Powder Room Makeover: Before

My parents bought their second home around 2001ish. It’s a lovely home and my brother and I loved growing up there. But here’s the thing: the interior is becoming VERY dated.

Their home was built in the mid-1990s, around the same time our own home was built. The biggest difference: our house was built cookie cutter, theirs is completely custom. All the finishes and fixtures were picked out by the family that built it, not the builder. But there’s the problem – builder-grade is more boring that dated. Custom? Hoo-boy. D-a-t-e-d. And when someone else picked it out? Not so great.

My dad’s birthday was yesterday, but he was recently out of town so we snuck into the house to give the powder room a flash makeover. But before I get into the details, you’ve GOT to see the before.

The powder room is downstairs, accessed from the foyer. The floor plan is very open – there aren’t any hallways and the only interior doors belong to the master bedroom, powder room, coat closet and laundry room. The powder room is one of the first things you see coming into the house if the door is open. It is ultra tradition.

I didn’t measure, but I think the room is about 6′ x 4′, give or take. The ceilings are about 10′ tall.

Let’s talk about this wallpaper. Whose idea was it to put black wallpaper in a tiny powder room with no windows? Even with windows, black walls suck the light out of a room. Very, very ornate traditional.

The trim throughout the house is creamy cream yellow. Yummy. The crown molding is absolutely gorgeous though – nice and chunky.

The light is nothing special. It illuminates the room. But again, a little on the dated side.

The mirror is the one aspect of the room I don’t think I can touch. I don’t know how much my parents paid for it, but I know it wasn’t a dumpster-dive find and I’m not about the paint it.

We had about 24 hours until my dad would return, so we made a plan of attack:

1. Tear down the black wallpaper and make wall repairs
2. Clean, prime and paint the walls and trim
3. Rehab the light
4. Decorate

Easy enough, right? Stay tuned this week to see how it all turned out! And say farewell to this!

Any black wallpaper in your house? What’s the most oddball thing the previous owner left behind for you?