We were renting this home while my husband was getting his real estate license. After looking at tons of homes and couldn’t settle on any. The market in our area is very limited in inventory. We decided to buy it.
When we moved into our home, I loved that the bathroom was blue. I always wanted a blue bathroom. I love the ocean and I just thought it was fitting and I could decorate in an ocean theme. Well come 2018-2019 I was over it.
The first room we painted after settlement was the bathroom. I painted it one day while I was off work. Somehow I did it in between getting cereal, snacks and naptime. Painting a bathroom is no joke! After a nice critique from hubby, I decided I’m not painting anymore of the house. I stink at painting for some reason. It’s kind of like baking, I make a mess but my baking is really good. That’s a bad analogy!
Anyway, my best friend and I were starting to paint our homes at the same time. She mentioned the Sherwin Williams color Sea Salt. I checked it out and I thought it was a serene, spa like color. So I decided to use it. It totally changed the look of the room.
I decided to go with a white theme with the elements for the room and wrought iron, black or dark for the accents. I knew I wanted to ditch the towel racks. I wanted to use hooks for the towels. I searched and searched online and couldn’t find exactly what I wanted. I wanted a grouping of hooks with a shelf on top. They cost an arm and a leg for what I thought lacked in quality.
One day, my mom and I went to a few Amish stores and I found the perfect set of hooks and shelf. I got it home and realized it took up the whole wall in the bathroom. Luckily, ten years ago I bought a neat Amish made shelf with a set of 3 shelves and cubbies up top. That would work perfectly. Originally, this is what I was looking for and couldn’t find it that day. I remember it being reasonably priced when I bought it and now the idea of what I wanted was over $100. We needed more hooks since our family has grown since we bought it pre-children. My husband was ok with using a hook on the back of the door.
Next, I wanted to change out the vanity lights. I do not like the original ones. I call them Hollywood lights. My mom found these on Facebook Marketplace. A hotel was changing out their fixtures and selling them off for $5 a piece. I bought a 5 light fixture for this bathroom and a 4 light for our back half bath. The metal was dark enough that it would work for the the theme I was going for. Instead of hanging them with the sconces hanging down we placed them up. This was because of the existing cabinet and mirror combo. It would have hung too low and hit the cabinet. However, doing it this way has allowed so much more light in the bathroom. We love it.
Next, I was going to get nice light, airy white curtains and a roll down blind. I was simultaneously working on decorating the kitchen as well and my mom suggested Plantation shutters for both. I loved that idea. I purchased these from Overstock. It was a bit of a struggle getting these up I’m not going to lie. Our window frames are a bit different and some of the trim is curved but he retrofitted them. Make sure you check and double check your measurements. Anyway, I am thrilled with them. They can be opened all the way, shut and louvered. or totally shut at night. My husband wasn’t thrilled that they were faux wood. He’s a window installer by trade. You really can’t tell once they are up. They add such a clean look to the window area.
I went with a white shower curtain to keep the crisp, spa like look going. I bought this one at Target. There were two I was trying to decide between and this one won out. However, I after I had it up for awhile and my husband was working on some dirty projects and the boys were playing outside a lot more, I thought, why on earth did you get a WHITE curtain but so far it has not gotten dirty during shower and bath time!
I have good intentions of ripping out the vanity because it’s a bit too big and all that space is unnecessary and it’s a bit low. I’d like to get new flooring as well. I am still on the hunt for new rugs. I intend to get a grey memory foam mat for outside the tub and a runner for in front of the vanity.
This past week, I also put shelf liner on the shelving in our linen closet. This summer I plan to paint the linen closet white.
Well I hope you enjoyed this update on our home and maybe got some inspiration. My intention here is to show you how to update your home on a budget. Stay tuned for some more home update posts!
Have a good week!
