Our linen closet wasn’t terrible but it definitely needed a little love.
We had some good things going in our linen closet but we really had been neglecting it and piling it up. I began the cleanup process by removing everything that didn’t belong and putting it in its rightful place.
I neatly folded up all the towels and popped them into the cubby shelves. I also used bins and baskets to corral smaller items. I took everything that was just sitting on the shelf and found a new home for it.
I also cleaned up and consolidated some of the luggage on the floor of the closet. The laundry basket is for dry cleaning.
Rolling up a quilt actually helps it to take up less space than if you folded it up.
Let’s look at the before and after again:
After:
All in all, I’d say that our linen closet is so much neater and more organized. What do you think?
We are on a constant mission around here to add some character to our builder grade, blank slate house. We want to do some major remodeling to our bathroom, but like most people, we have other expenses and have to do a little at a time.
Our bathrooms were very drab and builder grade. Here is a look at our bathroom before we started.
You can’t see it that well, but behind our toilet is the standard towel rack.
We’ve had these Allen + Roth mirrors sitting in our garage floor since Christmas.
We had a friend from church over to help us move a piano, and he graciously agreed to help take down the plate glass mirror we used to have. While the mirror was down, I patched holes in the wall, sanded, and painted the wall. We then put up these two mirrors we purchased with a gift card at Christmas time.
Next, my brother in law took down our cheap, builder grade vanity lights and installed these Allen + Roth barn lights.
Here’s a picture with the lights off so you can see them a bit better. Don’t you just love that detail?
We then changed out the standard nickel drawer pulls and cabinet knobs in favor of rubbed oil bronze hardware that would match the lights. We also changed out the toilet paper rack and towel racks so they would match as well.
I then recreated my pipe and board shelves from the other bathroom. I’m not 100% satisfied with how they’re decorated, and am currently looking for the perfect typographical art to complete them. Big surprise, right?
Let’s take a look at that before and after again.
Before:
After:
Ignore my tiny photo bomber.
We are not yet finished. Our to-do list looks a little like this:
Replace large mirror with two smaller framed ones
Replace builder grade vanity lights with barn style lights
Replace cabinet and drawer pulls
Replace towel bars and toilet paper rack with bronze hardware
Install pipe shelves behind toilet
Replace toilet
Replace faucets with bronze faucets
Replace flooring with hex tile or ceramic “wood-look” flooring
Replace bath tub
Install tile tub surround
Stain vanity
As you can see, we still have quite a few bathroom projects left before we are finished, and most of them are expensive! That is why we are doing this a little at a time.
Have you ever remodeled a room a little at a time? How did you do it? How did you prioritize your projects?
Our daughters’ bathroom needed some serious organization beneath the sink.
The vanity cabinet is a nice size, but there is only a big cavernous space to put things. I wanted to make a better use of the space.
I purchased a riser, and put a large bucket on top of the riser to hold our cleaning supplies. I put towels under the riser and purchased a plastic drawer unit for the opposite side.
I put two baskets atop the drawers for baby wipes and extra toiletries.
The top drawer holds baby items for our youngest daughter, and the second drawer holds our oldest daughter’s belongings.
The bottom drawer holds miscellaneous items that both our girls use.
We also have two vanity drawers where we stash hair bows and tooth brushes.
Our bathrooms in our home are very spacious, but they’re also very boring. They are both very plain and builder-grade. We’ve recently begun to look at them to see how we might add some character without spending a lot of money on them.
We do eventually plan to replace the tubs, tub surround, and flooring, but that will be a costly renovation, and it just isn’t in the budget right now. Instead, we are comparison shopping and trying to decide just what we want when the time comes.
At the present time, though, we can add just a little farmhouse character to our baths without breaking our checkbook.
We have decided to add some sort of rustic shelving, swap out that builder grade mirror for a more farmhouse-styled one, maybe paint or re-stain the vanity, and upgrade that cheap light fixture, but until we do that, we’ve opted to add some rustic shelving. These are the shelves you’ve seen on Fixer Upper, and all over Pinterest. And they’re the perfect project for adding a little industrial farmhouse to your home.
Adding rustic shelving is super easy, and not that expensive. Here’s what you’ll need to get started to make two plumbing pipe shelves.
2X10 pine board
4 3/4 in galvanized pipe nipples
4 3/4 in floor flanges
4 3/4 in pipe caps
your choice wood stain (I used Minwax Walnut)
black spray paint
microfiber cloth
sandpaper/orbital sander
I didn’t take step by step pics of the prep work, because it’s monotonous and self-explanatory. First, measure the area where you want your shelves to hang. Once you know your needed dimensions, you can cut your board to the appropriate lengths. Remember to measure twice and cut once! Next, use sandpaper, or an orbital sander to sand your boards smooth. Afterward, wipe the sawdust from your boards with a microfiber cloth.Then, apply the wood stain using a rag or brush. Allow each coat to dry at least 24 hours. Using your black spray paint, paint the galvanized pipe parts black. Allow 24 hours to dry. For best results, use a spray paint with a primer included.
After your boards have dried, measure the area once more you want to hang your shelves. Use a level to make sure your boards are level, and mark the wall where you’ll screw the floor flanges. I highly recommend hanging your shelves on a stud to make them more sturdy, but if you can’t, then you’ll need to use dry wall anchors.
After you’ve screwed the flanges to the wall, then you can assemble the pipe nipples and caps.
Repeat this step for each side of your shelves. Then, you simply lay your shelf boards attop the pipes, and you’re done!
Yes, you can totally see where I filledi n the giant holes left behind by the towel bar. They were huge and required lots and lots of spackle.
But, here’s the (mostly) finished product.
I love how these shelves add so much rustic charm and character to our bathroom…plus, they add some much needed storage. Our vanity in this bathroom is rather small and there isn’t much counter space.
Have you made any rustic pipe shelves lately? If so, I’d love for you to show me!
