Project #11.2: The Powder Room
After digesting the single shiplap wall in the powder room for a few days, I decided that more ship lap was going to be required. I just couldn't see how colorful walls and a single white shiplap wall was going to look quite right. And painting the shiplap any color other than white was not workable either. With the exception of black or grey, it seems like white is really the only color for shiplap. It is also important to us that the actual bones of the house stay true to the time it was built—1929—and white shiplap accomplishes that goal.
Before I could install the additional shiplap, I had to decide on a color. I really wanted something bright and midcentury modern to go along with our furniture and lighting fixtures—things that we have decided do not have to be true to the 1929 aesthetic. I like to think of ourselves as living in a 1929 church in the Mad Men era. In my opinion, midcentury decor works really nicely with 1920s stick construction—even when its an old church. See?
I decided upon a burnt orange. I thought that this color would look really nice against the teak-like 1950s era cabinet that had been installed in the powder room by a previous owner.
The sample looked pretty good on the wall, but it was clear (as you can see below) that I would need a colored primer to get the deep orange we wanted. A bummer since I had already primed the walls.
Once I got the color up, I got to looking at the hideous 1980s molding around the window. With the exception of the original crown molding in the main part of the church (from which we hang artwork), the church has simple flat trim around the windows. So, I tore it out. An impromptu decision, but a good one I think. And as an extra bonus, I was once again greeted by cherubs that had been hiding there!
Once I painted everything, it was time to install the rest of the shiplap and trim. That went pretty smoothly despite the fact that finding studs was surprisingly difficult—I think its because there are just not very many of them. <shaking my head>.
There is still a lot of caulking painting, and finishing to be done, but the bathroom is usable in time for Thanksgiving. I’m sure our guests won’t mind powdering their wigs in this space, even though it it not quite finished. Voila!
