Episode 1.

The powder room

The first project that I'd like to share with you, is the smallest room in the house, the powder room. The main reason I chose this one to write about first is that this room is mostly ready, while all of the other rooms are only half way there. The bigger renovations are still ahead of us, so I will update you on those, as they come. The other reason is that this space was probably in the worst condition, so it was one of the most dramatic transformations in the house.

This small space (less than 1 sqm!) is underneath the stairs, so even the ceiling is low. As with any other room, our plan was to make it into something we like as quickly and as inexpensively as possible. Of course, we could do a lot more with it if we put in more money - and in the future, we probably will redo some parts, but for now, I think we did a really good job, especially considering what it was like before!:)

Starting point

When we bought this house, this room was in such a state, that I was seriously scared to go in. The ceiling was slanted on one side because it's under the stairs, but the funny part was, that you could see up into the attic through a gap!:D There was no sink, only an old toilet that was deliberately put in crooked so there'd be room for the door which opened to the inside (!). The floor was unfinished concrete, there was no flooring put in.

Renovation

We had the bigger things done by professionals: We straightened out the toilet and had a new one put in that had a lower water tank, so we were able to fix the ceiling as well. We had the door turned, so it would open to the outside. Lucky for us, the kitchen sink is directly on the other side of the wall where we wanted the sink so it was easy to do the piping.

We had the walls painted a medium gray color (Dulux - ash gray). Normally I'd say that in a room that is so small, it's better to choose a lighter wall color. However, if there was one space where I could really experiment with something more interesting than white, it was this one, because it only takes about 10 ounces of paint and 20 minutes to redo. But I also think it's important not to go too dark on the walls and leave the ceiling white, so it doesn't feel depressing. This medium dark gray looks great in there, especially against the white moldings. We painted the row of tiles at the bottom of the wall white, and covered the floor with PVC. We also covered the useless glass door with white contact paper, so it gives more privacy:) - this is a temporary solution though, eventually we'd like a solid door. We changed the light fixture and added in a fairly strong light bulb so it would brighten up the room a little bit.

Decor

I saw a couple of pictures where they hung a wreath above the toilet and i liked it, so we did the same thing. (Unfortunately, we bought a wreath made out of real dried plants and some kind of bug/moth started eating it. I put it in the freezer for a while and then sprayed it down with hairspray - and that helped! They've stopped eating it!) The lamp, the toilet paper holder, the toilet brush and the trash can are in a matching, wrought iron-style. We've put a basket under the sink to hold extra toilet paper and magazines. Above the sink, we wanted a shelf to put soap, air freshener, etc. on. We needed a pretty short and narrow shelf for this, so we used an ikea bekväm spice rack and it worked really well. I also like that it has an edge so things don't fall off of it. On the wall opposite the door we've hung a picture to have kind of a focus point. We wanted a mirror above the sink that's a little bit more interesting, to spice up the space.We really love the final result and despite how tiny this space is, it became a comfortable, functional and beautiful little powder room.

Tips and tricks: When it comes to small, windowless spaces, it's worth to put a little more effort into decorating, because the room in itself can feel dull and unfriendly. A beautiful, spacious, airy room with lots of windows doesn't need much work, because it speaks for itself, but in a small space like this, a few touches and decor items can transform it into something very warm and cozy. Just be careful not to overcrowd the room!