the books on the guest bathroom blog-wise.  I've been holding off posting this (I actually did finish before GOBs bday) because I needed to make some small fixes and thought maybe I would try to finish off all of the last to-dos on my list before I shared....but after a few weeks away from it I realized that the small fixes don't bother me as much as they used to and things are more than OK enough to share a final post on this project.....so without further ado, here's what she looks like today:

 

I can't describe how cozy it feels in here and how happy it makes me!  I didn't want to bore everyone with all of the detailed step-by-steps of all of the last little projects, so here are some of the highlights.....

I ran the beadboard really high so that it cleared the outlets and also gave the medicine cabinets a built in look (these were from Home Decorators BTW and have chalkboards inside so I can harass the boys as they get older to Brush Their Teeth and Put on Deodorant).  If you're going to do beadboard in the bathroom make sure it's the PVC kind that is waterproof and rot resistant.  They just slide together so it's super easy.

 

I don't think I shared much of the other side of the room since all of the big projects happened in the shower area, but I took the opportunity to test something out that I plan to do in the whole house, which is to replace the door trim and hardware.  I LOVE how it came out!!!  It makes my other doors look like garbage (I'm talking to you Powder Room)

 

I spent a crazy amount of time thinking about what kind of shelves I wanted in here (no seriously...a CRAZY amount of time) and the winner was these pipe shelves.  The pipes are just black plumbing pipes from Lowes (spray painted with Hammered Black Spray Paint) and the wood for the shelves came from the construction sites around our house, which was great because they were already a little beat up.

 

I did get one art project in before I shared this post - I really want to put some "inspirational" sayings around the house but I want them to be special.  I stumbled on this one by Emerson on Pinterest and thought it was the perfect thing for my boys to read every day.  I need to darken up the letters more, but if it doesn't come across in the picture it says "Be Silly, Be Honest, Be Kind"

So that's it for now!  Like I said I still have some things to do (artwork, pictures, crown molding, etc). but those are small in the scope of this house and can wait until another day.  Before I go, here's one last before and after for your viewing pleasure.

Guest Bathroom Update Round 5

I'm going to call this the 1/2 way point and give a big sigh of relief that the hard part is over!  6 weeks later and we have a working shower again - TA DA

I really fell in love with the over-sized white subway tile / black grout combo after lots of "Fixer Upper" marathons.  Once I got into the rhythm the tile went up super quick;  the nice thing about the wall tile is that I could use pre-mixed mastic so I could work on it at night and not have to worry about mixing a new batch each time.   In addition to the subway tile, I used a tip I picked up from Nicole Curtis and used a different tile for the shower niche so that I didn't have to worry about matching up lines.  Truth be told - I ended up doing the sides of the niche twice after some trial and error but I think it came out really great.

I was feeling really good and pumped about my progress - and then came the GROUT!!!  Grouting is the worst job ever in the best of circumstances - it's messy, it's hot, it stinks, and it's hard + you have to work really fast to make sure it doesn't dry up.  It's like playing the underwater level in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Nintendo game....super hard to begin with and then you add a timer - pure nightmare.  On top of all of that - I don't know what I was thinking with BLACK GROUT!!!  Holy Hell it's like spreading Tar all over your walls as well as your tub, sinks, and entire body.  If you ever think about doing black grout just know what you're in for and seal off EVERYTHING....here's the shower in what I call it's Moody Teenager Phase:

Thankfully - it got a lot better!  I don't know why it never dawned on me until I was up on a ladder with a scouring pad - but you have absolutely no margin of error when you go with such a contrasting color combo.   It took a lot of muscle and inspection - but the haze eventually came off and the tile came out pretty and white.

The last major step was caulking....I usually find caulking very theraputic....but Black Caulk comes with the same stress as Black Grout.  After a rocky start, I ended up taping off absolutely every caulk line that I did and that made all of the difference.  Just had to share the detail pic below because I think it's a thing of beauty

I think this is a great time to take a moment and post a little before and after:

BEFORE

AFTER - BOOM GOES THE DYNAMITE

What a difference.....

My goal is to get the rest of the trim done before GOBs big #2 bday party which is in (EEK!) two weeks.  I'm already getting into a pretty good groove there though so I'm pretty confident I can get it done with a few late nights.

Quick look at the checklist - almost to the fun decorating parts!!

• Stain the Vanity and add Hardware
• Remove Shower Tile / Add Shower Niche
• Replace the Shower Tile
• Replace Shower Fixtures
• New Shower Rod and Curtain
• Remove Floor TIle
• Replace Floor Tile
• Add Beadboard and Trim
• Replace Door Trim
• Paint
• Replace Sink Fixtures
• Replace Light Fixture
• Add Medicine Cabinets
• Add Shelves / Hooks / and Accessories

Guest Bathroom Update Round 4

Ahhhhh - now that feels better

Just a quick update on this amazingly beautiful Saturday night.  I already had the floor tile in when I wrote the last post, but with Eaphis' help we got the toilet back in today so we now have a part way functioning bathroom....hooray!!  The boys can stop using mine!!

To me, tearing up and laying down the floor was the biggest obstacle that I had to get around in this whole project, so now that that's done I feel like I'm on easy street.  I laid out and cut all of the tile beforehand, which took a couple of days, but once that was done I was able to get it all set, grouted, and tidied up pretty quick.

Of course it always helps to have a cute assistant to help you clean.

I am so in love with these floors....it's amazing how much cozier and warmer the bathroom feels just by getting rid of those dirty white tiles.   My biggest worry was that I wouldn't get them to lay straight - but I think they're pretty damn close to perfect if I do say so myself!

If you look close you can see the beginnings of the beadboard/trim and the glimmer of tile on the shower wall (yay!).  I actually feel like I'm ahead of the arbitrary schedule that exists only in my mind so I'm going to celebrate with some Bluberry Wine and some Buffy.

Now for the checklist - so close, yet so far.............

• Stain the Vanity and add Hardware
• Remove Shower Tile / Add Shower Niche
• Replace the Shower Tile
• Replace Shower Fixtures
• New Shower Rod and Curtain
• Remove Floor TIle
• Replace Floor Tile
• Add Beadboard and Trim
• Replace Door Trim
• Paint
• Replace Sink Fixtures
• Replace Light Fixture
• Add Medicine Cabinets
• Add Shelves / Hooks / and Accessories