Extreme Makeover Denver Edition

I've just spent a few days in Denver with my baby sister, Denise! We share March birthdays, 14 years apart, one on March 26, the other March 27. Along with my two daughters and mother, she is my best friend and one to be admired in all ways.

This year, for her birthday, Sneelock and I gave her an extreme makeover for her powder room. The powder room in any home, is often one of those that often gets pushed to the back of the line. But, once it gets your attention and takes on a transformation, it can be one of the most interesting and charming rooms in the home.

Denver, on the whole, has limited interesting architecture! Denise lives in one of the most sought after neighborhoods in Applewood, Colorado, but the home she purchased several years ago was in need of some tender loving care. She has the Petersen creative vision and drive to tackle the task, and did so---except the powder room! Thus, our gift of labor and love to her for this year's birthday celebration. The spring blizzard helped keep our attention and our snowbound day (on her very birthday!) aided the cause.

The first step was to assess the room and decide on a basic plan, what can we work with, and what has to go. I had some vague idea, mainly based on a color direction which was largely driven by several silk remnants and trim that I had brought along. Denise is an expert seamstress and one of her assignments was to fabricate the window valance. My goal was to complete the entire makeover, soup to nuts, in the three days we planned to be there.

Take a look at the room at the onset of the project!


Check out this totally retro light fixture! There is likely someone out there who would pay good money for a pair of these! Not for this project. It was one of the first things to go.




This was the one thing that we were not really planning on changing, or rather removing. We had thought we could just paint the base...but as the plan quickly came into vision, I was certain that there was something that would update the room in and set the tone for style. We determined that we could easily remove the outdated 80's fleshy tile back splash. It would, however, mean that some serious spackling would have to be done. It didn't take long to go with the "let's replace this" plan!




Another shot of the existing vanity, unsightly towel bar and tile.



The previous owners had accented the door style with this lovely pink contrast color. Yikes!



This original solid vinyl floor (circa 1980) was so badly worn and stained that no amount of scrubbing would improve it. Right away, I determined we could paint it! I'll tell you more about how in the upcoming posts.



This was the wall covering, complete in tones of mauve and powder blue! Oh, yes, this had to go. As we examined the condition of the paper , I decided to paint right over the top of it. This is not always the best idea, but the paper showed no indication of lifting. In this quick three day trip, there was no time to remove wallpaper if we wanted to see a completed room before we boarded our plane home.




We pulled off one tile, then another and another! (It was actually satisfying prying off the ugly fleshy tiles!)

After reviewing the project and making an initial design plan, we left Sneelock with some assignments and headed to Home Depot for some serious shopping. We needed instant availability for this quick remake.


We found success at Home Depot, and when we arrived back at home, this is what we saw piled up on the driveway! We screeched for joy! I also failed to mention that my 89 year old father helped with the demolition! He was a fine builder in his day, and really enjoyed lending a hand. And, of course, we loved having him on the crew.

Rushing into the powder room, this is what we found! The project was really under way now.

This was the morning of day one. Fred spackled and did some major drywall patching. (Did you see that horrid mirrored medicine cabinet? It was the wrong size and could not be centered over the vanity. It was just wrong! There are some things that just can't be worked around, and this room had plenty.

There's plenty more to show you. For now, I've got to get myself back on Eastern Standard Time for tomorrow! Stayed tuned for day 2.