Your opinion is sought

You might recall that I said re-doing our basement 3/4 bath was next on my project list.

Well, Bernie flew out of town on Tuesday and  so I dug in.

Above: The "Before".
(The room was rarely used and had become a catch all for other projects needing water access the day this picture was taken).

The "Before" paint.  The previous owners had attempted to stipple/sponge the walls to match the heavy floor tiles.
Personally I don't like being a room where the floors and walls match.  It makes me feel trapped.

They had apparently had various interest levels in the painting project as well.  Some of the walls were quite carefully blended while others looked like they had finally said "What the heck..." and slapped on just enough paint to sort of finish the job.

Using masking tape was apparently against their religion or something.  The tile and all the metals like the towel bars etc were merrily brushed around willy nilly and if some paint got where it shouldn't be...so what.

Big sigh.

Before Bernie left we made a decision to paint the walls a semi-gloss color just a couple of shades lighter than the tiles.
(After I took down the towel bar, I did discover the original paint choice back in 1954 was an apricot peach color.  It must have looked quite Florida-ish and with the right linoleum it probably was quite a fun look).

Since I have been quite happy with our black cabinetry in the upstairs bath, I decided to go with a bittersweet chocolate gloss on the basement bathroom cabinetry.  Painting the cabinets has been on going, coat by coat, for about a week now.

Wednesday I got into painting the walls.  Yesterday I finished that up, and went shopping for some bathroom "bling".

Fun hand towels that combined the dark chocolate colors with the turquoise.

The wall facing the sink will have the chrome towel bar and full sized chocolate brown bath towels. 

Colorful cabinet and drawer knobs that would tie the turquoise, chocolate and floor beige together.

Can't wait to put those knobs on the cabinet.
The current screw hole size is too small and I don't trust myself to drill new holes, especially since I know Bernie could do that job quickly and correctly in no time. 

He knows he is facing a few other tasks in the room:
The exterior wall had a raised planter place against it on the outside, sans waterproofing the wall.
Water had leaked through over the years and horrible patch jobs had been attempted from time to time.
Bernie waterproofed the exterior wall two years ago; re-doing the interior wall has been on hold while we figured out what we wanted to do with the bathroom.

The overhead light needs to be changed out as well.  Slopped paint on the uninteresting fixture calls for something different up there.  Switching out a light fixture is a "he can do with his eyes closed" task for my personal electrician.

Former owners also swiped various shade of white on the ceiling..in various place.  
So the ceiling needs painting too...drat.
I am not sure who will tackle that unpleasant task. 
Maybe we will flip a coin or something to decide.

Today I will finish up painting the sides of the original medicine cabinet mirror brown.  It had rust spots and so needed painting; painting the sides brown connects it with the cabinet color below.

It does have really cute flowers etched in the top of the mirror...

Here's where I need some help from my friends in bloggie land.
Since this is a basement bathroom, the plumbing goes through the ceiling.
I am no fan of the chunky pipe, but it is necessary and therefore must stay.

My question/puzzle:

Do I paint it:

1. Ceiling white

2. Wall turquoise

3. Cabinetry chocolate brown

The chrome towel holder can't be re-installed until that bit of painting is done.

I would love to strip/power wire brush the surface smooth before I paint it; I am going to wait to get Bernie's input on that.
Is the surface irregular because of multiple paint layers over the years or is the pipe itself bumpy?

I suppose I could get "cutsie" and paint it to match the hand towels or knobs or something...

If anyone wants to argue that option I am listening.

And if you just love weighing in on interior decoration option...

I am also ponder the area facing the shower door.

Our tropical plants will be placed in that area during the winter.
They used to just sit on a small narrow book case.  Now I am thinking they would be better served with shelving higher up by the window.

I am considering additional chrome towel racks, or chocolate brown shelves.

Maybe with a mirror behind the plants.

What say you?

White, turquoise or brown pipe paint?

Chrome or chocolate plant shelving?

Help!!!!

Hints of fall...and we are under attack here.

My view from my kitchen window as I enjoyed my breakfast this morning.

The smatterings of fall color: Simply lovely.

Our neighbor's apples are riping to a rich dark red....

Our autumn sedum is blooming brightly in white...

And in deep pink beneath the fall color tinged Japanese maple.
I sipped my coffee and felt quite content with my peaceful world.

Others in the household had a totally different take on the state of things.
Tate was on the attack.
Apparently there was serious issues about the Henries dry cleaner's bag.

The bag had seemed perfectly normal to me when I placed it next to the bagful of things needing to be place in recycling.

Just goes to show what I know.

Tate knew something inside the bag needed killing.

He quickly sussed out an evil collar stay.
Collar stays are well known around here for being very wily.

They must be dealt with swiftly.
Tate studied the stay intently...

Tried to decide the best way to dispatch the offending intruder...

Made the swift decision that it would be best attacked from outside the bag...

Much better angle for killing...

Tate launched a full on assault. 

Lethal claws were employed...

He was drug back into the collar stay's bag during the battle.

I warned him that the bag was gonna flip....

Which of course it did.
Most unsettling...

Somehow the collar stay made an escape during the transition.
Tate sniffed a spot on the bag's cardboard base lining.
Very interesting....

He wisely took a moment to consider what his next move should be.

Those sneaky collar stays...you just can't trust them for a single second. 

Apparently... 

The stay had sought to hide beneath the cardboard!
Can you believe that?

Time to put the bite on that collar stay.

Slap it around until it begs for mercy...

Oh no!  It escaped AGAIN!

It slithered beneath the kitchen door mat.

Tate kept pulling the mat back as the stay retreated deeper and deeper under the mat.

Then Tate heard something back at the bag!
He turned and LEAPED on it in a wink of an eye.

Using his paws, he swatted whatever it was back and forth.

(Tate: Did you see that thing??? It was just awful...)

He went back and killed it again...

Took a short breather while recovering from the heated battle.

Bitsy:  What are you doing?
Tate: The bag...it was full of angry collar stays and invisible things that needed killing.

Bitsy: This bag?  I don't smelling anything.  It smells like a plain old dry cleaning bag to me.

Bitsy: Are you sure you saw something in there?

Tate: Girl cats.  What do they know...

The tag...now the tag was acting up.
Tag must be killed.

Inside the bag must be patrolled...

Every inch of the inside must be carefully examined...

Tate: THERE! There it IS!

Bitsy: There WHAT is?

Tate: You don't see it? It is right THERE.

Bitsy: What is right there?

Tate: Look out! It is escaping!
Bitsy:  OH!  I see it! Let me get it!

Bitsy: HEY! Watch it...

Tate: Dumb girl cat...

Tate: Oops...there it is again!

Tate: I could of sworn I had already killed that thing dead.
There. Now it really really is dead.

(Me: I don't see anything there Tate...)

Tate: That's because you don't have special glow in the dark eyes like I do.

Me: Oh. I hadn't thought about that.

Bitsy came over to take a look too...

Bitsy decides Tate is looking crazed.
Decides to give Tate some space.

Tate is locked on something..

What ever it is...Bitsy decides to give both Tate and it wide berth.

Bitsy: I think I will be moving along now...if you need me I will be under the chair in the living room.

Tate: I am dug in for the duration of this battle.

Nothing is going to get in or out of this bag without me knowing about it.

(Tate glaring at absolutely nothing....)

Something is moving under the bag. Tate is on it in a flash.

The bag has been pushed all over the kitchen by now.

Looks like all is secure.  Tate is walking away from the area, going to take a break or something.

Looks like the battle just plain tuckered him out.
In a bit he got up again...

And went to find where Bitsy had gone.
She was under the chair, just like she had said she would be.

She wasn't quite sure what to do.
Tate still had a mad look in his eyes.

Oh...there was a mouse near Tate.
No wonder his eyes were glowing like that.

Must kill mouse...

Bitsy: Sometimes I think he is just plain old nuts.

Tate:  I am the KING of the Kitty Kingdom!
My eyes glow...and cross...as I consider my mad killing skills.

(Must let blood settle into the top of my head before the next battle).

Oh NO!  The bag...the bag invisibles are attacking again!

They have run under our refrigerator!
Tate!  Help!  Get the invisibles out from under my refrigerator!

Actually Tate did pull a small leather catnip mouse out from under there.  I had no idea it was even under there.

Another check inside the bag...

A good sniff over of the bag's edges...

Then it was time to settle in for the duration.

Good cat Tate.
Good boy!