Sunday, September 15, 2013

Yellow Submarine

"......So we sailed on to the sun
Till we found a sea of green
and we lived beneath the waves
In our yellow Submarine

We all live in a yellow submarine
Yellow submarine, yellow submarine......"

Well...our submarine is'nt yellow, it's actually  made of brick...and I doubt the Beatles would have wanted to sing about it, since it's only really just a bathroom. 

But hey, I love it so much I'll sing about it.....ummm better not put you through that torture. So i'll just show you. 


I have done MANY underwater murals through the years! And while we love anything to do with the beach or ocean at this house, I wanted to do something different. So I came up with a new plan, being inside a submarine. I could still paint the fishes this way, and do a little faux treatment as well. 



I painted the walls and ceiling all a light grey color first. 
Then I marked off the lines where the metal sheets came together, painted them and added some rivets. 
I made a soupy paint concoction, and washed out some edges of the seams, where natural rust would appear, like water had been seeping through. In some spots I even dripped it down the wall. 




This is the point at which my husband walked in. I never really gave him all the details of my plan, because I didn't really have any (I had a vision, and I usually change some things here and there). 
He was really excited concerned. 
You'd think after painting this for this long, he would trust me? Once he saw the final product, and saw that it all made sense he loved it.
 I'd love to be able tell you, he has since handed over full trust and cooperation to my crazy ideas....but he hasn't, and I see no hope for that in the next 15 years. 


On my search for pictures of the inside of a submarnie, I kept seeing gauges, handles, and lots of pipes. Since pipes aren't really practical, and gauges would just keep the messing with stuff, I crossed both of those off the list. I knew I could make the handles work somehow.

Then it hit me to use them at towels hooks. I spent probably an hour and a half, in Lowe's, on the pipe and sprinkler isle. The guys keep asking me if I needed help, I tried to explain what I was trying to do, but i don't think they ever really got it. I finally put a few things together, none of it matched, but it did the job. The base is a galvanized piece with 4 holes for more secure mounting. The other is a faucet handle to the cold part of a washing machine hook up.Matching the thread to get to this point was a big task. We attached them to the wall with dry wall anchors.
       




Since the bathroom is fairly small there isn't alot of wall space. So I tried to take some of it to the ceiling, to give the feeling of really being inside something. What better way than with a window. A peeping Tom friendly diver stopped by to check it out, just keep an eye out while you shower. 

 I also added a clear shower curtain to keep it more open, and not take away from anything else in the room.



Above the toilet is a large window, with some suspicious creatures swimming  by.




I faux painted the cabinets to look like metal, with a dark silver, and glaze.  I added a couple more portholes, with some of our favorite fishes. An Angelfish and a Longhorn Cow fish.  

                       

For the hand towel I used an outdoor water faucet, with the same galvanized base. On the counter, are some books and a lantern I found at home goods, which is where I got the colors for the cabinets.  




In the last little space by the door, I added a small porthole. I decided to put my
children's favorite cartoon character, Spongebob, looking in. They LOVE this part, my son talks to him often, and has even brushed his teeth a time or two. 


 The grey towels and rugs from Target.

I had planned on making a pipe shower curtain, and toilet paper holder, just haven't gotten there yet...
I feel a project coming on. 

I want to apologize ahead of time, for this song being in your head for the rest of the day!!!









2 comments :

  1. This is not my personal style, but this is so cute and well done! Bravo!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you Marcia. Ya it's a pretty specific.

    ReplyDelete