Powder Room Progress – (Though it doesn’t look like it)

The weekend started with a trip to Lowes Friday Night to look for a pedestal sink. Jeff decided to head out to the garden section (which is outdoors) to look for a large planter. Spotting one he liked on the shelf above his head, he tilted it towards him to look inside. Big mistake!

jeff gets wet at home depot

Jeff gets a shower courtesy of Lowes

I have to say that despite his Jet lag (which I have dubbed “Jeff lag”) he was a good sport about the situation even though I was laughing hysterically and insisted that he pose for this picture.

Ok, back to the sink search..

Did I mention in my last post that the existing wall mounted sink in the powder room is only 19″ wide? Yes, at every turn we are screwed challenged by the choices of the previous owners. Not that I have a problem with a baby sized sink in a powder room, the challenge is that most pedestal sinks, even the ones that are considered small are more in the range of 23-27″ wide. So unless we wanted to move all the existing plumbing and the existing medicine cabinet hole over to the left, we were stuck trying to find a same-size replacement.

Lowes had nothing in that size, so in a Homeowner’s Hale Mary we bought the leg part of another pedestal sink thinking maybe just maybe it would fit under the existing wall mounted sink and presto we’d have an instant pedestal sink. As you can imagine that didn’t work out.

So, it was over to home depot. Nada. So I turned to the internet.

Signature Hardware has several “petite” versions of their popular pedestal models but I really wanted to find something local so that we could get this project underway already. Then I remembered Home Depot Expo! I called up and was told that they do cary a model in stock called the Pegasus Petite that was the exact dimensions of our existing sink. In my excitement I forgot to ask how much it was or what it looked like, but at that point I almost didn’t care.

Luckily for us, its actually quite an adorable sink and at $155 was a total steal! It’s actually called the Pegasus PE L-1920-W/PE F-1920-4W – Series 1920 Petite Pedestal. Here it is in the powder room:

Pegasus petite pedestal sink 19

Cute right? Funny, that angle makes the basin look really wide even though it’s actually so tiny.

While at Expo we also picked up a fan for the living room b/c the one that was there was so old we couldn’t get replacement parts for it:

living room ceiling fan

I don’t love the blad color, it only sort of goes with the living room but those can always be changed. I liked the brushed steel of the rest of it. I’ve mentioned before how much I hate fans, but it really does cool down the living room quite a bit and without central AC, its a necessary evil.

After picking up the fan we headed over to look at Expo’s faucet selection. Let’s just say that to a faucet, each was more expensive than the sink itself!

I ended up at Home depot, trying to decide between three different faucets. I knew I wanted shiny chrome hardware to add to the mirrored effect I want in the room. ( I also discovered something about chrome.. faucets that looked really cute in brushed nickel or bronze seem to lose all their detail to the shiny reflectiveness of a chrome finish! ) Because I couldn’t decide between the three, I let the fact that one was named “Ariana” be the tie breaker:

Ariana Faucet by american standard

Our new “Ariana” Faucet by American Standard.

But also see how its almost facet cut around the bottom? That makes it look sort of jewel-like and I thought that would fit well with the baroque theme of the room.

Speaking of which, even riddled with Jeff-lag, Jeff agreed to rewire the bathroom so I can have a chandelier instead of a pull chain fixture!!

This decision involved cutting many holes into the walls and ceiling as well as installing a new brace and remodeling box for the fixture because the one that was there wasn’t centered in the room – the chandelier would have been dangling over the cubby shelf. Despite the aggravation and Jeff-Lag, Jeff really kept his cool throughout the whole rewiring – much unlike the episode where he couldn’t remove a bolt on the toilet which resulted in this:

Jeff gets mad at the toilet and takes it out on the powder room wall.

Yes, I’ve already told him he has anger management issues. But anyway, this hole was quickly joined by many more and our powder room is currently very swiss cheese-like:

electrical access holes

There are three more holes on the ceiling that you can’t even see in this picture!

In order to start the wiring, we needed a chandelier (well, it made it easier to have one on hand anyway.) I decided to pick up the one I have been eyeing at TJ Maxx for the past month… Its the same manufacturer as the table lamp chandelier I have up in the guest room. At $99 it was cheap for a chandy, but its made of plastic so I hesitated. But in the end I knew it would look good because I love the table lamp and I didn’t want to wait to have one delivered from online so I just bought it.

Its not hung yet, so unfortunately this is the best shot I could get while holding it up and also taking the picture:

new chandelier for powder room

In other powder room news I am thinking of ditching the stencil idea and either using wall decals (as so many of you suggested) OR just painting the whole room a subtle metallic color like Benjamin Moore’s veil cream. But as I’ve pointed out to others I’ve read online that it apparently takes a gazillion coats and also accentuates any blemishes on the walls.. which means that our patch jobs will have to be A+.

A note about budget..(since I promised I’d keep better track of these things)

I was speaking to my Aunt last night who said we should maybe stop spending money on the house (a good point) but I realized that our expenses for the powder room so far are pretty minimal.

$155 for a new sink

$99 for a chandelier

$87 for faucet

$12 for a mirror

That’s $353. Adding in paint and accessories, we’ll come in under $500. I ran a powder room update through remodelmyspace’s cost estimator and it came out to $2727, so I figure we’re getting off pretty cheap!

Hope you had a great weekend! :)


13 Responses to “Powder Room Progress – (Though it doesn’t look like it)”

  1. Jeff-lag. Hee hee! Great stuff! I am so scared off starting work on our bathrooms… Too overwhelming!


  2. Ha! Us too.. that’s why we left them for last :)


  3. I am totally impressed Jeff agreed to take on a re-wiring job! Thoroughly impressed. Well done, you two.

    It’ll be great when it’s done. Then you need to update all your “afters.” Take us on a house tour!


  4. I seriously eyed my half bath this weekend in preparation for the stencil idea… and I’ve had to admit that sort of project is beyond me. It would require a massive amount of measuring (which involves numbers, count me out). I think I may wimp out. I think your new bathroom will be gorgeous with or without the stencils! The chandelier is perfect.


  5. I LOVE THAT SINK! It’s so tootin’ cute and the angles on it make it a bit dramatic. Rock on.

    OK…now I have to back to the family BS drama on my blog. My sister is such a queen.


  6. I know you have already heard this before but I strongly advise against painting the whole room in a metallic paint. It comes out very streaky and splotchy unless you have absolutely perfect walls/lighting/paint strokes, etc.

    I have a friend who ended up wasting a week of her life on metallic paint only to end it in disguist and repainting the whole thing.


  7. Why not buy one roll of the mega expensive wallpaper and do an accent wall. Is that an option?

    Forgot to mention – soaked husband – way cute too!


  8. It’s looking so good! Ah, all the hard work! I love iloveupstate’s wallpaper idea for one wall. Or I was thinking one big piece of wallpaper framed in something with a mirror-ish or metallic looking edge.


  9. All good ideas ladies! (And thanks for the warning Mrs L.)
    I’ve never seen an accent wallpaper wall, I’m trying to picture what it would look like.. Maybe I’ll photoshop it!

    Iloveupstate I’m now dying of curiosity about your sister and upstate mom drama.. there weren’t enough details in your posts to piece it together (intentionally I’m guessing!)


  10. I think that a chandelier in the bathroom is just fabulous, no matter the material! Beautiful things going on!


  11. I think that’s the same pedestal sink I had in my last house. The makeover is looking great.


  12. Love the photo of Jeff. Great rationalization!! I can rationalize or justify any and all expenses.


  13. Jeff is a cutie, but I bet he gets that a lot. I am re-doing my bathroom at my parents house… it is, to say the least, a headache. Mostly because I cannot make up my mind.


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