the redecorating bug is back and biting hard. my first project this spring is sprucing up the bathroom i share with Beloved. it's a tiny little closet of a room, built by the original owner of the house for the use of just one person.
it's not just the size of the room that presents a challenge - its the fact that it's tiled in black and all the fixtures could use a good replacing. but due to current economic conditions, replacing even the sink cabinet isn't in the budget. we're also planning to do a massive renovation to our end of the house once libby goes off to college and meggie moves out permanently.
one thing i really like about my decorating bug is that it doesn't consider limited dollars to mean limited resources. what i lack in one department must simply be made up in another. and so the challenge... how to spruce up my bathroom and bedroom for not much.... or as Beloved warned me yesterday in an uncharacteristically grim tone: "no frivolous expenditures, annie."
but i've been planning this since last fall when i found three curtains on clearance at target. they're floor length, white with black flowers outlined all over them, and best of all - i got the three of them for less than $35. there's enough fabric to make a new shower curtain, a new window curtain, and curtains to hide the ugly sink cabinet. yesterday i took all the measurements. today i'll set up the ironing board and iron and if im really ambitious, i'll iron the curtains and maybe even cut out their new incarnations.
the countertop around the sink is the most unsightly... so i put a coat of primer on it yesterday, and two coats of benjamin moore pearl finish white. today when libby and i go to michael's, i'll pick up a few small bottles of blue and black paint and some sponges... im going to paint the countertop in colors that match the floor. (thank you to rose with all her talk of lavenders and umbers) the floor tiles are blue and gray - one of Beloved's first projects when he moved in here 13 years ago. (he earned himself a punch on the shoulder over the change, too, from our resident ghost, but that's another story.) i'm also planning to paint the woodwork and the back of the door - somehow, it got overlooked when we changed all the doors in the house a few years ago - and it was never painted at all. (and no, the ghost wasn't upset about the doors changing - by that time i was living here and he and i had had a few Chats.)
my one big splurge i'm hoping to talk Beloved into is a frame to go around the mirror - its just one of those wall things and i think a frame would make it look so much nicer. and i'd like to change the sink faucet... maybe once Beloved sees how nice everything else looks, a new faucet won't seem so frivolous.
and furthermore, the war WILL end. blessed be.
16 comments:
Oh, such fun! I'd LOVE to see it when it's done.
BTW - my little kitchen floor really looks awesome ... it's curing now and in a couple days half of it will be covered by the appliances again. Kinda sad, but I'll be ever so delighted to have my dining area and half of my living room back! Peace.
Look at local antique stores for a suitable frame? Or make an inexpensive one with ceiling molding and paint it to match.
UPDATE Twins in hospital now. Don't know if I told you that last night.
duh, I did sorry for the reiteration. Hey, I spelled that right---wooot
oh i wish how i was good at that stuff my bathrooms are all 1970's style and i need to spruce up without replacing yellow toilets and sinks..yuck
You are being productive. Sounds awesome. ...I love black and white, fingers crossed that you get a new faucet.
Ohhh.. the colors of both the bedroom and the bathroom sound so nice! Blue is one of my favorite colors, next to black!
I wish I could redecorate here, put in new carpet at least, but since it's a rental, that's not going to happen.
Send pictures when you've finished!
Fun!
You should take before and after pictures and post them!
That sounds great, I love being creative with a minimal budget.
At home depot you can get remnants of crown molding for 50% off and make a frame out of them. I did it for my old house and it cost me a whopping $16!
I have been bitten by the same bug. I am repainting all the child damaged wall in the house. (all of them) and picking some new colors for some of them. I was thinking lavendar for my bedroom and a pale green for the kitchen instead of bright blue. We will see. Good luck.
Good for you - finding ways to stretch your dollars!!
I love decorating. I have the bug for my bedroom and haven't broken the news to my hubby yet. I'll have to stop by some time and see all your new additions and changes. Check the clearance racks at home depot sometimes you can find what you're looking for. My girlfriend put new windows in her house that way and I've found lighting - they just might have a faucet waiting for you.
I think I was bitten by your decorating bug! That's all I can think about today! Pictures please when you're done!
What a good idea to re-purpose those curtains into something useful to YOU! I love coming up with ideas of how to accomplish what I want to do while saving $$. It makes me feel like a good wife. Even though most of the time I'm only a so so wife =)
Oooh! Sounds like you have a plan of action! Would love to see you post before and after pics! ;)
that sounds like a great plan. I'm very impressed!
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