Twenty - Two Bucks

I get bored easily with things around the house, small home decor specifically.  For this reason, I don't like to spend a lot of money on these types of things.  I try to stay neutral in my purchases, but sometimes I go overboard because something is cute, or I can't pass it up because of a sale.  When this happens, I still do good with the things "I got bored with" and either send them to the thrift store (they donate all proceeds to charity), or I have a yard sale and donate to me, hahaha! 

I wanted to change out the guest bathroom with colors that flow with the rest of the house.  So I went to Ross, got lucky enough to find what I was looking for, and only spent $22 to change the room.  I didn't have to paint either, good day for me. 

I purchased the curtain on the left at IKEA for the redo back in 2013.  I purchased the new shower curtain, in a dark teal swirl pattern for $12.99, and it came with roller ball hooks, love them, and a shower liner too, SCORE for me!

 Switched out the old green towels for light turquoise ones that I already had tucked away.

 I also had the ribbed light turquoise bath towels tucked away, I found them on clearance at TJMaxx.

The new turquoise and cream runner was $8.99 at Ross, it replaced a red and beige runner.  So in a matter of 15 minutes, room complete.

Window Dressing

WHY, OH WHY, do builders put these big windows near soaking tubs?  It makes no sense to me at all.  When you're in the tub bathing, because that's what you are supposed to do in the tub, and you stand up to get dried off and get out, guess what, the whole neighborhood can see what you own!!!!  Why put a big window, that brings in a lot of light, in front of a tub?  You have to keep it covered up! And when you do that, NO LIGHT COMES IN! Every house that I have been in, that has a tub like this, has had the same window.  I even saw one that was right smack in the front of the house!  This window has been a thorn in my side for 10 years. Not only is it right on top of the tub, it's directly across from my shower, so everybody can see what you're doing in your bathroom!  It's crazy.  I covered the window up the best I could for 10 years, I even took showers in the dark, n-u-t-t-y.  I put blinds on it, then a set of white curtains, couldn't find anything pretty of course.  The window is an odd size and I am not a sewing girl, never have been, nor do I want to spend a lot of money on curtains. 

My light bulb went off recently, I know, it only took 10 years, right.  The window is 50 inches long by 64 inches wide, really an odd size.  The easiest thing to do was to set the rod at 72 inches, that's the highest I could go because of the cathedral ceiling in the room.  You used to be able to buy curtains that were 72 inches long, not anymore, you can barely find 63's.  SO the gears were turning, what can I do to fix this window without spending a lot of money for custom curtains?  Well guess what I discovered, a shower curtain is 72 inches long! I mean I did know that, but never thought to put them on a regular window.  And so my pain and agony about this window is finally gone, a shout out to my brain for giving me an answer on how to fix it.

This is that awful window.  Blinds don't even fit it unless you spend lots of money getting them custom made.  I'm sorry, but I will not give in to that, I hung two side by side.

I bought 2 of these pretty fabric shower curtains at Target.

I also purchased 2 sets of rings at Target so I could hang it on the curtain rod. I figured since I was hanging new curtains I may as well get a new shower curtain too.  I wanted to match it somewhat to the curtains.  I found this one at TJMaxx.  The coral striped runner, also at TJMaxx, was on clearance.

These are the white curtains that were hanging before, and now the shower curtains are hung.  I never opened the white curtains or pulled the shades up, because even closed and down you could still see through them.

I think it looks much better now, I can open and close them if I want by just pulling them, they glide easily. 

View of the neighbors, but at least when the curtains are closed they can't see me now!

Pulled up the old rug and just put a runner down, makes the room look bigger.

A couple of new towels and a new decorative plant to brighten things up.

Then it was time to switch out the shower curtain.  The old shower curtain was aqua, gray and white, the new one is coral, beige and white.  Right now the shower curtain will do, hopefully next year the new doors will be on the shower stall.  They are very expensive and have to be custom made because of the size of the shower.  

I'm all done this room now and the total cost was $106.94.  

This is what I purchased on a budget to change my room:

Target - 2 Shower Curtains - $19.99 each

Target - 2 Sets of Shower Hooks - $7.49 each

TJMaxx - Shower Curtain - $14.99

TJMaxx - Striped Runner - $12.00 (clearance)

Marshall's - 2 Coral Bath Towels - $5.00 each (clearance)

Marshall's - 2 Coral Hand Towels - $2.50 each (clearance)

Kirkland's - Decorative Plant - $9.99 

Ladies Grab Your Paint Brushes!

Check out these little babies from Lowe's. I actually got them free with coupons from various magazines that I subscribe to, they were tear out coupons within the pages.  They are normally $2.00 each.  These little jars are sample colors.  So, if you are just painting something small and need a pop of color get these instead of a quart of paint which is about $18.00.  The color of these are - Herb Cornucopia (green) and Leather Satchel (gold).  Lowe's has a variety of colors in these jars and I think twice a year they change the selection.  

I decided to paint the last room in the house, the guest bathroom, after 7 years of ugly yellowed contractor white, I bit the bullet and finally did it.  This is the before shot of the shower/toilet area......

This is the sink area......

And a shot of the shower area.

The sink area newly painted......

And the toilet/shower area.  I used Valspar Ultra Paint and Primer in Smoked Oyster.  It's a griege color (a cross between grey and beige. 

The shower/tub area.  The shower curtain is from Ikea (Akerkulla) and was $14.99.  Small amount of paint and a big difference in the room.  Paint is cheap and a little bit of time is all it takes to transform a room.