Moody Blue Powder Room Reveal

Hello!

I hope you all had a great weekend and put that extra hour from daylight savings to good use.  I don't like the early darkness at all, but the extra hour of sleep was lovely.  Still thinking about all of you on the east coast who are affected by Hurricane Sandy, especially now that it's going to get darker even earlier.  Hoping and praying for electricity first, with recovery to follow quickly.

But, I'm happy to report that the powder room I gave you a sneak preview of last week is DONE!  The delay is due to my late-in-the-game decision to add crown molding, after I had already painted the bathroom.  Note:  Do the crown molding BEFORE painting and save yourself some headaches.

Without further delay, let's get on with the pictures!

The color I chose is "Gentleman's Gray" by Benjamin Moore.  I absolutely love it.  I had originally wanted "Hague Blue" by Farrow & Ball, but 1) it's not available around here and 2) it's about $120 a gallon.  This was a very close second, and fell in love with it the moment I opened the can of paint.  It's really that pretty.

I decided to add a gallery wall in here because we had a lot of artwork around the house that hadn't been hung on the walls.  It's funny, this house is larger than our old house, but the wall space is a lot different since it's very open.  So, I went around the house and picked up some pieces that were already hung and others that weren't, and hatched a plan by laying it all out on the floor first.  After many rearrangements and adjustments, I ended up with this.

It worked out well, because I had a great blueprint to reference as I was putting everything up on the walls.

TIP:  Here is my high tech tool that really makes quick work of a gallery wall.

Yes, it's a stick with a screw in it.  Here's the trick - when you're hanging a picture, and you're not sure where exactly you want it, you use this as your guide.  Pretend you're hanging your picture on the wall, but hang it on the screw instead. 

Then position the picture where you want it, and press on the picture so that the screw makes an indentation in the wall.  Then, nail your picture hook on the wall and hang your picture!

I had a couple of gaps, so I picked up the wooden key and the mirror at TJ Maxx.  I love how they add another layer of interest and dimension to the wall, and I love that they were cheap - $10 each! 

Plus, the key picks up on the geometric pattern in the rug - totally accidental, but it looks like it was by design, doesn't it?

I admit it, I'm a cheater on the crown molding - I used the corner pieces to avoid having to do mitre cuts.  I tried, I really did, but I am still not getting it.  I think I need an intervention - the only way I'm going to learn is to have someone show me, in person, how to do it.  My husband just got a double-bevel compound mitre saw, and is convinced this is the key in doing crown molding.  Maybe it has magic powers or something.  But, even with the cheater corners, it still looks nice.

Here's a shot of the sink and mirror - sorry for the glare - hard to shoot a good photo at this angle. 

I would love to get a gold mirror in here.  I saw this one on One Kings Lane last week:

Source: onekingslane.com via Jenny on Pinterest

Can you see it?  Totally would work in there.

The other thing I like about the new color, is that it's a better contrast with the Palladian Blue (Benjamin Moore) that I have in the hallway.  Before, the colors were too similar to one another, and didn't gel the way I thought they would.

So yes, I did redo this space 18 months ago, but that's what this blog is all about, right?  Here's how it's grown in the two short years that we've lived here.

Shortly after we moved in:

Robin's Egg blue with a pretty stencil:

Gentleman's Gray with a bold gallery wall:

The hardwood flooring installation starts today, and if you follow me on Facebook (yes my blog has finally gone social), you saw that my house is a total chaos zone right now.  I'm really looking forward to getting things back in order. And since we're gluttons for punishment, we started the fireplace makeover as well. I'm nervously optimistic - it's just something totally different for us, and the biggest issue is that we want to preserve the tile work in case we decide to go back to the old look at some point. So, that makes it a wee bit tricky. 

Lots on the docket this week folks!  And, the best thing about today is that it's my 18th wedding anniversary!  :-)

Linking up to:
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia - Tuesday Treasures
Savvy Southern Style - Wow Us Wednesdays
Home Stories A to Z - Tips and Tutorials
DIY by Design - Fall into Fall Party
The Shabby Nest - Frugal Friday
Atkinson Drive - Do Your Thing Tuesday