Painting Country Blue Tile

The first owner did a pretty good job when she picked out finishes for this house. 

 I didn't care for her wallpaper selections but those weren't too difficult to change. 

The blue tile in the powder room was another story.

The color was in still in style when the house was built in 1990 but it wasn't what I would have chosen. She chose white for our bathroom. I wish she had chosen white for this shower too.

I believe in choosing neutrals for surfaces that are difficult and costly to change. 

I believe that color can and should be used on walls which are easy to change.

I'd had country blue in our first house in 1983 but by the time we bought this house in 1993, I was over it. 

An Art Deco inspired wallpaper with the blue tile was pretty cute so I went with it for about five years. 

 

In 1998 my brother's new fiance was coming to visit so I stripped the wallpaper and painted the walls gold.
This was a cute scheme that coordinated with my bright brass faucets.

After our big flood in 2005, I painted the walls blue then glazed them with a bronze color. 




I added a brown shower curtain and brown accents but I was so sick of the bright brass fixtures. 
I cannot understand how they are in style again so soon. 

 Three years ago, I got some blue and white valances and decided to embrace the blue. 

 Last year I decided to ignore the blue and kept the shower curtain closed. 
Two years ago Bill gave me the okay to rehab this shower but he started traveling for work so I put the project on hold. 
I couldn't deal with that stress during an already stressful time. 

Our friends from Beaumont had the Miracle Method done to both of the their mid-century bathrooms. 
  I'd looked in to that but decided to research some DIY tile transformation kits.

Rust-Oleum had a new DIY method that I wanted to try. 

I'd searched for this product before but it had been pulled from the market.
 I found the new version on eBay.
The kit plus the supplies cost less than 75 dollars. 
 It got to me in three days. 

It took three days for me to prep the space.

 I painted the tile yesterday. 
 The transformation is amazing. 
This product is amazing. 
It looks and feel like tile. 

It looks like I need to brighten the trim with a truer white.
Does it ever end? 

It has to cure for three days and then it needs to be caulked. 

Come back for a full tutorial and more photos. 
Katie
   
 A Stroll Thru Life

Savvy Southern Style

French Country Cottage

Cedar Hill Farmhouse

Ms. Toody Goo Shoes

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Funky Junk Interiors

From My Front Porch to Yours

Essence of Home
 Between Naps on the Porch

Our First House

We fixed up our first house. It wasn't ours to fix up.

Bill and I lived in a little house right around the corner from my school. 
It is the only older home on a block of newer homes. 
We think it was built sometime in the 1930s. 
It was so cute!
We loved the arched door.

I made that dress. I wish I still had those sewing skills.

It was a pit. We had to shovel the old junk out before we could move our stuff in.
I don't know why our landlord didn't clean for us but maybe we got some sort of deal on the deposit or something. 
The kitchen was gross.
The tan cabinets with the brown trim were not my taste. 
There were mice. 
:0

Bill's brother worked at Sherwin Williams and he gifted us with some paint. 
I painted the cabinets Dover and the trim was some sort of blue. 
If memory serves it was called Mountain Blue.

This would become the color of the decade - Country Blue.
I'm committed to taking pictures of our photos and digitizing them before they all become any more orange. 
Life really wasn't this orange. 
When I was little I asked my mom a question about something that happened back when the world was in black and white. 


I ended up loving our little kitchen.

We still have the pig. 

My cabinets are Dover once again.

This little house had some darling details. 
Sadly they have all been ripped out. 

I happen to drive by and some workman had the front door open. 
The house had been vacant again but this time it did not look like an episode of Hoarders.
They let me walk through and look for old times sake.
This bad blogger forgot to take pictures. 
The kitchen needed an update even when we lived there but the new kitchen was low end big box stuff. 
It was not necessarily an improvement.
The drop down ironing board was gone.

The built in china cabinet was gone.
I took this picture hoping someday we would build one like it in a home.
That has never happened but I'm so glad I took the picture.
Still smitten with those stained glass cabinet doors.
I had hoped the workmen had them in a dumpster out back.
Nope.
They were long gone. 

All the original Spanish revival arches were gone. 
They had even walled over this niche.
???Why???
There was nothing in its place.

I love that our T.V. stand was an old sewing machine base with a wood top. 


There is the desk from this post.

I can't remember who gave us the couch but I slip covered it in sheets to cover up some gnarly brown tweed.
The curtains were Waverly. 
I found the fabric for $2.98 a yard which was a lot for the time but it was a good deal for this fabric. 
We had a trunk for a coffee table and still do. 
The rocker was my first piece of furniture. 
It was a mark down from Pier 1. 

I don't know. 
There was nothing like decorating our first home even if it wasn't ours to keep. 

One more look at that awesome kitchen. 
Bill is basically forbidden from taking candid photos of me. 
Was I ever that skinny?
I hope you enjoyed this post.
Did you or your mom have country blue?
Katie 
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