Wood bathroom art + new lens!

First of all, can I just show off the best Christmas present I've ever bought myself?

This thing is no joke.

Remember the guest bathroom after picture I attempted to take?

Here's the same POV with the new lens...

And look how gigantic my little office looks...

Before:

After:

New rug via Urban Outfitters

Booya. Peace out 18-55mm... it's been real.

Anyway, I did a little project for the empty bathroom wall.

Flashback to the yellow shower room circa 2011:

I knew I wanted it to be rustic and spa-like... so it had to involve wood. I then did what every other rational human being looking for inspiration does... Pinterest. I searched every combination of "bathroom", "wood", "art", and "wall" possible.

I found some neat things...

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I determined I wanted dark stained wood planks, secured together somehow, and some sort of picture or word or something painted on. After days of contemplation, I decided to throw out the idea of involving paint in fear it would look too busy and I'd eventually tire of it. I wanted to keep it simple and textural so it wouldn't compete with the star of the show... the glass tile wall.

So I went to Lowe's with a vague idea of what I wanted and started collecting my wood pieces. I ended up with a stack of pine wood of various thickness (3/8", 1/2" and 3/4").

Total cost: around $30.

I then trimmed them to slightly varying lengths and began to arrange them to my liking. Once I decided on a layout, I took a hammer to each piece and beat them up a little for a distressed look:

Finally, I grabbed my stain of choice: Minwax in Ebony.

I like this color because it gives the wood a cooler gray tone (intead of a typical brown wood) which really goes well with the grey bathroom.

Here they are after the first coat of stain:

After letting them dry most of the day, I went over them with a second coat—some more than others to give them some variation.

The next day they were dried and ready to go. To secure them together, I first applied a bead of liquid nails between each plank and secured them overnight between two heavy paint cans (sorry, no pics of this step, it was a one woman operation).

Once they had time to set, I flipped the piece over and secured two horizontal wood pieces (first with liquid nails, then wood screws for extra reinforcement)

And that's it! All in all, I'd say it took about an hours worth of actual work from start to finish.

Totally worth it... I love the feeling it adds to the bathroom.

Next week our handyman should be coming to build our kitchen shelves (!!) and a few other projects.... finally making some progress! There's a few last details I need to wrap up before I can post the official master bath after pics. Hopefully the long wait is worth it :)