DIY Bathroom Remodel on a Budget

So, it's been about 3 months since I've last blogged, and I just want to thank you guys for being so supportive via social media. The time constraints that come with being a new mom have been a really difficult adjustment for me, and since I don't have many mom friends in real life, it's been such a soul-balm to have this community of women online who have been down this new-mom road and can offer words of kindness and reassurance when I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. 

How To Paint Stripes: the easiest tutorial ever!

I recently updated our 1970's guest bathroom by painting the cabinetry, replacing the builder grade mirror, painting the walls, and adding a striped accent wall.

I started out with a bathroom that looked like this.

And after just a few days and less than $200, I ended up with a space that I love. It just feels so much better now.

Since the reveal, many of you have asked how to paint stripes.
So, today we'll breeze through a quick tutorial.

You just need a few supplies.

Here's what I used:

1. Paint
2. Paintbrush (I use a Wooster Shortcut Paintbrush and swear by it. It saves so much time.)
4. Tape measure
5. Painter's Tape (This one is great for getting a crisp line.)  
6. Level

*Above links are affiliate links.

Here are the paint colors I used in our guest bath.

 I used the Ocean Pearl (flat finish) as my main color and the Sea Salt (flat finish) as my accent stripe color. 

And a closeup:

To read how I made that bird art for free, go here.

Now let's get started.
The first thing you need to do is decide how big to make your stripes. I measured the height of my wall, and divided the height by the number of stripes I wanted. For my wall, this determined that I should make each stripe 11 inches wide. (Doing this insures that you don't end up with a half stripe up at the top or bottom of your wall.)

Once you know the width of each stripe, use your tape measure, level, and painter's tape, and start taping off the wall where the stripes should be.

Make sure to press firmly on the edges of the tape. Run your finger along the edge, or use something like a credit card. This will prevent your paint from bleeding underneath the tape. As long as you've pressed down the tape, you should get a nice clean line.

 Then paint every other stripe with the accent color you've chosen.

As you can see in the above photo, when I was done painting a stripe, I took the tape down. You'll want to take the tape down while the paint is still wet to avoid damaging the paint.

When it's done, you should have something like this:

And that's all for today, ya'll.
Thanks so much for being here!

I'll be back soon to share the makeovers of the office, kitchen, and the master bath.

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Our Guest Bathroom Makeover

When we moved into our 1970's fixer-upper, I was faced with a boring, outdated, old bathroom. Also faced with a small budget, I knew I had to come up with ideas to update our bathroom that wouldn't cost a lot of money. Well, with a little brainstorming and a lot of paint, I think I came up with some pretty neat ideas to take our bathroom from drab to fab!

I decided that if I was going to save money, I would need to work with what was already there. Here is what I ultimately was able to achieve with this room for less than $200.

And I totally put a bird on it.

So that you can see how far this bathroom has come, here is what it looked like when we first moved into the house.

Tons of outdated wood, drab walls, and zero character.
I wasn't deterred though, as I knew there were things I could do to improve this little space.
So, let's talk about what I did.

The first thing I did was paint our outdated trim and cabinetry white. Then, I painted the walls and added a striped accent wall.

Doing all of this totally updated the space and saved me tons of money by not having to replace the items that were already there.

I  also replaced the old hardware on the vanity with modern brushed silver pulls.

We were able to leave the flooring alone since the tile was in good shape, but I'm going to come back to this room later and paint the grout like I did in the kitchen and master bath.

For all who have asked, that awesome rug was from Marshall's.

We also stopped any prying eyes by hanging faux-wood blinds, and also replaced the towel rod with a sleek modern version.

The towel ring was also replaced.

One of my favorite updates was removing the builder grade mirror, and replacing it with an ornate silver mirror that I found at Marshall's. I had contemplated just framing it in like I did here, but once I found this mirror I decided I like it better.

Oh, and see that faucet below? If you look at the above picture, you can see that it used to be gold.

The faucet had the whole two-tone thing going on, so I came up with an easy way to fix it that didn't involve replacing it.

 

 I removed the handles and drain stopper and spray painted them with this silver spray paint and then I used this metallic paint pen (affiliate links) and brushed it around the gold parts on the bottom and at the tip of the spout. The whole upgrade cost me so much less than it would have if I had replaced the faucet, and it's held up great! 

Another fave part of the bathroom is the bird art gallery wall I created. 

It's one of my fave art ideas and it cost me zero dollars.

Print. Frame. Hang. ART.

Then, I just accessorized. I found a pretty mirrored soap container that looked great with the mirror.

And some snazzy curtain hooks, too.

One last detail: Here is the little mirror I repurposed. I needed something to fill the space, and had an old gold mirror I wasn't using. I spray painted it white and lightly sanded all of the raised parts for a shabby chic look. It's actually exactly like the mirror I used in the office that was converted into a chalkboard. 

And that's it! 

An updated guest bathroom for pennies on the dollar! 

Thanks so much for stopping by today! 

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