Baby Prep: Finishing the Bathroom for $100

It might seem like a strange thing to call a bathroom project "Pregnancy Prep," but I've made an executive decision. It totally is. This bathroom is upstairs, which is where the nursery will be. This upstairs bathroom will be the place for many baby-related things: baby baths, late night bathroom breaks when we don't want to stray far from baby, spraying out soiled diapers, etc. Taking this bathroom from bare bones to my kind of beautiful was a big part of my nesting plans.

Here's what the bathroom used to look like:

Pretty boring right?

Well, here it is after I finally worked on it last week.

The room feels so much different, and it only took a few changes, all of which cost me less than $100.

That bathmat cost me $10. The owl toothbrush holder cost me $8. They were the first things I bought--even before picking out a paint color. It went something like this: I walked to the bath section of the store, saw the owl, thought holy-cow-I-must-have-that-NOW-because-owls-and-color-and-cute-and-OWLS.

After that, I chose a BEHR color called Nature's Reflection. A sample of that cost me $4 and a gallon and some supplies cost me $40.

The warm color of the vanity top adds a nice contrast to the color with splashes of orange here and there. I almost made orange curtains for the room, but I changed my mind after buying some fabric. I wanted to try something bold, but then I realized that bold colors are not something I choose. Ever. So I pulled out some ivory fabric I already had, and I made these curtains using no-sew heat bond tape. Since I already had all of those things (including the tension rod for the window) the window treatment was entirely free.

By the way, sorry about the weird (and edited-to-death) picture. I still have a point and shoot camera, and I don't have great photo editing software. Also, the extreme slope of the bathroom ceiling makes for a very dark and shadowy space even in the bright light of day.

P.S. Check out that corner piece on the pic below. This shoddy, slapdash paint job is part of the reason we want to strip and redo the trim in our home.

I originally wanted some nice, wooden blinds for this room, but as you can see in the picture with the tension rod, the available space for hardware is essentially ZERO. In the end, it was good for us because it ended up being a "free" project. As you can see in the close-up of the bottom of one of the curtains, the fabric has a really subtle pattern, which I love.

The mirror might be something that I'd want to change in the future, but it was already simple and white, so it was easy to leave it the way it was. That small fishbowl and the tea light were things I already owned, but I did purchase a large pouch of decorative stones to add to that and the votive holder on the bathtub. That pouch of stones was $5 and the votive holder was also $5. The votive candles were $3.

The votive holder was originally black, but I wanted something more subtle for the room, so I bought some silver spray paint with a hammered metal effect for $5. It worked so well that I decided to use it on my hand towel storage--a bucket I bought at Home Depot for $4.

My final need in the bathroom was a place to hang towels. While I have nothing against towel rods, I figured that hooks would be easier for our needs in the space. I know that I've made a wall hook project before, but I took the easy way out this time and just bought one from the store for $15.

I know this is totally anal-retentive of me, but it bothers me just a little that my current towels are off-white and the bathroom is filled with pure white accents. Someday I might buy new towels that coordinate a little better, but these work just fine if you squint a bit.

So the cost breakdown of everything for the room:

Paint and supplies: $50
Mounted towel hooks: $15
Room decor: $35
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Total: $100

That's a room project I can totally live with. It's still pretty basic, but it's a huge step up from where we started!

Next time I should have our first official nursery update! Woo Hoo!

Keep it real,