I needed a spot to hang towels and robes in my children’s bathroom. I had a perfectly good blank wall, but I knew I wanted to do something prettier than just install hooks on the wall.
I already had some adorable shabby chic hooks from a recent Hobby Lobby sale.
And I found a piece of wood that was the perfect size for the space. It had a beautiful patina but my daughter requested I paint it.
I tried so hard to get her to change her mind but she just wouldn’t budge. I consulted my craft cabinet and found my green chalk paint.
Best. Stuff. Ever.
I then slathered my reclaimed wood plank with two coats of green chalk paint.
Until I ended up with this:
I then screwed my hooks into the now painted plank. I tried to space them equally.
I then attached wall hangers to the back of it and hung it on the wall.
And here it is, holding up those robes just like I wanted it to.
Our hall bath needed a little help. It was the poster child for bland and boring. Plate glass mirror? Check. Builder grade vanity light? Yup. Boring and plain vanity? Yep.
My pipe shelves helped a little but ultimately we knew those lights and that mirror had to go. So a shopping we went. My brother-in-law put up the new light fixture and Michael and I put up the new mirror.
We are far from done with this bathroom. We still need to put down new flooring, get a new vanity and put in a new tub. But doesn’t it look so much better already?
Our hall bathroom looked a little blank and boring.
Just a nice room with a lot of space but a completely blank space. Also, there is a small vanity but almost no storage space. And do you see those little rickety shelves? They’re pretty ineffective and unstable.
So they had to go. Enter spackle.
That builder grade towel rack had to go too.
I purchased four plumbing pipe flanges in silver and spray painted them black. I also purchased four pipe nipples and some straight pipe at 10 inches long. I chose to buy 3/4 inch but you can choose any size you want. I spray painted all of it black and attached it to the wall.
I took some 1x4s from my scrap pile and cut them to the size I wanted. Then I stained them.
And I placed them on top of the pipes. Easiest part of the project.
I then sanded and repaired the holes I’d patched and touched up the paint.
And I’ve been enjoying them ever since!
Sometimes such a simple project can change your room so much. It’s amazing how for less than $100 we changed the look of the whole room. What are your thoughts?
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 onesÂ
Replace builder grade vanity lights with barn style lightsÂ
Replace cabinet and drawer pullsÂ
Replace towel bars and toilet paper rack with bronze hardwareÂ
Install pipe shelves behind toiletÂ
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?
