Bringing Vintage Charm to our Half Bath
- Katie Kelly
- Feb 21
- 4 min read
Updated: Feb 24
Introducing my "The House We Bought vs. The Home We Made" series. But first, a little bit of backstory—
We bought our first house when we were engaged; the dreamiest 1942 cottage-meets-bungalow house with original hardwood floors, a cast iron tub, slightly updated kitchen, all the charm in the world. We put so much of our love and life into those 1,100 square feet within the seven years we lived there, and we fell in love with the concept of home and creating a space that was entirely our own with whatever we had at the time: hand-me-down furniture, thrifted furniture, burning candles, fresh cut flowers from the backyard. We filled every inch of that house with our life, and especially so when we brought home our first daughter. As much as we adored our corner of Mimosa Drive, it was time to think about more space.
After two years on and off searching for our next home, I begrudgingly agreed to visit an open house in an area neither me or my husband were really sold on. But hey, it was a Saturday and we had nothing to and our 1.5 year old needed some fresh air—and so did we (IYKYK). I'll never forget the look we gave each other as we rounded the curve on our now street. We started laughing. The trees were hanging over the road in a cozy, romantic way. The lawns were all richly green and beautifully groomed. And the best part, we rolled down the windows and heard nothing (a very big deal coming from a busy city street less than a mile from a major highway).
Needless to say, we moved in two months later.
And now comes the fun part: making it our own, again. Built in the '80s and remodeled a few times, there's nothing major that needs to be done. But if our Mimosa home taught us anything, it's that paint and hardware can go a long way in adding charm to a home, and our new home is a blank canvas.
First on the list: our half bath/powder room on the main level.
Coming from a home with one tiny bathroom, I was so indescribably excited to have more than one toilet in the house, but also to have a little powder room that we can add some personality to. Dark colors, gold accents, and something I've always wanted to do - wallpaper! I'm sure wallpaper will go out just as quickly as it came back in style, but that's why we do peel and stick wallpaper, right?
Hardware Updates:
Like I said before, a simple hardware update can make a big difference - especially in a small space. The existing hardware in the half bath was a little outdated, a little bleh. The first update was the vanity light fixture which we found on Amazon here. It's giving vintage, it's giving high end, but at an affordable price - and was on sale for Prime Day (wahoo!)
Next up was the faucet on the vanity. I've been dreaming of a bold bathroom for some time now and my Pinterest is FULL of ideas, but I wanted something classic, vintage, and full of charm that wasn't too modern or trendy and would go out of style quickly. This antique brass faucet on Amazon is literally what dreams are made of (at least mine anyways). The vintage knobs and curve of the spout just add tiny details that might otherwise go unnoticed, but make all the difference.
Clearly we're on a crystal and gold kick right now, and the existing vanity in the bathroom has four knobs to the drawers and cabinet, so to match both the vanity light fixture and the faucet, I went with these 1-1/4 inch crystal and gold knobs on Amazon. The vanity cabinet was already white, which we kept (for now) and the existing sink has a tiny terracotta-like pattern to it with neutral colors like ivory and brown, which compliments the gold well and adds a little bit of texture and warmth. I honestly don't know that I would pick this sink myself, but for now we're building the vibe and colors around it and embracing what we have!
To tie it all together, we found a really simple brushed gold towel and toilet paper hanger set on Amazon to replace the brushed nickel pieces that were previously hanging.
Paint & Wallpaper:
Maybe it's just my artistic inclination, but there's just something about holding a paintbrush that just relaxes my soul, so I typically paint rooms myself rather than hiring out. My husband is the polar opposite, so he handles the hardware updates!
Because we didn't want to change out the sink or vanity, we wanted to work with those ivory and brown tones from the patterned sink. We've always loved dark and rich greens in our home, but we also wanted to go with something a little toned down and landed on a gray-ish sage color that we also used in our home office.
I knew I wanted to add something a little funky being that it was such a small space, so I hunted for the perfect wallpaper to go on the back wall behind the toilet. It had to have our gray, sagey green and I also wanted something with a little color to accent different decor and details we would add in later. I fell in love with this Gardenia and Sage wallpaper from Lowe's and (bonus!) it's peel and stick so if and when our tastes change, we can easily remove it.
The Fine Details & Decor:
Nothing brings a space together like the details. A candle burning, textured linens, simple wall hangings, etc. If you know me, you know these things will rotate OFTEN. For now, here are a few of my favorite things in our half bath:
*NOTE: Amazon links shared here are Amazon Associate links.
Commentaires