The Secret Step To Planning Your Home Projects & Powder Room Mood Board Inspiration & Sources

Are you looking for inspiration to redecorate a powder room? Check out this bathroom mood board design with shopping links and be inspired.

It’s cold and snowy here in Maryland…which means?

It’s not only Winter season…it is Project Season around here.

We had put a pause on projects since the Fall around here and oh boy does it feel good to be back in the saddle of decorating and refreshing our home.

And the first project on the list?

If the title of this post didn’t already give it away…here we go!

Powder Room Glow Up is first on the menu of projects in 2022 and I can’t wait to show you the mood board design I have created for our half bath remodel.

But first.

Let’s quickly review the simple cosmetic updates this powder room has seen over the recent years.

This is what our half bathroom looked like for the first 10 years we lived in our home. After moving in, we gave it a quick paint job (Paint Color is Down Pour by Behr) and called it a day.

A few years ago, I decided to shake things up a bit and hang bold wallpaper on just one wall to serve as an accent wall.

I shared this temporary wallpaper along with 9 other projects that can easily be categorized as some of the “best bang for our bucks” home improvement projects over the years, here in this post.

Bathrooms are such a fun place to use temporary wallpaper.

I know some of you messaged me that you were sad I was taking down this wallpaper because you loved it. I did too…but it has served us well for 5 years and it is now time for a change.

And in good news?

I was able to peel off the wallpaper and repurpose it as drawer liners!!

SO happy about that!!

If you are wondering…is temporary wallpaper is hard to remove?

It was NOT HARD to remove at all.

It could not have been any EASIER.

In fact – you can see me peeling this wallpaper off, along with the demo of the powder room, here in my IG stories.

I like to think of wallpaper in your home decor as the sunglasses in your wardrobe. Sunglasses are a place to have fun and be a little splashy when you feel like it, if you ask me – it’s the same with wallpaper.

Have fun, don’t be too serious.

Life is too short to not wear fun sunglasses and hang splashy wallpaper.

Another subtle but worth mentioning decor tip from the two comparison photos above?

Scroll back and look closely.

You will also notice that I removed the long towel bar on the wall, above the toilet paper roll and hung a piece of artwork in it’s place.

As I always like to remind my Home with Heather clients, “Half of decorating is UN-decorating.”

And in this half bathroom’s case?

That meant removing the long towel bar on the wall and simply making use of a smaller open towel ring, hung closer to the sink for quick hand drying.

Get out of here obnoxious towel bar…you are UN-needed in a half bath powder room.

Un-decorate friends.

Just because it has always been there does NOT mean it should always stay there.

Before we jump to where we are right now with our powder room reno. (Which is ready to rip out EVERYTHING in sight.)

I want to share with you a few simple and budget friendly ways you can update your powder room if you are not ready for a full renovation just yet.

Here are the easy ways we have updated this powder room over the years:

• Added temporary wallpaper.
• Painted the walls.
• Removed the towel bar and added open towel ring instead.
• Hung new open shelves and removed wall cabinet above the toilet.
• Added new wall art.
• Changed out the faucet hardware.
• Replaced the vanity mirror.
• Replaced the vanity light fixture.
• Replaced wall plate coverings.
• Updated accessories: including accent table, wire basket, trash can, area rug and hand towels.

All of these were inexpensive and easy cosmetic updates we have done to improve this powder room over the years, all while our patient powder room waited her turn on the project priority list.

And now?

Now, it is time to reward her powder room patience.

As with any home project…we start at the beginning.

Why?

Because it’s a very good place to start. 🙂

And according to my friends in Texas, Chip and Jo-Jo like to refer to the beginning of these projects as…

“Demo-Day.”

Oh yes…Let’s go!

We removed everything, the toilet, the pedestal sink…and the horrible white ceramic floor.

And yes, if you are having flashbacks…you are not the only one.

You have already seen a similar scene of my husband ripping out this same exact ceramic tile before here in this post, where we ripped up the same ceramic floor and installed hardwood during our DIY kitchen remodel.

You might also remember me sharing last week that when we do our home projects, it is an all hands on deck situation.

Last week, I wrote this post on “How to remodel a kitchen on a budget” and I shared how everyone gets a turn with the sledge hammer during these home project DIY’s. You can see the post on how to save money on a kitchen remodel here.

Our daughters like to enjoy a piece of the satisfaction pie, only experienced when you have the chance to leave your fingerprints on the project yourself.

However, I do not advise flip flops or slides as suitable footwear during these demo’s…but hey –

We’re not perfect.

With all hands on deck, each taking a turn on busting up the tile, sweeping it into the bucket and carrying the trash out to the garage.?

We put the fork in demo, in under 2 hours.

And now?

The current situation is what we refer to as the “messy middle” of home projects.

Which takes me back to the messy middle process, of when we updated the girls bathroom, two years ago. You can see pictures and details of the girl’s bathroom makeover, here in this post.

The good news?

We are almost to the fun part:

Creating the “After” of the makeover transformation.

Now, if you have ever felt a little anxious about making selections, deciding on paint colors or perhaps you may even feel stuck with a certain spot in your home…I can relate.

The truth is that while I do find myself making many small decisions along the way during home projects, as they unfold in real time?

I also have found that there is a loose formula I lean on when wanting to make sure I am headed in the right direction.

This simple step and process has made all the difference when planning our home projects.

The Secret Step To Planning Your Home Projects & Powder Room Mood Board Inspiration & Sources:

Before we demo, I begin all of our projects with this step:

I save inspirational pictures of spaces I love to my camera roll on my phone.

For instance, if we are working on a bathroom remodel, (like we currently are in the middle of) I look for photos I love of bathrooms, like this one by McGee & Co.

This way, I can easily refer back to my key inspirational photos when I start to overthink a decision.

Do you ever overthink a decision? 🙂

Just me?

I am known to sometimes get in my own way of progress.

And in this powder room progress case?

I was caught in the web of overthinking the vanity sink.

I would start to look at gray vanity’s and white vanity’s and before I knew it, I was in the black hole that is called: all of the bathroom vanity sinks that have ever lived on the internet.

But?

When I would pull back from the online shopping screen and look back to my saved inspiration photos?

I would re-find my focus.

With every project, I have found it to be helpful to save 4-5 inspiration photos that I am drawn to.

By saving these pictures to my camera roll, I am able to get back on track and drive in the decor direction I want to go.

The key?

Identifying the common denominator in the details of each picture.

By examining 4-5 inspirational pictures you have saved, you can usually start to pull out and pinpoint a general theme or look you are repeatedly loving.

Often you will notice a paint color trend you are leaning into. (Find out what my favorite blue gray paint colors are and where they are in our home, here in this post)

You may discover a textured wall pattern that you love and keep coming back to, or simply a decor aesthetic such as boho chic, coastal cottage or modern minimalist that is evident in all of your saved inspiration photos.

However, there is a caveat to inspiring pictures.

In fact, I shared last week in this post how sometimes Pinterest can make us feel “less than” about our homes and wind up being a slippery slope for us when we hop on the app for inspiration but wind up laying our phones down in discouragement and discontent over our homes.

Want my advice?

Pinterest is a search engine.

Use it like one.

1. Decide what you want to research.
2. Set a timer for 10 minutes.
3. Save 5 favorite pins to a board for the project or screen shot it to your camera roll. And then?
4. Get off of Pinterest.

Do not pass go, do not collect $200…go straight to jail.

No, no – do NOT go to jail (that is the black hole of staying on Pinterest and never making progress).

Instead, take your inspirational photos and go straight into the direction towards making your home decor project come to life by:

Paying close attention to what those 5 pictures of inspiration all have in common.

In my powder room case?

Here are the decor elements I kept coming back to and discovered that most all 5 of my inspirational pictures had in common.

1. Washed oak colored vanity with white countertop
2. Vertical shiplap
3. Lower part of the textured wall is white and extended up 3/4+ of the wall.
4. Gold bronze light fixture
5. Gold bronze faucet
6. Earthy muted tones with subtle variations. (In other words: A color palette that was not all white or gray)
7. Fun, slightly neutral yet bold wallpaper

Once I was able to determine the common themes in my inspiration photos, I used my design software that I use to help create mood boards for my Home with Heather clients. (You could use Canva to create a mood board design if you think it would help you visualize the space.)

Creating a mood board design helped me to land on the overall concept design shown below, for our powder room remodel.

Powder Room Mood Board Design & Curated Shopping Boutique

(PS – This is an example of a mood board design that I create and design for my HwH clients who want help in making selections and shopping for decor for their home – see more info HERE on the mood board service I offer and more.)

Ok friends – there you have it.

My top tip on how to help you plan for your next home project and the mood board design for our powder room that is currently under construction!

I can not wait to share the big reveal with you in the coming weeks!

(The toilet was just installed – happy dance for all!)

Stay tuned!

In the meantime – here is a sneak peak!!

Many of you have asked which tile floor we decided to go with after I put it on a poll in my Instagram stories here.

Many of you voted for the beautiful gray hex tile…but I knew I wanted to bring in some more color variations and earthy tones to the powder room.

Here is a sneak peek of the new tile floor we selected, in Angora Herringbone. This photo was snapped BEFORE we grouted with bright white grout.

Safe to say – I am in love!

Can’t wait to show you the final reveal in a few weeks!

Living on a prayer,

Heather

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