I’ve followed the Better Homes and Gardens ‘One Room Challenge’ over the last few years, so I was thrilled to finally take the plunge and participate as well! Just a couple days ahead of the launch I decided to participate, so I quickly went to work creating a plan of attack (aka a mood board). Links to the supplies for this project can be found here!
I feel pretty strongly about pedestal sinks – srsly not a fan – so first and foremost the sink had to go (RIP pedestal sink!). For one thing there’s zero storage, and on top of that there’s often not even enough space for a soap dispenser (sorry, pedestal sink fans!). I’d never removed a pedestal sink before so I probably should have watched a YouTube video or two first, but instead I dove in headlong! All in all removing the sink was pretty easy. First, score the caulk along the wall near the top of the sink, then do the same along the floor at the base of the sink. Next, disconnect all water lines. Lastly – and this is the part I neglected to do – detach the screws that are anchored into the wall near the top of the sink. I did not do this and I ripped some pretty sizable holes in the sheetrock (yowza!), so I created a little extra work for myself because I had to repair the large holes. Learn from my mistake!
Once the sink was out, I proceeded with repairing the wall then priming all the walls. I know, I know, why would I prime when I was painting most of the walls a dark color… Well, the bottom 1/3 of the walls were going to be a white board and batten (so priming was definitely necessary), but beyond thatI hadn’t yet selected a paint color for the top 2/3 of the walls. Since our powder room had been painted a fun teal color, I decided to take the extra step to prime all the walls so I could test out paint colors over the white primer as opposed to the teal.
I got suuuuper lucky this time around and selected the perfect paint color on my first try! This literally never happens to me. I went with Behr ‘Ink Black’ for that perfect dark blue / black color and I couldn’t be more pleased with it. After painting a large-ish test spot onto the wall, I knew it was perfect! After that, I marked a line approximately 1/3 up the wall (where the board and batten would go) and used that as my mark to know where to stop painting the Ink Black color. I went with two coats of the Ink Black.
After painting the upper 2/3 of the wall, I started installing the board and batten. Since we are super fortunate to have smooth walls, I could skip the ‘board’ part entirely. If you are not this lucky, you’ll want to cover up any texture on your walls using hardboard panels. For the ‘batten’ part, most go with pine boards (1”x3”s or 1”x4”s usually), but my baseboards and door trim are too thin to use as-is. Since I didn’t want to tear out practically brand new baseboards (our townhouse was just built in 2019) I knew I needed to find thinner trim pieces. I’d read on several blogs that lattice pieces worked well in cases like this, but I decided to instead go with poplar wood that’s 1/4″ thick and 2 1/12″ wide for the vertical pieces (it came in 48″ long sections). The horizontal pieces are 4″ wide.
I sanded each piece thoroughly then proceeded with measuring and cutting my pieces using my miter saw. Using a nail gun as well as liquid nails, I attached the trim pieces to the walls. In terms of spacing, I began by leaning the pieces against the wall to help me getter a better idea of spacing – just trust your gut on this! When attaching your trim pieces to the wall you’ll notice that in some areas the walls are really uneven. This is totallyyyy normal – walls (and ceilings) are super janky (yes, that’s the technical term)!
To mirror the existing trim around the doorway, I used primed 1”x2”, 1”x3”, and 1”x4” pieces of pine to trim out the window. It never ceases to amaze me what a difference trim can make! The window looked so bare before, right??
Once the trim pieces were up, I filled all nail holes and seams using DAP Plastic Wood All Purpose Wood Filler and used caulk where the trim meets the wall. I really like using DAP Alex Fast Dry Acrylic Latex Caulk Plus Silicone in the tube that doesn’t require a dispenser. I’d never used this particular caulk prior to this project, but now I’m a big fan – 10 out of 10 recommend – plus you can get into tighter spaces with the smaller tube. After the wood-filling and caulking is done, you can proceed with the fun part – painting! Well, I say that. You first need to prime any pieces that were not pre-primed, then lightly sand…then you paint!
After I finished painting the board and batten, we installed the new vanity. To help ensure the vanity was as flush as possible to the surrounding walls (again, walls are janky) I removed the baseboards and quarter rounds where the vanity would sit against the walls. I cut around the legs then reinstalled the baseboards and quarter rounds once the vanity was in place. Since I couldn’t fit my nail gun under the lower shelf of the vanity, I used liquid nails to reattach the baseboards and quarter rounds to the walls. I should also mention that we installed the new faucet before we installed the vanity (this made this part a little easier!). We then installed the new light fixture above the vanity, and then one of my favorite parts of the whole space – the mirror!!! <3
I knew I wanted to include greenery in this space as well, but I really struggled with how I wanted to go about adding the plants to the room. Hang them from the ceiling? Install several hooks into the wall? I just wasn’t loving any of the ideas I came up with. I finally decided to try my hand at building a set of floating shelves. I’d never built floating shelves before, but I had some scrap wood leftover from the board and batten – so I went for it! When it comes to DIY projects, sometimes you just have to dive in. I came up with a simple plan using leftover 1”x4”s, 1”x2”s, and my poplar boards (same used for the vertical pieces in the board and batten). The 1”x4”s were used as the center supports, the 1”x2”s as the exterior framing, and the thin poplar boards as the top and bottom pieces. I thoroughly sanded, primed, sanded again, then painted the pieces before assembling! The shelves did not align perfectly with a stud, so I used wall anchors since the shelves aren’t terribly heavy and I don’t plan to put anything substantial on them.
To finish the space I added a beautiful vintage rug, some decorative boxes (always boxes!), and lots of greenery! I’m so thrilled with how this space turned out, and I can’t wait to participate in the next BHG One Room Challenge!!!
Thanks for following along, and I hope you feel inspired to join a One Room Challenge, too!
