MAB Update - The Magical Powers of Paint

Last post I discussed the plan of attack to update our Mini-Awkward-Bathroom, or MAB for short. There really wasn't a whole lot going on in this space to begin with, so I kind of went into it with the attitude of "anything will be an improvement to this". 

With an entire weekend of nothing stretched out before me, I grabbed my paint brush, cranked some Pandora, had myself an adult beverage, and got to it! 

Friday: 

Hit up Menards after work to get paint for the bathroom. It was already past 7pm and I hadn't had dinner yet, felt super hungry, and accidentally walked into the men's restroom. 

Yup. That happened...let's blame low blood sugar. 

Got my paint though! We're going deep and dark with Dutch Boy's Crayola Black. 

First things first, the trim and door needed to be primed. Since I knew I wanted to paint the walls, I only needed to tape off the floor and shower so that saved me some time. 

Next up was the actual paint. We've been painting our trim and doors Simply White by Benjamin Moore, and since beginning the process of updating everything in the house white, we constantly have a gallon of this in the basement. A few coats later and I was in business. 

Saturday:
Let's get some color on those walls! 
Black paint is kind of crazy, you open the can and instantly think "WOW, that is a stunning shade of purple", and then pray to the decorating gods that it'll actually dry darker. 

Patience is key when painting a bathroom. 
That and a clean toilet. You'll find yourself lying on the ground, face pressed against the lid of your john, attempting to paint behind the tank, and that is NOT the moment to realize you haven't scrubbed it in a week. 

It was a pleasant surprise how well the black covered. I had heard horror stories about dark paint taking coat after coat, but this only took two, with the third just being for touch ups. 
As Saturday came to and end, this is where I left off: 

Not to shabby! The dark walls turned out to be such a beautiful contrast compared to the crisp white trim. A nice little burst of interesting when you open the door. 

OK, on to the exciting part.
Wednesday: 
I really REALLY wanted to have an accent wall in here. But as I stared at the space behind the toilet (the original location in my plan), I just wasn't sure. Is this really the most interesting wall in here? I stuck the shower curtain up for a sec, stepped out, opened the door once more, and took note to where my eye went first. 
Above the shower, right to the window. 
THAT is where my beautiful gold wall belongs. 

With the above inspiration in my head, and a couple Gold Sharpie paint pens in hand, I first did some practice doodles. Once I felt fairly confident, there was nothing left to do but hop up on the ladder and begin!

I broke the design down into three separate parts; big flowers, medium vines, tiny leaves, and lastly little dots. It took me maybe an hour-and-a-half to two hours from start to finish, you can see the sun going down in the pictures below. 

I am OBSESSED with how this turned out!!! It's seriously SO MUCH BETTER than anything I ever envisioned, and if I had the time (or it wouldn't be WAY too in your face) I'd do the entire bathroom. 

The gold and black are absolutely sick together! I love how it has all the beauty of wallpaper, but without the messy glue, and I can just paint over the design if I ever get tired of looking at it. 

Sooooo close to being done! All that's left is to finalize the light fixture, hang some shelves, and of course decorate. Then it's time for lots and LOTS of before and after shots! 

Bring it on!