Over the weekend, we finished up some items from our guest bathroom punch list. The last time we showed you this room, we’d just painted the ceiling, added new baseboards, and primed the walls.
Next it was time to go back and caulk all the baseboards. We caulked the corners and the gap between the top of the baseboard and the wall for a smooth, clean look.
As we went, we also filled in all the nail holes with quick-drying spackle. As soon as the spackle was dry, I went back and sanded those areas smooth.
This was one of the toughest areas to trim. Those outer corners are very difficult to cut using just a miter box and saw, but we did it!
Once the caulk had dried, it was time to paint. I prefer to paint trim before the walls if I’m changing a wall color. That way, I can be as messy as I want with the top edge of the trim paint and just clean up the line when I go back with wall paint.
Here’s how we kept our trim paint (Valspar’s Betsy’s Linen in semi-gloss) off our tile floors. I slid a piece of printer paper under the trim…
… and painted the section of the trim just above. As we went around the room, we slid the paper so that it was always in the gap between the baseboard and the tile where we were painting.
Every once in awhile we’d have paint leak onto the tile. It was actually pretty simple to clean up if we caught it right away.
All you need to do is use a slightly damp cotton swab to wipe up the paint…
… and your tile will be good as new!
You can see how messy we were while painting the baseboards. It doesn’t matter how much of a mess you make – that wall paint will hide it! 🙂
Here’s a look at that same tough corner with some paint on it. I thought we could get away with one coat of semi-gloss on those baseboards since they were pre-primed, but we ended up having to do two.
When the baseboards were dry it was time to choose a wall color. I picked up a ton of paint swatches from Lowe’s while I was out one day and brought them in to compare to the tile and the trim.
We narrowed the chips down to a select group of blues and greens, but I wasn’t sold on any of them and Stephen kept coming back to the idea of a more neutral room with bright accessories.
Curious about the color we chose? You might have figured it out based on our mood board yesterday, but we ended up going gray! Here’s a shot of us starting the wall painting. We chose to use the same gray paint as on the walls in our master bedroom. Unfortunately the gray in our master is a flat enamel and bathroom walls needed a higher gloss to resist moisture, so we had to buy a new gallon anyway.
The wall color is Dolphin Fin by Behr. I was shocked at how much darker it looked in this bathroom (no natural light) than it looked in our bedroom.
The room took 2 coats around the edges with a brush but only one coat on the walls with a roller. I’m not a huge fan of the color of the tub with the walls but we’re thinking about getting it reglazed white down the line. Until then, our white shower curtain will really make those gray walls stand out!
The tile looks much cleaner than it did with the blue walls, surprisingly. There’s also a lot more gray in that ceramic tile floor than we first realized.
Here’s a better view of that tub with the gray walls. Like I said, once the white shower curtain is up, I think we’re going to love how this area looks with the gray.
All the edging with the wall paint was done freehand. If you have a steady hand, it’s so much faster just to drag a line of paint across a baseboard than to tape it off with painters tape (and hope the tape doesn’t leak)!
I love the view looking back towards the entry door. White and gray – so crisp!
Here’s another close up of those pretty white baseboards.
You may have noticed a bit of blue wall and the brown vanity and yellow countertop in the little nook to the right. That whole area will be addressed separately so cross your fingers we get good deals on all the supplies we need to complete the vanity area soon!
What do you think of the wall color we chose? Can you believe it’s the same gray as in our master bedroom? Stay tuned for more bathroom updates!
