Basement Bathroom Before & After

Another project on the list of “things I should have finished in the last five years but didn’t” is the half-bath in the basement of the Garrison house.

Sometimes when I look at pictures of what this house looked like before, am at a loss as to why I felt compelled to buy it. For way too much money.

Continuing on the monochromatic color-scheme of the basement (before I got my hands on it) this bathroom was blue. Walls, door, doorknobs, and ceiling. The toilet and sink were blessedly white. Ish.

The floor– shudder— I don’t even want to talk about what I found under those tiles, but suffice it to say I used a years supply of bleach to clean it up.

I don’t know what it is with me and prison bathrooms, but they follow me everywhere.

I started on this re-model a few years ago. Which is to say I painted the walls red…

Tiled the floor…

And called it good enough to pee in. Until last week, when– for under $100– it finally reached the rustic elegance it was meant for.

For the light fixture I knew I wanted something fun, cheap, and fancier than you might expect to find in a basement bathroom, but not too over the top. Sara @ Russet Street Reno gave me the idea for this small shell pendant from the World Market with her dressing room redo.

I went for the smaller coffee colored fixture.

MysteryMan, to his credit, only rolled his eyes at me once for the fanciness. He also wired the fixture to a switch instead of a pull-chain. Damn engineers are handy to have around, I tell ya.

The mirror was something I had laying around and seemed to fit, and the new sink was $77 at Home Depot.

Slight improvement over this, I think…

And if my house sells tomorrow, I’ll be glad I finished this room off right.