Brighten Your Bleak Bathroom, Below Budget!
In one weekend, I took this bathroom from dingy to dazzling!
Keep reading to find out how I stayed under a budget of $30 and got this delightful ray of sunshine!
I was tired of walking by this bathroom every day thinking to myself about all of the wonderful DIY projects I’ve seen that could turn this bathroom around on a dime! I wanted to add storage, color, and decor. I knew that simple shelving would be the best bet to get more storage while also adding space for decoration as well. So, I looked into the costs and decided I could set myself a budget of only $30 and still pull together the look I wanted. I knew I would be utilizing a lot of materials and objects I already had around the house as well. Therefore, your budget may have to be a bit bigger depending on what you can repurpose/reuse from your home for the look you want to achieve.
Simple Storage Solution = Shelving
I started by measuring the space between the mirror and the shower over the toilet. In order to maximize the width of storage space, while being able to center the shelves over the toilet area, I went with 2ft in length. It should be noted here that I also installed more shelves in our master bathroom at the same time as this. I ended up needing four shelves for each bathroom all measuring at 2ft in length.
Home Depot sells their 1X8X6 NO.2 Common Boards at $6.82 each. So, one board gave me three shelves. After calculating the cost of 1/3 of another board, my total on just the wood for the shelves for this bathroom was roughly $9.10. The attendant, also cut all of the shelves down for me, which eliminated another step, as well.
I wanted a more “reclaimed wood” look to the shelves, so I opted not to sand the edges down or smooth out the surfaces either. I also picked up a quart of Weathered Grey Varathane Stain at $8.98, to match the grey in the existing decor in the bathroom. Once I got home, I got to work staining all the shelving. This “How-To” will be in my next blog post. I should also note the brackets for these shelves were given to me by a friend of mine for free, therefore, their cost was not calculated into the budget.
Storage & Organization
The next thing on my list was storage and decor. This bathroom is for my kids; therefore, I don’t want to spend a lot of money on expensive baskets or storage solutions that would inevitably become broken, stained, or go missing. I decided to go to my local Dollar Tree where “Everything’s $1.00” to see what my options were. They have lots of great storage/organization bins to choose from! I got two white buckets for storage under the sink and two white baskets for shelving display.
I also needed a classic storage solution for the bath bombs, lavender bath salts and their flossers. The Dollar Tree has these adorable little glass jars that can be made to sit straight up or tilted at an angle. I picked up three of those, a new plastic shower curtain, an organizer to hang on the shower head and a toothbrush/toothpaste holder to hang on the mirror. In total, I spent just over $10 (with taxes) on all of that.
Decor & More
As I mentioned before, I used a lot of materials that I already had on hand to decorate with. The frame for the “&” on the shelves was used at Chelsea’s 3rd birthday party for decoration. The silver elephant was originally purchased as a fun ring holder for use in the kitchen. The sign on the door is actually a storage box lid. The box was damaged when I dropped it, but I knew I could still use the lid for something; so, I held on to it. The flowers? I pulled them out of storage in my craft room along with the picture frames, scrapbook paper, labels and faux succulents.
Finished!
I set out to breathe a bit of life into this room and bring a cheerful glow to it that the rest of our home seems to have. I added storage, color & decor. The bathroom looks great and the kids love it. Honestly, at this point, I just hope that they help me keep it that way… who am I kidding? I’ll be back in there repairing something with super glue in a week.
Work Hard, Stay Humble, & Nevertheless Persist.
