Master Bathroom Makeover Under $100

Hello!  Who’s in for a master bathroom reveal?  :D
This one won’t win any awards for most jaw-dropping transformation but nonetheless, it’s a transformation for the better and that’s all that really matters, right?  ;)
Before, our master bathroom was laden with that tan paint that coursed throughout the house (while not bad persay, not the best color for this house and it’s characteristics), some frilly curtains, baby blue fixtures, and horrible lighting.

While we weren’t going to dish out the money to change the tile, painting the room white (Pure White by Sherwin-Williams) was an easy way to make the blue feel a little more intentional.  The curtains came down as soon as I could get them off and, since the window itself is frosted, there really isn’t a need for window treatments but I made some anyway.  The full tutorial on that roman shade is here. 
After all of that refreshing plus some decor on the walls and new gold hardware (leftover from the kitchen makeover) on the cabinet, we are here:

Cheap Change

Let’s play ‘spot the difference’, shall we?  What’s changed from this picture:

to this picture?
I mean, they’re not exactly a reflection of each other anymore.  One is the fairest (or fairer) one of all.  A mirror image they are not.  Ok.  I’ll stop.  You get it, you had it before I even started up with my ridiculousness. 

I painted the mirrors.  We ditched the dark, dusty rose for lighter and brighter white with a gold touch.  (And yes, in case you noticed this too, I spray painted the light fixtures quick-like.)

Here’s how:

Trashy

That’s quite literally what our front door might’ve looked like prior to last week.  You might remember (and hopefully you don’t) that after I painted the inside of our front door, I had a trash bag on loan to be hung over the two small windows every night so creepers couldn’t creep.  The sad proof:


Why?  Well, because we used to cover it with this roman shade I made…
 
…but after we went red, the old roman shade plus the red = clash, bang, boom.  No go.

But at the time, I thought I’d just whip up a new, magnetic shade (the door is metal) right after I got the door painted.  And whip one up I did…but not until a few months later.  Oops.

‘Tis:

[And in case you missed it, we painted the walls white a few weeks ago.]

And here’s how I did it.

First, I cut a piece of fabric (just some plain white broadcloth) to the size I wanted the shade to be plus two inches per side for seam allowances (I wanted it to be 27” x 37” finished so I cut my fabric to be 29” x 39”).  I used a new pattern-cutting mat I found on clearance at Walmart ($3).  It’s just cardboard so I won’t ever be able to use a rotary cutter on it (great though because I don’t own one!) but hopefully it’ll help me cut perfect squares/rectangles.  I simply laid my fabric on the mat, held it in place with a few big vases, and cut along the lines.



After I had my seemingly perfect rectangle, I took it to the ironing board and ironed a half-inch hem on all sides.

This is where the extra two inches in my cut fabric comes in.  To get a half-inch hem, I needed an extra one inch of fabric on each of the four sides. (If you’re anything but a sewing beginner, you might want to skip ahead.)  At the ironing table, I worked on one side at a time, first laying out the side to be ironed.

Using my measuring tape, I folded my fabric over one-half inch and ironed the fold (except originally I thought I wanted a one-inch hem which is why the picture below shows me folding over one-inch!  Sorry!  Pretend I’m measuring a half-inch!)

Then I folded the fabric over onto itself one more time so that I had done two half-inch folds.

After I ironed that second fold down, I pinned my hem down so that I could sew it.  Next I sewed a simple straight stitch down each side, staying as close to the inside of the hem as I could. 

Sewing a big rectangle like this to be used as a shade or a curtain panel is something easy to attempt if you’re just starting to sew.  All you have to do is sew a straight line and you’re set!  :)

When I was finished with the fabric part of my shade, I added some black pom pom trim to the bottom to liven things up a little.  I probably should’ve pinned the trim into place before sewing but instead I just held it on and used a straight stitch to attach it.  I only wanted the pom poms plus a sliver of the top ribbon showing on the front of the shade so I sewed it to the back of the shade vs. the front.

Now for the magnetic part.  To attach the shade to the door each night, my plan was to install a couple of button holes that could hold a couple of these magnetic hooks (in white) I found on clearance at Target a few years ago.

  I’ve never sewn button holes before so I was a tad nervous about trying them now but after watching this video tutorial I’m no longer afraid because they’re pretty easy.  All I had to do was make a couple of marks where I wanted my button holes (I made them an inch in and down at the top corners of my shade), attach my button foot fit with a random button about the size I wanted my holes to be, and my sewing machine did the rest.

And that’s it!  *In case you don’t sew, this could easily be done using some heat ‘n bond tape for the hemming and glue for the pom pom trim!  Punch in a couple of little grommets at the two top corners, hang it like I did mine, and you’re done!*

The trash bag went to it’s rightful place under the sink to be reused and the shade now keeps us private at night.  During the day I’ve been hanging it to the side like this:
 
But if I get sick of doing that I can always just hang it on the hooks next to the door.

I spent an hour making this shade last week and another hour painting this mirror in the living room:


Here’s what it looked like before:

Black and a nice, gawdy gold.  I found it at Goodwill last year and finally got around to hanging it last month. 
I spray primed it and then painted it a light gray (acheived by mixing some charcoal and white latex paints I had on hand).


After the paint was dry, I scraped the paint off the mirror (like I did this mirror), hung it, and called it done…for now.  I might add a gold border around the inside edge the next time I need a little paint therapy.  You know I’ll let you know.  :)
 

Between the shade and this mirror, I felt pretty darn accomplished last week.  This week is a different story so far; not a thing has gotten done.  Oh wait, I did get dressed from head to toe Monday!

And then we left the house headed for the grocery store, got to the grocery store, loaded the limo cart (you know, the ones you have to have a 10 mile radius around you in order to turn)…

[image from Raising Bluebirds]
…loaded up and paid only to walk out of the grocery store and after digging through my purse, was unable to find the car keys anywhere. Great.  Did I leave them in the car?  Did I drop them?  I have frozen food and three little people in my cart…what am I going to do?!  Oh look!  It’s pouring outside.  Great-er.  Well I guess we’ll just stand under the overhead cover at the store entrance until it stops and then we’ll head over to the van and find the keys because I probably just left them in the van, right?  Waiting, waiting…five minutes waiting.  Kids are getting antsy; food is probably thawing.  Ok, we’ll just have to run for it.  So we did.  We I ran for it.  Limo and all.  The doors are unlocked which means the keys are probably in the ignition or on the seat (so irresponsible) but before I grab them I toss the wet kids in along with the wet groceries and then I go to grab the keys but…wait, they’re not there.  They’re not anywhere!  Blast!  Why did I have to leave the house?!  Why?  Why?  WHY?  Call Anthony.  Oh yes, He’ll come help me.  (Calls Anthony.)  He’s on his way home anyway but can’t get here for another twenty or so minutes.  Ok.  So we sit in the van while it rains and wait.  And wait.  And wait.  Ten minutes pass and the rain slows to a sprinkle.  It’s getting stuffy in here and I’m pretty sure somebody let one slip.  Ah, I can’t breathe!  Ok.  I’ll just pack the kids back up and we’ll go inside to see if anyone turned the keys in.  Of course there’s always the other situation in which someone is now using the keys that I dropped to get into my house and steal all our things but let’s just try and focus on the positive shall we?  Positive, positive, positive.  My glass is half-full and there is a spring in my (wet) step.  Ugh, WHY did I have to leave the house?!  Deep breaths.  Grab Sebastian; the girls can walk. With one load in one arm and a chain of two little girls in the other, we traipsed back into the store and headed to the customer service counter where, after asking about my keys and being questioned about what kind and what did they look like so as to tell whether they really were mine before handing them over, I got my keys back.  Where I dropped them only one person knows and why I dropped them?  Oh, I know that one!  It’s because between juggling groceries and kids, who has time to make sure where her car keys are?  Not me! 

(And that is probably the first (yes, first) and last time I ever go on a weeks-worth-of-food grocery run with kids ever, ever, ever again.)

The end.

Wait, wasn’t this post about a shade?  Seems like she might have a little PTSD.  Probably.  

Aye Aye Captain

Remember when I shared my friend Jesse’s amazing kitchen makeover? 

[before & after]

Well, I promised I’d be back with some tutorials involved and I’m making good on my promise by signing in today to tell you all about her captain’s mirror and how she made it.

 

    First, the supplies: 
An embroidery hoop
Two long belts
A round mirror
Spray Paint
Caulk
A thread spool (with no thread)
A long screw
Beads (to be used as a spacer)

You’ll need a round mirror.  Most craft stores sell pre-cut round mirrors so you could just go snatch up one of those.  If you’re wanting to make a larger mirror than any pre-cut mirror available, you may have to get a mirror cut-to-size like Jesse did.  She purchased a large rectangular mirror at a thrift store and had it cut into a circle that would eventually fit inside her embroidery hoop.  (Note:  One thing she told me to mention was that she had her mirror cut before she bought her hoop which she shouldn’t have done.  Because she couldn’t find an embroidery hoop that was the same diameter as her mirror, she had to do a little custom fitting.  The point being, buy your hoop first and have your mirror cut to the size of your hoop.)

There are lots of size options when it comes to embroidery hoops:

As mentioned above, Jesse couldn’t find an embroidery hoop that was the same size as her cut mirror (20”) so she bought one slightly smaller.
 
To get her mirror to fit seamlessly inside, she set the adjustable ring of the hoop around the mirror, cut off the joint at the top, and cut a section from the fixed ring to fill in the gap.  (You can see a better explanation in the spray-painting picture a little ways down.)

To hang/add the strap to her mirror, Jesse used two belts she found at a thrift store: 

So that the belt buckles were both facing the same direction, she cut the buckle off of one of the belts and sewed it onto the end of the other belt.  After she did that, she had one long belt with buckles at both ends that would go around the bottom of the mirror/hoop and one long belt without any buckles that would ‘buckle’ into the buckles and serve as the hanging piece.
 

In case you’re a stranger to sewing, you could also just buckle the belts to each other, giving you one long belted strap.  Basically, you’d take the bottom belt in the picture below, buckle it to the other belt along the right side, and send it up and over, buckling it on the left side.  Hopefully all that makes sense.  :) 

Once Jesse had her belts situated and sewn and all pieces of the hoops ready, she spray painted everything with gold spray paint.


Once the spray paint was dry, it was time to put everything together.  First, Jesse laid a string of beads down on the ground and laid the mirror on top of the beads.
[The beads were laid underneath the mirror, touching the reflective side.]

Then she put the hoop around the mirror.  The beads underneath the mirror served as a spacer so that the mirror didn’t sit flush with the front edge of the hoop.  Does that makes sense?  If you don’t have beads you can use any few things that are the same size and, being set under the mirror, would lift it – a few of the same sized magnets, a few of your kids small toy rings, a couple of thin books, etc… 

Next she tied a piece of elastic tightly around the whole mirror/hoop to hold the hoop together and the mirror inside (you can skip this step if your mirror fits inside your hoop perfectly).  She also ran some caulk (clear drying) around the back edge of the mirror.

After the caulk around the back edge was fully dry, she stood the mirror upright and ran some caulk around the front inside edge.  When the caulk around the inside edge was dry, she removed the elastic and hot glued the belt around the hoop, making sure that the area of the hoop where she had to insert a piece of the fixed hoop was along the bottom of the mirror when it hung.  That way all the pressure would always be against that spot, making it stronger and less likely to come undone.

To hang the mirror, Jesse used an old spool of thread (with no thread on it) that she spray painted gold. 

She stuck a screw through it to attach it to the wall and placed a gold painted sticker over the top to hide the screw.

Cost Breakdown:
Embroidery hoop:  $4 (with a coupon at Hobby Lobby)
Mirror:  $10 (a rectangular mirror found at a thrift store)
Getting the mirror cut into a circle:  $10
Belts:  $4 (thrift finds)
Spray paint:  already had
Caulk:  already had
Thread spool & screw:  already had
Total spent:  $28
Note:  If you had to buy the spray paint and caulk, it’d be closer to $34 or so.  Also, if you bought a mirror to fit your embroidery hoop, you could easily cut out $10 or more. 

Not so bad considering…

I’ll be back next week with a tutorial on her faux marble countertops!  I can’t wait to share that one…and use it!

Entry Way Mirror

There’s been more progress in the entry way…a drop in the bucket but progress is progress and I’ll take it.  We hung a mirror.  Woop de doo, I know.  It’s a vintage mirror I bought at a thrift store a few weeks after we moved here for $15 and it’s been taking up residence in different closets and until recently, in the girls room behind their door. 

The only ones not impressed with the progress are the girls, who have been using the mirror since they’ve been able to crawl.

The reason I’m writing about hanging the mirror is because it’s not your typical pop-a-nail-in-and-call-it-a-day type of job.  You see, the small expanse of wall I wanted this mirror on (the wall across from the hook wall) had a couple of studs behind it, none of them dab smack in the middle of the wall.  Great, well use a drywall plug then, right?  Riiiight…except that this mirror is super heavy and with the girls running past this spot a thousand times a day, I didn’t trust one little dry wall plug (as super duty as it might be) to keep the mirror mirror on the wall and not crashing into the fairest of them all.  Got it?

So, what we did was install two screws – one in the closest stud and one in a heavy-duty drywall plug about six inches away.  The tiny crosses in the picture below indicate where the screws would be placed.
The mirror is hung by a thick string strung along the back so to hang it all I did was make sure it was tethered over both screws which allowed it to hang centered.  Does that make sense?  If we had hung it solely on the screw that caught the stud, it’d be off center but by putting in another screw, we could utilize both and get the mirror centered.  It’s a fairly simple solution to get something hung where you want it when the studs behind the wall aren’t in the spots you want them to be.

Silly me didn’t talk a picture showing how centered it was on the little wall but once I get the rest of the entry way done, I’ll give ya a nice big ‘reveal’ picture and you’ll be able to see it.  Isn’t it pretty though?  I’ve been on the fence about whether or not to paint it but for now I’m going to live with it as is.  I like the gold but I wish it was a little brighter.  Whatever becomes of it, you know I’ll blog it.  :)

.           .           .

So now that that’s up and done, we’re moving on to installing a new light fixture.  It involves this… 

…but it’s probably not what you’re thinking.  Stay tuned.

Oh and yesterday I peeked into Goodwill on the way to buy groceries and laid my eyes on these chairs:
I had to have them, two of them to be exact.  However, they were sold as a set of four so I bought all four for a total of $40.  I’m going to sell the extra two after I gussy them up and the other two are going…well, you’ll have to just wait and see.  :)

Have a great Monday!

Toothpicks Galore

I recently swiped up this Target mirror

complete with a few dents and a bunch of tape residue due to someone placing some sticky stickers on it's pristine surface.  Happy camper I was though because I took it home for 3 bucks, knowing a little creativity would hide those imperfections and leave me with a brand new mirror.

So, I brainstormed for about a week on what I could do to fix it up; something that would barely make a noticeable difference to the 'ole bank account.  Here's what I came up with:

Should I...modge podge fabric or scrapbook paper on?  Glue on sticks from the backyard?  Cut wine bottle corks into small circles and glue them on?  Glue twine or some sort of string around it's perimeter?  Since it was going in the laundry room, glue on some clothes pins?  Use a silver sharpie to draw on some sort of design?  Glue on tile/rocks/pearls/vase fillers?  On and on and on my brain racked.  

After making two maybe-something-will-pop-out-at-me trips to Michael's, I was almost set on the gluing on tons of pearls option...but I couldn't find any faux pearls that weren't meant to be strung/without a hole in them, not to mention the fact that the amount of pearls I needed would cost more than I wanted to spend.  

So it was that I felt like I was back to brainstorming when I stumbled upon a little box of goodness and inspiration as I was reaching into our cupboard for a can of soup for lunch - TOOTHPICKS!  Perfect!  I could glue lots of toothpicks around the perimeter!  A trip to the store and I was all set!

      

Out came the mirror, which I first cleaned with a damp cloth.  I really didn't bother trying to scrape the sticker residue off much since it was just going to get covered up, besides, the mirror frame is made out of MDF and I really didn't want to warp it with cleaner and lots of scraping.

 In the above picture you can see penciled lines - I quickly tested the 'draw on it with silver sharpie' idea using a pencil just to see if the design I had in mind would look good.  As you know now though, that idea was scrapped and eventually disappeared behind the chosen wood sticks.

To attach the toothpicks to the frame, I used some craft glue we already had.  I worked in sections, lest the glue dry faster than I could work, and simply laid a thin foundation of glue, threw on a handful of toothpicks, and arranged them next to each other.

To make sure the toothpicks were laid at the correct angles, I laid the top and sides first as a base to go off of.

 When I got to the pegs, I just trimmed some toothpicks to fit around each.

500 toothpicks later, we have this:

 A mini-mudroomesque spot to hang a coat or two and maybe an umbrella.  :)

I really love the natural look of it but if ever the tides change, the toothpicks could easily be stained or I could whip out some of my favorite color in a can and spray paint the entire frame.

It will also serve us well as a memo board of sorts to hold to-do lists, birthday reminders, and whatever else we feel we need posted, all in the name of beauty AND function.  :)

Total cost:

Mirror:  an "as-is" steal for $3

Toothpicks:  $3 (I only used 2 boxes of the 6 I purchased...and will be returning the extra 4) 

Craft glue:  free (already had) 

Grand Total:  $6

.           .           .

I was anticipating a post this weekend on our 'painted wallpaper' but it's taking much, much longer than I expected.  I only had time to spend about three hours on it this week and I'm only a third of the way done.  Needless to say, it's made me question my sanity and marvel at the beauty it adds to our bathroom all at the same time...  I hope to have it done, time allowing, within the next couple of weeks!  It'll be one post you won't want to miss!  Until next week though, have a great weekend y'all!  :)