OUR "OLD"Cottage or Country looking half-bath!

Here are some pictures of our "old" looking bathroom I just got done. Most of the stuff was purchased at Home Depot.  The mirror is the one that hung in my bedroom growing up--it was beautiful maple--I hated priming and painting it but it had not been used in 10 years. Whenever I look in it, the person does not look like the same person who peered into it some 48 years ago. Ouch! Yikes! I removed the old recessed medicine cabinet and dry walled the hole over.

I personally like HD because I can cut trim boards at my required lengths plus one inch and have little waste. It makes things fit in the car easier:).  The floor and toilet were reused.  The wainscoating is birch beadboard paneling 1/4" thick. For the base  I used 3 1/2" OG base but ripped the pieces to about 3" to remove the "OG". HD has a mold cap for beadboard that I bought.  I turned it upside down and put it on top of the base.  The chair rail was made from 3 1/2 base which I ripped to about 2 1/2".  I routered the back bottom to a 1/4"depth and about 1/2", up to allow it to fit over and cover the top of the paneling. I also rounded over the edges of the chair rail with a router bit.

 The window had a marble sill and had to go.  The window had plaster jambs and wallpapered.  They had to go for the country look:).  I made the jambs and sill out of wood laying around and reused some old molding I had to finish the window trim. All the paint used was oil base except for the ceiling.  The old light fixture was removed, the hole was dry walled. I installed a recessed light fixture Halo) above the sink and a small fan in a corner.  The electrical is all on the wall to the right of the sink which includes light switch, fan switch and a duplex recepticle, which is ground faulted from one in the garage. The previous recepticle was in the old light fixture and was not GF protected.    The wallpaper was off the shelf from a Sherwin Williams Store.

The pedestal sink, faucet and accessories were all HD stuff.  The soap dish was from Bed Bath Beyond.

What would I do differently?
1 : I would have used a different kind of primer on the paneling and bare wood or put 2 coats of primer on the paneling and bare wood. I had difficulty covering the primer with the finish coat in one coat  The paneling got 2 finish coats.
2:  I should have put a 4' level on all the walls to check for wall variations. It is amazing how well the plasterers hid the 3/4" curve on the window wall and the 1/2 curve by the light switch. I actually had to saw the back of the chair rail with a number of cuts to allow it to bend easily to conform to the plastered walls.  Once attached, lots of water based wood filler went into the saw cuts. I put masking tape on the walls before filling the cuts and for sanding purposes afterwards. 

Other tips:

Install water shut offs to all fixtures in that room.  Use the new flexible pipes to connect  the toilet and sink faucet. Put a new plastic coupling into the old wall sewer if possible. Use a plastic J bend. The pedestal sink is actually wall hung so be sure you have some good way of attaching it. Fortunately for in my case there was a 3/4"board let into the studs before being plastered.  The pedestal sink once installed has 2 holes below for further attaching.  Because it is vitreous and was worried about cracking it, I took some of the larger plastic anchors, cut them to about 1/2" in length and put them into the holes. I then fastened the sink with some galvanized deck screws. 

Next Project --Master Bath:)  Pink fixtures and green tiles will be gone:). I am going to use 110 volt Fantastic Vents as sky lights( running through 12" round galvanized spiral heat duct) and ventilation.  Last years project was the basement--I will document it shortly--it sports a new use of galvanized corrugated roofing panels. It is smashing!!