Master bathroom beautification – let’s take a tour

The master bathroom in our rental house was such a drab room – I don’t think it could have been any whiter! And other than the tiny vanity, there was no storage.

I wasn’t looking forward to painting the bathroom because I thought it was going to be really awkward but it actually was easier than I expected. And I managed to not have one of my usual paint catastrophes :-)

I already had an almost-full gallon of BM Ocean Air that I used to paint the hallway, so that was my starting point.  I wanted to break away from my usual colours, so decided to go outside of my comfort zone and use coral as an accent colour.

The guy who owns our rental house had agreed to buy a new vanity fixture and faucet for the bathroom. The fixture is a bit too high, but such is life, that’s where the hole is :-) I picked up a can of coral spray paint for about $7.00 and painted the mirror frame.

 

I already had the turquoise soap dispenser, which I got on sale at BouClair.

The towel rods and brackets were all white. I thought about replacing them with chrome ones, but then thought, why not paint them? So I used turquoise spray paint that I already had to paint the brackets.

The vanity is really not very useful – the drain pipe takes up a lot of space inside, there’s a narrow drawer at the very bottom, and there’s not much space on the top to put things like toothbrushes and toothpaste. I picked up a dark brown basket at Canadian Tire for $3.00 and spray painted it with leftover aqua paint.

I used a couple of screws to hang the basket on the wall, and now it holds our most-used toiletries in a handy spot by the sink.

Another basket that I picked up at Winners – this was my biggest splurge for the whole room!

I had planned to return this frame to Walmart, but decided to keep it and use it in the bathroom. The art is just something I printed out on paper, I’ve got a photo waiting to be picked up at Costco. I haven’t decided yet whether to leave it black or paint it.

The switches on the wall above the toilet aren’t very attractive, and we never use them. Hmmmm, how to cover them up…

 

  

With art, of course! I went to a friend’s house last Friday to paint for a few hours, and the painting I came up with works just right here :-)

You might recognize this little table that I made over with a few coats of spray paint. It’s not terribly functional with that one little drawer, but I really wanted a place where I could put a few decorative pieces.

You might also recognize the basket from my bedroom makeover. I decided to move it into the bathroom, because it just so happens to work with the colour scheme :-)

The vase and brass crab are from garage sales (I think I paid $1.00 each), the faux flowers are from the Dollar Store, the starfish is from a shop in Lunenburg, and I found the shell on a beach.

A friend asked me to look after some of her plants while she’s back in the US for the winter. I bought a turquoise planter at the Dollar Store and put her coral flowers into it. Now we’ll see if I can keep it alive till next summer!

The big empty wall above the tub was just screaming for a big piece of art. But I can’t paint something that big, and I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on a piece of art. So I came up with a way to make my own inexpensive easy art. I’d bought three yards of this beautiful fabric from Tonic Living without really having a plan for it – I just really wanted it! We bought some 1” x 2” pieces of wood at the hardware store, Brian made them into a big frame (it’s about 30” x 50”), and I used a staple gun to attach the fabric. Voila, big & easy art for about $15.00!

And this is how it all came together…

It’s not the fanciest bathroom ever, but not too bad for using what I already had on hand and spending about $75.00 on new stuff. I still miss our bathroom back in Ottawa – I mean, how can you NOT miss body jets?! – but now this feels like a pretty happy room :-)

Before…

  

After…

 

Linking up with…

 

Bedroom beautification – Let’s take a tour

I’ve shown you my night table makeover and my super-cheap headboard made from cupboard doors. The master bedroom still isn’t completely done, but I think it can make its official debut here on my blog :-) There are still some things I want to do, but I’m pretty happy with how it’s looking so far.

OK, so  here’s the original bedroom – as you can see, not too pretty! I had started prepping the room to paint before I realized I  needed a Before picture, but you get the idea. The turquoise curtains were my attempt at adding colour to the room. But they’re kinda skimpy and too short, and looked more sad than cheerful.

Just painting the room BM Gossamer Blue made a huge difference.

I love this colour for a few reasons – it reminds me of the sky and water. It changes throughout the day from lighter blue to almost turquoise, depending on the time of day and the sunlight. And it actually is a great neutral backdrop for all the colours that I’ve brought into the room.

Here’s what the bedroom looks like now, complete with wrinkled bedding from Walmart ;-) Sorry, I don’t have an iron! Each piece is sold separately, so I decided to mix up the colours a bit with the pink pillow cases and blue sheets. I don’t love the duvet cover, but I can’t really buy a new one when we have this one plus another two back in Ottawa. I mean, I COULD, but then Brian would have a conniption fit ;-)

I decided to go with the boat cleats for drawer pulls on the night tables. Thanks for the feedback on that dilemma :-)

I picked up the lamps at an estate sale a couple of weeks ago. I love the bases, but I’m not sure about the burlap shades. I’m thinking of either covering them with fabric or painting them.

The box spring and mattress are still on the floor, but it all looks more like a real bed now with the headboard.

I covered the box spring with an old fitted sheet so it looks a bit less dorm-like ;-)

I LOVE the fabric I got from Minted a couple of months ago. I used it to recover a stool, and there was enough left to make a throw cushion. I went to The Lunenburg Makery last week to take a sewing class and use one of their machines, and I made my first-ever cushion cover :-) I need to get a bigger insert though – I forgot about the trick of using an insert that’s one size bigger than the cover to get a really plump cushion. This one is  little baggy :-)

I picked up this frame at a garage sale for $1.00. I spray painted it navy and put in a note card from The Maritime Painted Saltbox. I found the piece of driftwood on the beach.

I wanted a round mirror to hang above the dresser (which I picked up from Kijiji for $45). I found this one at HomeSense for $12.00. My original plan was to paint it white or silver, but I like how it repeats the black frames that are on the opposite wall. The artwork is by three Lunenburg artists. I didn’t intend to hang them together, but I kind of like how they look as a threesome. I don’t really know why I hung the mirror offset from the dresser – I just thought it looked better that way :-)

I haven’t quite decided where the basket will go or what I’ll put into it. But I love the bright colours :-)

I’ve developed this thing for buoys. This one came from a cool little shop in Blue Rocks. The paddle is from an antique shop in Mahone Bay, and I picked up the stump from the beach.


 

I asked the guy who owns our rental house if he would be open to changing all the light fixtures, and he said sure. Wooohooo! So down came the boob light and up went this sparkly chandelier. A great deal at Costco for $100 :-) I love the pattern of light on the ceiling.

So that’s where the bedroom is at now. It won’t make the cover of any magazines, but I think it’s a big improvement from before :-)

   

What’s you favourite way to spruce up a room on a budget?

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A Stroll Thru Life – Inspire Me Tuesday