This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of FrogTape®. All opinions are 100% mine.

Although design trends come and go, mixing old and new styles is one of the best ways to keep your home looking fresh without spending a fortune. For the last few weeks, we have been working on a long-overdue project in the main floor powder room.

Have you ever had a decorating vision in your head,

and then something, somewhere gets lost in translation,

and you wonder what in the world were you thinking?!

Such is the story of our bathroom…

This is our bathroom circa 2015 (the yellow looks much brighter in person, trust me). I vividly remember the day we put up the yellow paint. At the time, I  was horrified knew it was all wrong, but we needed to get the rest of the house done and I just didn’t know what to do with it. While I was able to make it sorta cute, that was not the look we were going for in the house. We added marble floors last year and the yellow made the floor look dingy and dirty. 2 years later, and I finally figured out that it was time to start back at the drawing board.

Thank goodness it’s just paint! Paint can be so instrumental to the overall feel and design of a room, and can lead to a pretty great transformation.

More and more lately, I have been inspired by the classic beauty of the colonial and federal homes that frequent my area around DC. Their stately elegance in architecture and design is truly timeless. From Mount Vernon to the historic Victorian homes that frequent our nation’s capital, there is a ageless love here for beautiful moldings and architectural details adorning every facet of a home. Of course, I am lucky to live in a contemporary colonial so I decided to play with that by adding some traditional wainscoting and crown molding to the bathroom. I chose this style of wainscoting because it would match our dining room.

You don’t need to live in DC to appreciate a modern vintage look. Inspiration is all around you! Every corner of this country has it’s own traditional flavor from the picturesque cape cod homes of the northeast to the vintage glam of Hollywood. Mix and match to your hearts content!  2017 FrogTape® Design Trends precisely confirmed everything I was thinking about the direction I wanted to go. I utilize a many of these techniques and trends in my own home, especially crafty personal touches and timeless design. Timeless design is adding classic touches such as heirlooms and mixing them with modern styling. It’s old meets new!

Oh, is this not one of the best parts? Even if I know exactly the paint color I chose, opening that can of paint knowing there is about to be a big change just gets me every single time!
Honestly, it is extremely difficult to test a color in a small space with no windows like this bathroom. The overpowering yellow would taint anything we tried to test. So this was sort of a blind pick. I chose a muted medium blue color.

Because the color change is almost eye level, perfect clean paint lines are even more necessary. For me, they are always necessary, but no one is going to bend down to your floors to inspect your baseboards.

Quick tip: I find it easiest to paint bottom to top. This means that I painted the baseboards and wainscoting first, then the wall color, and finally the crown molding. I have noticed that I get straighter, clean lines this way. My trim paint is satin (a little glossy) so I gave it at least a day to fully dry before putting tape on it.

Another tips I love is to protect the floors by using Frog Tape. You guys know I have loved this stuff since the day I used it for my son’s bedroom stripe design, after being frustrated with other brands. It really does make the best sharp and clean lines.

As soon as the paint was dry on each step, we relished in pulling the tape off!

Quick Tip: After putting the tape down where you want it, always burnish the edge of the tape you will be painting against just before you paint.  Simply run your finger across it end to end with some pressure. This will help the edge best adhere completely and give the best crisp line.

BOOM! Now that is classy. For the decor, I was lucky enough to shop my own house until I find just the right accessories. That’s the real idea of timeless to me. Timeless decor should reflect you! It’s best done over time with family heirlooms, personal touches, and beauty that never gets old.

I am so thrilled with how professional this turned out and I will be posting a full tutorial on the wainscoting soon, so stay tuned for that. You can also get more inspiration from FrogTape by following them on social media. There are some really creative projects on Pinterest.

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One last side by side: