Kids'/Guest Bathroom Farmhouse Makeover

WARNING:

*This post is picture heavy, so fortify yourself with some coffee and snacks and settle in for the long haul.*

Ok, so......I've been promising this makeover post for quite awhile now, but one thing after another happened (or didn't happen) and it took much longer to complete than I thought, such is life I suppose.  Part of this bathroom has been done for almost a year now, but I was hesitant to share it until it was complete.  I'm happy to report that it's now complete!  Yay!!!  Like I warned you before though, it is a bit picture heavy, but I didn't figure you'd mind too awfully much since my posts have been so few and far between lately.  It was quite challenging to get decent pictures of such a small room that doesn't get any natural light, but I did the best I could and we'll just live with it.  Mmmm-kay?  :)

So here goes.

I'm sharing the makeover of our second bathroom....the kiddos' bathroom, and when we have company it's also the guest bath.

When we moved in the trim was dark like the rest of the house and the walls were yellow peach orange....well, it just depended on what time of day it was really.  Sometimes they looked yellow, sometimes peach, sometimes down right orange.....like the rest of the walls in the house were.

It had an oddly placed towel bar, brass/gold colored knobs (well actually it only had one doorknob, the one for the linen closet was missing and I went ahead and bought an oil rubbed bronze one that I found on clearance.)  The tub is small, typical for a manufactured home, so we bought a curved shower rod for it right off the bat to give just a couple of more inches of room in there.

The floors had a very orange-y hue that matched the walls quite nicely really, but they drove me crazy. Especially the black "grout" lines and the off-centered way the tiles were laid (and not well, I might add.  You could see the plywood subfloor in between some of the tiles!).

The mirror and vanity were pretty much builder grade I guess you could say.  The counter top was a grayish blue, the boring sink was old and the finish was wearing off (no matter how much we cleaned it it still never looked clean), the light was brassy and boring, and it had a hand towel holder that was placed much too high.  I guess I had already removed it when I took these pictures.

Scuzzy orange flat paint that was filthy.

SO much orange!!!!

BUT......

Some fresh coats of paint, crisp white trim, a new light, new flooring, a new vanity, a new shower curtain and towels, a little beadboard, and some decorative accents later and it was all MUCH improved!

I painted the room gray, Benjamin Moore's Rockport Gray at 50% to be exact.  It took me FIVE tries to get the color right!!  I also painted all the trim a fresh glossy, off-the-shelf white to brighten the place up even more.

One of the most fun things in the makeover was the shower curtain I made.  You might remember that I shared that, and the tutorial for it, last year.  It can be found {here}.  I had an idea of what I wanted in here, but the closest thing I could find was $40 and I didn't want to spend $40 on a shower curtain so I made my own....for $14 and loved it a WHOLE lot more than the original one I was thinking of buying.  It's so unique and fun.

We changed out the vinyl floor tiles for something much less citrusy.  These tiles weren't my first choice, but the ones I loved were much too expensive, I just couldn't afford them.  So I went with these cheap ones from Lowes.  They have quite a bit of beige in them and you wouldn't think that beige and gray would pair well together, but the walls have just enough "greige" tint to them, and the tiles have accents of gray as well as the beveled "grout" lines being gray and they work together just fine.  Plus, I figure that down the road if I change my mind about the gray walls, the floors should be neutral enough to go well with something else.  These tiles were inexpensive to begin with, but then I used an online promo code and got them even cheaper.  I think I paid less than $30 for all of it.  And notice that I had Hubby lay them even, with nice straight lines, not off-centered like the old tiles were.  It pleases my eye so much better and just gives it a nice clean look.

On the left wall we added bead board that I painted white, new baseboards, and some chair rail to top it off.  It added SO much character to the room!

We also added vintage coat hooks to be used as towel holders.  Notice that they're all different?  I love to mix and match.  :)  They were a bit rusty so I coated them with a few coats of clear sealant spray to help keep them from rusting further with damp towels being placed on them, and also to keep the rust from rubbing off on said towels.  I wanted hooks instead of towel bars so that it would be easier for the kids to hang their own towels up.  We also placed them down a bit lower than you normally would so that the kids can reach them.

I found new towels that have stripes of "greige" that go really well with the rest of the room.

Above the bead board on this left wall I have a miniature gallery wall.

This one is a cell phone picture.  The bathroom is so small I just couldn't zoom out far enough with my DSLR camera since I don't have a wide angle lens.  So the quality of these next couple of pictures is a bit off, and the chair rail looks bent, but at least you get the idea.

I hung bath time pictures of my kiddos from when they were babies, and then a more current photo of the two of them together.  I added in pictures of each of their initials to add a cheery splash of red to the mix so that the room wouldn't be too monochromatic, plus y'all know I love me some red!  (I guess I'll have to expand this gallery wall in about 5 more months.  :D)  I already had the two smaller frames, and the three wider frames I got for 50¢ each at a church rummage sale.  The license plate in the middle is German, I found it at a vintage booth at a local quilt festival. 

The other part of the gallery wall is this little "vintage" knock- off clock I made.  You can read about how I turned a $4 Walmart clock into a "vintage" cutie and saved $56 while I was it! 

See that {here}.

Now let's look at the right side of the room.

Originally, there was a hand towel holder, the circle/ring kind, mounted above the sink on the wall, but it was too high and too hard for little ones to manage to put the towel back.  So I installed a hook lower down on their level next to the linen closet instead.  We also put in a new sink/vanity, but we'll get to that in a minute.

My 4 year old still can't reach the sink all the way and needs a stool to stand on.  I found this cute little wooden one at a local antique/junk store for $8 and I love how the wood adds a spot of warmth to the room.  If it was all gray and black and white it could be kind of cold feeling, but the wood adds a nice contrast that helps balance it out.  A coat of clear wax helps protect it from moisture damage.

The walls and trim were painted, the beadboard and hooks were up, and the new shower curtain was up almost a year ago, but the room still had the old orange-ish vanity.  I couldn't find what I wanted for a long time, plus we couldn't afford a new one for quite awhile.  But then my little Etsy business took off and I saved up and finally found {this} really cute vanity/sink combo.  I showed it to Hubby and he approved so I ordered it.  What neither of us thought about until we got it home was how the plumbing was situated.  One of my non-negotiable requirements for a new vanity was that it had to have drawers.  This was the only one I could find that I liked, was the right size, and had drawers.  But what we discovered was that the plumbing was actually situated on the right....in the way of the drawers.  But thankfully handy Hubby was able to switch them around and make it work.

I spray painted the knobs to make them match the rest of the hardware in the room and it fits the space perfectly.  I love that it's more narrow in depth than the old one.  It gives a couple of inches more room and makes it feel just that much bigger in there.  I love that the bead board insets match the bead board on the opposite wall, too.

Here's a full view of the sink area with the linen closet in the background.  You can see I replaced the brass light and painted the mirror white as well.

There's a story behind this cute barn style light fixture.  When we first moved back to Florida and were living in the rental house, the kids and I went yard saling one morning and came across a sale that had lots of things that were just my style.  One thing she had was this light fixture, but she was asking more than I could afford and since we were still in the rental house and I wasn't positive I would actually need/use it I passed it up.  Well, the nice lady invited us to visit her church and we ended up attending there permanently.  So a year later when I was ready to re-do this bathroom I happened to think about that light fixture I had seen at her sale.  I didn't figure there was much chance that she still had it, but I sent her a message to check just in case.  I couldn't believe it when she texted back and said she did indeed still have it and that I could have it for free!  (I had found a similar one, but just a single sconce, online for $143!!! )  I was so excited!  I couldn't convince her to take any money for it, so I took her out to lunch instead.  :)

Isn't this faucet the most adorable thing ever?!?  I just love it to itsty bitsy squishy little pieces!!!  And I got it for free, too!  Well....basically for free.  I make a little bit from Amazon each month or sometimes every other month and I had a few of the gift cards saved up and was able to order this for free.  I just love the old fashioned style of it. 

 (The link for it will be at the end of the post if you're interested.)

We use this little miniature galvanized bucket to hold the kids toothbrushes and toothpaste.

I even spray painted the night light to match the room, lol!

Another cell phone picture.

To the left of the sink is the toilet area. 

I hung an old soda crate on the wall to hold some necessities as well as some decor items.  Another spot of weathered wood further helps to warm up the room.  On the top we keep extra hand towels folded up, and to the right of that are a couple of reproduction metal weights I found at Hobby Lobby a few years ago.

I got the license plate at a yard sale for 10¢ and it adds a quirky splash of red to this side of the room to balance out the red initials on the opposite wall.  The crate also keeps some extra TP handy for guests who don't want to go rootin' through cupboards and closets searching for more when they're in desperate need.  :)  The other decorative piece of this display is a "jar" full of vintage clothespins.  The "jar" is actually an antique street lamp cover that my grandpa gave me.  It's open on both ends so we have to be careful when we move it to clean.

Also in the same area we find a toilet paper stand.  There was no TP holder when we moved in and since the kids are small and couldn't reach across to the opposite wall, and placing it on the side of the vanity would be too squished, I opted for this stand to keep it within reach of the kids small arms.  A little galvanized basket I got at a thrift store for 99¢ helps disguise the kids's bathroom wipes on the back of the toilet.  And the trash can?  Well it's a repurposed galvanized vintage flour bin.  :)

Another cheap little makeover project for this room was the other light that is mounted on the ceiling.  Previously it was brassy and gaudy looking with a textured glass round globe.  Very 90's style.  They are/were all throughout this home and slowly but surely we're updating them as we can.  This makeover cost me a whopping 99¢!  I had Hubby remove the metal part and I spray painted it Oil Rubbed Bronze that I already had.  The globe part is actually from a ceiling fan I think and it cost me 99¢ at a thrift store.  I like how it looks like a miniature vintage school style light now.

SO......that pretty much sums up everything that was done in here on this makeover project.  Now let's take a look at some side by side before and after comparisons just for the fun of it.

I hope you've enjoyed this tour of our guest/kids' bathroom farmhouse style makeover, and thank you to my faithful readers that are still around even though I haven't been a very good blogger lately.  

August is looking to be a busy month for us with my daughter's 8th birthday party coming up soon, swimming trips to the nearby springs, visits to the big city 45 minutes away for midwife appts, and towards the end of the month an ultrasound to find out if this little person growing inside me is a boy or a girl!  I can't wait!!  :D

I hope you're having a fantastic summer!

                                                               

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How to Get the Most Out of Your Fall Pumpkins

This week I've been helping my kiddos paint their pumpkins.  It's a yearly tradition that we do instead of carving them, partly because we don't really celebrate Halloween so carving them into scary faces is kind of pointless.  We like to do happier and more creative things with them.  But also because the pumpkins last a whole lot longer this way.  Once they're carved they start rotting and only last a few days and that seems like a waste of money to me.  Keeping them whole makes them last quite a long time.

So, I got to thinking about what we did with ours last year and how I got my money's worth out of them and I decided some of you might like these ideas, too.

So here's what we did last year.

Sometime in October we have a family night and we break out the paints and brushes and go to town creating faces (or in the case of the 3 year old's pumpkin, lots of random colors mixed everywhere).  : ) The kids loved my Mike Wyzowski pumpkin and that inspired them to want to do a whole set of Despicable Me characters this year.

Three out of the 4 pumpkins were still good by Thanksgiving time in November so I spray painted one of them white and we toted it along on our trip to visit family.

I took a permanent marker and set it up in my mom's living room and it became our "thankful pumpkin."  Throughout the day everyone wrote something they were thankful for and signed their name.  It was really fun to turn it around and around and read what everyone added.  I made sure to take a picture of each side to help us remember.

By December we were down to 2 pumpkins that were still good so I let the kids paint them again and this time they turned them into "snowmen."

The 3 year old's looked a little more like a melting snowman, lol!  : )

If we had enough pumpkins that were still good we may have tried this stacked snowman from Sweet Pepper Rose.  Isn't he adorable?

Here's another cute Christmas pumpkin idea from Club Chica Circle that I like. 

 (They also have a cute idea in that same post about using "snow" paint to do a snowman pumpkin.  We might try that one this year.)

You could even do the ornaments first for December and if your pumpkins are still going strong you could do the snowmen for January.  

So there ya have it.  Just a quick post to give you some ideas on how to get the most out of your fall pumpkins.  Not only are you getting your money's worth out of them, but it makes the fun last that much longer, too.  

Do you guys have any additional creative ideas on how to repurpose your fall pumpkins?  

I'd love to hear about it!

                                                               

Rain Boots Repurposed

Today's project just screams "spring is here!" with its bright colorful makeover.

And it didn't even cost me much of anything at all.  My favorite kind of project!

Now, I know that many of you haven't seen any sign of spring yet and are still having cold and snowy days.  I feel for you.  I really do.  We lived in northern Ohio for 2.5 years while Hubby went to school and I have been SO glad to be back in Florida!  But hopefully today's post can put a bright spot in your day and have you looking forward to your very own warm spring days.  

My mom found these rain boots at a thrift store a couple of years ago and gave them to my daughter.  She wore them and played in them for a good long time until she outgrew them.  You can see they had become really faded and cracked and even had mildew on them.  I had a project in mind though, so I didn't toss them.  

Instead, I gave them a few coats of spray paint that I already had in my stash (bought for $1 at the Habitat ReStore a year or two ago) and gave them a new purpose in life.

A bright and cheerful spring "wreath."

The only cost involved was buying the fresh flowers ($4.88 at Walmart). 

 Tulips are my favorite!   I grew up in Illinois and experienced my own fair share of long dreary winters.  Tulips were always one of the first flowers to poke up through the cold ground and bring a promise of spring.  

And for that reason, their bright cheerfulness has always held a special place in my heart.

I love giving old worn out things a new purpose and another chance at life.  

And of course, I love doing it on the cheap!  : )

(I simply filled the boots with water and used them as the vase, since they're rubber they hold water quite nicely.  The paint color is Watermelon by Krylon, and I used a long double length of string over the door to tie them up.)

                                                               

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Painter's Dropcloth Becomes DIY Grain Sack Shower Curtain

Hi everyone!  Long time no see!!  

Can you believe it's been a month since I last posted anything?!?  Craziness!  But life around the "farmhouse" has been pretty busy with homeschooling, projects, cooking, housework, and yada yada yada.  

I'm just trying to hang on for dear life.  :)

One of the projects I've been working on is the 2nd bathroom.  This is the kids' bathroom and when we have company it's also the guest bath.

The above is a picture I snapped of it before we bought the house.  The electric wasn't turned on, but even still you can see that it's pretty dark in there with absolutely no natural light (therefore, very hard to get decent pictures in here).  The dingy orangey-yellow walls and dark trim just sucked the light right out of the room.

When we moved in I put up a shower curtain we had from our last house, but the yellow ribbons on the curtain only added to the "depths of despair" theme this bathroom had going on.  It was purely functional.

One day inspiration finally hit and I knew what I wanted for this room.  Little by little during the kids' nap/quiet time I tackled the trim and got the walls painted.  I put together an inspiration board on Pinterest where I pinned rooms with gray walls, white trim, and black accents.  It would be very easy to end up with a more modern and chic looking room using these colors, so I wanted to be sure to include some items that would keep it more on the rustic farmhouse side.  One of those things was a shower curtain I had pinned that had stripes that were sort of grain sack looking.  Nothing says 'farmhouse' more than a grain sack, right?  But the problem was that this particular curtain was $40...more than I wanted to spend could afford for a shower curtain.  So I went searching to see if I could find a basic white curtain for much cheaper and just paint the stripes on my own.  Well, during all of this research another idea hit me and my mind started racing 100mph.

A couple of weeks later, with only $14 invested in the project, I ended up with this.

A giant shower sized "grain sack!"  :D  

I love it so much!  

And it will most definitely keep this bathroom from looking too modern.

I even put in my own grommets, a first for me!

Here's a little comparison of the before and after.  Quite the change, huh?  It took me 5 tries before I got the paint color on the walls right, but finally settled on Benjamin Moore's Rockport Gray at 50% (although it's actually a different brand of paint, just their color.)  You can see we put up beadboard on the left wall, we still need to get the baseboard up as well as the chair rail on the top.  Eventually I want to replace the vanity and flooring as well.  But all in good time.  One project at a time.  :)

So, if you're here just to see the pictures, then feel free to move on to the next blog at this point if you want.  But if you're curious as to how I accomplished this DIY farmhouse shower curtain, then stick around.  I'm about to explain the details.

I started with this 6' x 9' canvas dropcloth that you can pick up from Walmart for about $9.97.  

I followed Miss Mustard Seed's directions for bleaching it since I wanted it to be a lighter cream color versus the tan color it was originally (if you follow the link to her blog, the directions on bleaching are in step #2 I believe).  

On the left you can see how it looked straight out of the package, and on the right is after being washed and bleached.

I kept the width of it the same, but cut quite a bit off the length and sewed a wide double layer tab/seam along the top where the grommets would be placed.

Next I had to come up with the image I wanted to put in the center.  I Googled "grain sack images" and "feed sack images" and came across {this one} that I loved.  Of course, theirs is for sale and I didn't want to steal their image, so I redesigned it and made it more personalized for us.  (The Suwannee River is nearby, and we actually lived less than a mile from it for about 6 months before we bought this house.)

Once I had the image designed, I had to figure out how to get it onto the fabric.  Image transfer methods with freezer paper and such weren't going to work because I needed it to be on such a large scale.  I knew I was going to need an overhead projector.  I remembered that a long time ago I came across something about a DIY homemade projector so I went searching, and sure enough, you can make your own!

I used a cardboard box and cut an opening on both ends.  I didn't have any transparency sheets, but I do have a small laminator that I use for homeschooling so I ran a laminating sheet through the laminator to make it clear.  Then I put that in my printer and printed the image directly on it and taped it to one end of the box. (The curtain was nailed to the wall.)  I used the flashlight app on my iphone as the light source.  We tried a few other things for the light, but nothing worked as well as the app did.  So we propped up the phone to be sure it wouldn't budge even a centimeter, and made sure it was plugged in to a charger.  The setup wasn't as strong as a real projector, and it had to be very dark in the room for it to work, but work it did!

If you look close you can see my pencil tracings on the fabric.

Once I had the entire image traced onto the fabric, my next step was to put in the grommets.  Walmart had these, and the setting tool as well, in the sewing section.  The grommets were about $4.47 for 10 (I needed 12 so I had to buy 2 boxes), and the setting tool was $3.47 I think.  I didn't include these in the price of this project because I had Walmart gift cards from a rebate a couple of months ago, so I essentially got them for free.

I measured out and marked their placement and pounded them in.  (I made sure to put a sturdy wooden cutting board in between the fabric and the floor to protect my purdy floors.)   : )

Once the grommets were in it was time to start painting.  I was SO nervous about this part!  I was so afraid I was going to drip paint or smudge it or somehow mess it up and have to start all over.  But, I just took my time and worked very carefully and it was all just fine.  The painting part of it took me about a week, working on it little by little.  That canvas is actually a little difficult to paint on.

Once I had the image completed it was time to add the grain sack stripes.  This was the most aggravating part of the whole project.  This fabric has so much "give" to it that it was incredibly hard to get them lined up nice and straight.  And even though they looked really straight on the floor, once I washed it and hung it up they looked absolutely drunk.  They were so crooked I was ready to cry.  But then I remembered the "give" factor and started tugging the fabric this way and that and got it all straightened out.  I hung it up damp so the tugging was easy and it allowed it to dry how I wanted it.  

 I actually used different shades of gray and black, but once it was washed they all kind of look the same. I just used regular craft paint for most of this.  I tried adding a textile medium to the paint, but it didn't seem to make any difference when I did a test swatch and ran it through the washer.  So I just stuck with straight craft paint on everything except the words at the bottom.  On those I used an oil based Sharpie paint pen that I already had from my Sharpie mug project.  The final washing served to set the paint as well as give the whole thing the faded aged look I was going for. 

Here's a breakdown of my costs:

Dropcloth canvas - $10

4 bottles of craft paint - $4 

Grommets and setter - $12.50 

(I got these for free with gift cards).

My cost was only $14, much more affordable than $40, and now I have an absolutely unique and original shower curtain that I love.

So what do you think? 

 Is it a little over the top, or is it fun and quirky and perfect for a farmhouse bathroom?  

I'd love to hear from you!

* Update - these customizable shower curtains are now for sale in my Etsy shop and can be found {here}. I'm currently taking names on a waiting list so if you'd like to purchase one let me know and I'll add your name to the list. *

                                                                 

Here's a set of 10 grommets with the setting tool included, as well as a 6 x 9 drop cloth
.

                                                     

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