If you've lived in your house for more than seven years, you get the seven year itch to have a new space. When buying a new house isn't an option, refreshing your existing spaces is a great way to make your house feel "new" once more. The clock came from Rod Works for $13.95 and the vase and flowers from Ikea for under $10. I love that the vase of flowers gives it a spa-like quality.
I have a small master bath. I was so tired of the white walls, cheap mirror, basic bar light, standard faucet, etc that I had to make a change. Aside from changing out the faucet, I did everything else myself. I bought the oil-rubbed bronze fixtures, faucet, and light bar from Lowes. They have quite a price range, so you can get the new look to fit your budget. My favorite addition was the new mirror. It was only $30 at TaiPan. If you have the standard issue mirror in your bathroom, you'll be amazed at what a difference hanging a new mirror can make. So here's what I did. In two days, I repaired the wall: spackling, texturizing and all, painted, replaced the light, hung new accessories, bath rods, etc.
To repair walls: sand any holes, tears in the drywall, etc with a light sand paper to get a smooth surface. Apply spackling paste to fill hole. Let dry, then sand to get a smooth surface. Use texturing spray according to which finish you have on your walls. You can purchase it on the paint aisle at Lowes. Let dry. Paint. Home Depot's Behr paint with primer has a built-in mildew resistant chemical, so I highly recommend it for bathrooms. Plus, with the primer built in, you get to skip a step!
To change the light: turn off the power in your breaker box, remove the old fixture noting which wires are connected (you'll have a black, white, and copper wires). Carefully remove the plastic wire connectors, unwind the wires and remove old light. Get out your new light attaching the black to black, white to white, and copper then replace the plastic connectors. The copper is your grounding wire. Attach the new light to the wall according to the enclosed instructions. Replace bulbs and restore power.
To hang the mirror: Position the mirror on the wall in desired location. Measure the back of the mirror to see the distance between where your holes will be. Measure up from your countertop on both sides marking where your holes need to be with a pencil. Mark the horizontal distance. When hanging the mirror, you will want to use drywall plugs. They are super easy to install. Pre-drill a hole with a 3/16 bit into your two marked locations. Then hammer in the plastic drywall plug. Next, screw your screw into the drywall plug leaving it a 1/8" to hang the mirror on. Hang your mirror.
Above the toilet I hung prints from Ikea. They were a set of 3 for $12. The wood frames are the Ribba series 11x15 and are $9.99. I got my shower curtain from Target on clearance for $17.99. Since I took the picture back in January, I also purchased an oil-rubbed bronze shower rod and shower hooks. It makes such a difference. All of my accessories came from Target.
I took old towels that I was ready to give to DI, sewed on green ribbon, traded towels with the downstairs bathroom, and had a whole new look for absolutely no money. I already had everything I needed.
With a little investment of around $300, I have a completely new bathroom that I love. Hopefully, it will buy me another seven years! If I can do this, you can too!
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