Adding a Little Spice in the Bathroom

I’m back!! Technical difficulties (= no batteries for my computer mouse and me forgetting for 2 days to get some) have led to an unintentional hiatus!!

As I mentioned before, I love helping other people fix up their houses. Spending their money and having additional spaces to let my design juices run free = AWESOME!!

My fella has finally gotten on board allowing me to “help” spruce up his house!  I am usually at his house 3 days a week. Being a female, I come with a LOT of stuff. Especially bathroom items.  Currently at his house, his daughter’s bathroom is under renovation so she is sharing his bathroom, the same I use. Three people in this bathroom means a LOT of stuff.

(Now, I will confess that in the picture above, 75% of that stuff is mine…..but still). His builder-grade bathroom has a large mirror and no medicine cabinet. The only option is to leave essentials out on the counter or put them below the sink. And seriously, who wants to have to bend over daily to get essentials for getting ready?!?! NOT ME!!!!

I had seen these Bekvam spice racks in the kitchen storage section of IKEA……

and knew they would be PERFECT to help corral some of this bathroom chaos!  And at $3.99 a piece…..game on!

I built these two puppies in less than 10 minutes, gave them a coat of primer and spray painted them satin white.  A day or two to cure, and they were ready to hang!

Probably one of the quickest, easiest organization projects of all time!!!

SO much better!! See that organization? (And all that room for my stuff on the counter???)

You may remember I bought 2 racks. Well, we placed them up and realized only one was needed, so there is one left to use to “spice-“up somewhere else around the house!

Hey, its a win win for everyone!!! I also hung up that $4 mirror from IKEA too!  A girl’s gotta pluck her eyebrows and be able to see to apply her makeup even when she’s away from home am I right?!?!

So for $12, there is some definite “spice” and organization going on in this space! Next up, I think he needs some paint, some crisp white outlet and light switch covers, and an updated light fixture…….all in the name of helping those I care about!!

Bathroom Progress….Cabinet Update

I have big but feasible plans for my bathroom overhaul (mood board here).  And as much as I would love to just have it all done now, the “Bank of Me” doesn’t allow for it all to be done in one shot.  I am tackling this puppy piece by piece as I can save the pennies I need!

The first major update I did was to tackle those FABULOUS orange-y wood cabinets with gold hardware.  Remember these?

I knew this would be a super easy project and super cheap!  One quart of Zinser Primer (already had), one quart of Olympic Moonlit Snow paint & primer in one (for bathrooms & kitchens) at $15, 5 new bushed nickel cabinet pulls for $10, and new brushed nickel hinges for $10, I was ready to get started.

Over two days I primed the cabinet and doors………….

Then I gave it all two coats of paint and I ended up with this…….

(Ignore me in the pic…..this room is so small I didn’t have much of a choice…..well I guess I could have stood in the shower now that I think of it. Oh well!)

I love it so much and it makes the bathroom already feel bigger and updated.  Once I loaded the cabinets back up with all of my hair and makeup products, I noticed a bit of a problem……

Most of my hair products come in metal cans. They were scratching up the shelves when I took them out and put them back each day. I searched for cute shelf liners but couldn’t find anything I liked enough. I took a trip to HomeGoods for some baskets and ended up with this wonderful piece of organization!!!

I have an addiction to baskets and any way I can use them to organize and make a space feel prettier I’m all over it!!!

The bottom basket came with two smaller baskets that I used on the other side of the cabinet to help corral my stuff!!!

I’m not sure how anyone else could ever live here with me!!! There is no room left for anyone else other than that top right shelf!! And now you don’t have to come over to my house and secretly peek into my medicine cabinet while you are using the bathroom…..I put it out here on the internet for everyone to see!!! And yes, that is a cupcake covered box holding all of my nail polish.  I love when my niece picks out gifts for me!!

Total cost for the cabinet update?  $47.00. I also had to buy a new, white GFI outlet to replace the beige one from before (which I totally installed myself)!

Having this one piece of the bathroom done is totally making me antsy to get the rest of the bigger projects (new floor tile and redoing the wall tile) underway!!!

Setting the Mood (Bathroom Mood Board)!!

One of my downfalls is that I can’t visualize a space in my mind…..colors, patterns, layouts, etc.  I need visuals, pictures, inspiration, pulling them all together to make one cohesive image.  I needed to pull together a full mood board for clarity and guidance on my bathroom renovation. Sort of like my roadmap!

First, a reminder of what I was starting with………….

Teal/black tiles, carpet with beat up tiles underneath, fish/seahorse shower door and wood cabinets with gold accents.  Here is what I envision this space becoming………

 1.  I will be swapping out gold fixtures & hardware for more modern brushed nickel.  I had considered going oil rubbed bronze, but didn’t want too much darkness in such a small space.  This is a light fixture I have in mind from Home Depot.

2.  I have already painted the upper medicine cabinets white (another post for another day).  It really helps make the space feel bigger and makes the cabinets blend into the background.

3.  I wanted a soft gray color for the walls.  This Glidden Pebble Grey seems perfect!  I will definitely be getting some samples to paint on the walls to be sure!

4.  The design all pretty much started with the shower curtain.  I had looked at about a million different places for shower curtains I loved after I took down the glass shower doors.  I had debated just using a white waffle curtain like this but with my plan for white tiles and grey walls, I decided I wanted some color.  I decided on this shower curtain from West Elm.  It is ready and waiting to be hung up!

5.  Under that gross bathroom carpet there were awesome white/black vintage hex tiles, but they are in bad shape with cracks, rust stains and an unmatching blue tile border.  The floor in the bathroom also slopes sideways toward the tub. So I am going to replace the tile floor and am in LOVE with this grey penny tile from The Tile  Shop.  And the bathroom is only about 24 square feet of flooring (without subtracting space for the sink cabinet and toilet) so it shouldn’t be too spendy!

6.  After painting the top cabinets white, I decided I wanted to add a little bit of dimension to the cool grey/white/yellow color scheme.  I am going to stain the sink cabinet a dark mocha color and keep the existing white sink and top.

7.  And last but not least, the teal and black tiles around the tub and walls of the bathroom have to go!  I have priced out having a professional resurface the tub and walls and just don’t want to spend the money.  I have done lots of research and think that this Rustoleum refinishing kit is the way to go!  That will be a full weekend project and cause me to become homeless for a few days because I will have nowhere to shower until it fully cures. I will need someone to take me in!

So, there she is! My full plan for the bathroom!  It will be a slow project as I save my pennies between projects and work on other things around the house and live boring old normal life (work, gym, etc!)

What do you think?!?!