Friday, December 30, 2011

Beautifying a Bathroom {Bathroom Makeover}

So my hallway bathroom wasn't in the WORST shape when we moved in, but it definitely wasn't the least bit cheery either:


Blah, I know. And its only taken me a year to finally get around to doing something about it. There was nothing major that needed to be done. The toilet, sink, tub and fixtures are all Kohler and in excellent shape. The tile isn't what I would choose, but its not bad. Nonetheless, I knew this bathroom doesn't need a complete remodel, but rather simply, just a mini-makeover to bring it up to speed. I've had a plan in mind for awhile. I knew I had to get rid of those awful side-by-side medicine cabinets and replace them with a giant mirror. Yuk. Not only are they rather ugly but the corner of one is chipped and it makes me crazy looking at it. So did this eyesore:


It didn't look like that when we moved in, but it did have too leaky faucet valves (as did the master bath)! I don't know how the previous owners could stand it. Every time we turned on the water in both bathrooms, the faucet valves leaked at the base and pool water all over the top of the sink, leaving that nasty build-up over time. So after six months and several blunders with getting Kohler to send us the correct parts, and a couple no-show events from our favorite plumber, we finally found a new plumber to come fix the valves. He removed the sink in order to do so, which left that eyesore that you can see in the previous photo. I finally had enough of looking and that and the blah beige walls seen here:


So I made the trip out to Lowe's--(can you believe they keep closing the ones near me??) and picked up some caulk and a gallon of Zero VOC Olypmic Paint in Serendipty Semi-Gloss Finish and I was on my way. After 4 hours or so, I arrived at this:


After painting and getting those medicine cabinets out we were left with a giant hole in the wall, of course. Thank goodness my giant mirror covers the whole thing. No need to drywall. :) Also--check out my studly hubby, helping me with the drilling and heavy lifting. The mirror was another craiglist find that also came from the estate sale where I got this dresser. I think I only paid about $10 for it. It came with the dresser that I bought for $25... so I guess technically, if I paid $25 for the dresser, the mirror was actually free. It was super dark and dated wood, so I just painted it white and distressed it to give it a shabby chic feel.


My sister gave me this set of frames years ago as a gift. The colors scheme fit perfectly in here, so I just updated it with some bathroom photos of the kids in black and white.


The darling Good Morning Sunshine print on the left is from a shop called Gus and Lula on etsy. LOVE etsy.


The other print is some DIY art that I made myself after seeing something similar on Pinterest. Its the dates of all of our birthdays with our anniversary in the middle. I love making my own art. Makes it more meaningful.


So that's it. My cheery bathroom makeover. Did I mention I also DIYed the little step-stool too, by decoupaging some pretty scrapbook paper on top?Let's look at the before and after one more time. No more blah beige walls. I'm happy. Sigh.

Ch-ch-changes {Painting an Old Buffet from Craiglist}

So I found this old buffet on Criagslist for $125 but I talked the guy down to $75 because as you can see it was in pretty rough shape. He actually included delivery to my house in the price, but the timing didn't work out right and he delivered it when I wasn't home. It sat outside in the rain for an hour or so and the side of the buffet warped from all the water. So I mailed the guy my check but asked if he would consider giving me $25 back given that I bought it sight unseen all because he didn't arrive when he said he would. So he did. Mailed me a check right back for $25! Bam. An awesome antique buffet for $50.


Not that I didn't have to put quite a bit of TLC into it, but it didn't actually take the long to get it looking like this:


I HEART her. Did I mention I used Rustoleum Painter's Touch Satin Summer Squash spray paint? Then I of course painted over that with my faovrite eco-friendly lacquer, Safecoat Acrylacq to seal in the toxic spray paint fumes. I LOVE the turquoise on the inside of the cabinets and the sides of the drawers. Its such a fun surprise when you open her up to peek inside.


And I also lined the drawers with pretty paper. When I have time I am going to decoupage it in permanently and of course paint over that with my favorite, Safecoat Acrylaq.


Oh and remember the old dresser that I refabbed that used to live right here in my dining room. Well, she found a new home in my bedroom. She's a perfect fit: