A blog that features my easy-to-moderate, inexpensive, do it yourself home improvement projects in an effort to transform my 1,000 sq ft bungalow built in the 1970's into something with lots of cottage chic/shabby chic/victorian chic/traditional chic style.

Friday, July 9, 2010

Transforming the Bathroom From Eeek to Chic

Welcome to my hall bathroom. Myself, my husband and our three children live in a 1,000 square foot 1970's "villa" that is in dire need of transformation. However, until our income gets a strong infusion of new blood, all the transforming will have to be done by me and on a shoe-string budget. This is quite a scary prospect when you consider I have little to no experience. My husband hasn't any more than I and zip-zilch-zippo desire. My oldest is a 20 year old man-child with many disabilities so he's no help (this is his bathroom, by the way--and yes, that's why it looks so incredibly grungy). My 15 year old daughter isn't interested in anything but her headphones and FB profile. Last but not least is my 8 year old son who would happily weild the five pound hammer for me if he could only lift it with his Betty-Spaghetti arms.


However, since the fan has been hanging at that jaunty angle for nearly two years, allowing mucho black mold to build up everywhere your average toothbrush and elbow grease can't dislodge it, we needed to take some action. If deciding to replace the fan six months after it breaks, than returning said fan out of pure DIY terror a week later, than letting it slide to the back of the brain box for another year, than buying another fan that seemed more do-able six months ago and looking at it where it sat on the garage mini freezer every time you went out could be described as "taking action" . . .


My oldest son (oft referred to as The Big Guy) has what I affectionately call "Sasquatch Toes". They are wide. They are broad. They are enormous. Apparently he decided to hang them from the overflow thingimajig one too many times and it has become dislodged. Add one overflow thingimajiggies to the list of purchases for this on-the-cheap bathroom transformation.

The grout is yucky. The mirror--one of those huge ones that covers the whole upper wall--is showing gray around the corners. The countertop, when cleared of the mold that thrives in the inches upon inches of water The Big Guy inflicts on it every single night when brushing his large and copious teeth (okay, I lied--he has just as many as the rest of us) isn't too bad. Since we can't afford to replace that, anyway, it stays. In this photo, one can see that the area across from the sink/toilet is fully taken up by the tub shower. Good to know (I guess?)




The fixture above the mirror is old, ugly and not in good working order. Since we found a replacement fixture at Costco with three alabaster shades for an unbelievable price, it's out! (And to think I had to talk The Spouse into it. He'll know how right I was to spend the pittance of money on it when it's up.)


The above photo shows where we were one hour into renovations. We plan to paint it a new wall color (we scored a can of blue paint on the returns table for a buck) as the color I painted it when we moved in is really just too purple. We will put a beaded board wainscoting on the end wall under the window, paint up all the trim, including the sink cabinet which is grody to the max, replace the light fixture, remove the large mirror and cut out a piece of it to fit into a garage sale frame, replace the toilet paper holder with one that juts out, allowing The Big Guy's big hands to get ahold of some (the old one is set into the wall--the one we are covering up with beaded board), clean the lime scale (or perhaps calcium deposits?) on the toilet and floor (did I mention that everyone refuses to use this bathroom but The Big Guy--there is good reason for this) and replace that bathtub overflow with a new thingimajiggie.
And we will do this with our sanity intact, and all for under $100!!! (Oh, what the hey, make it $75!)
Check back in a reasonable amount of time for me to make these changes pretty much all by myself to see the newly transformed hall bath!

14 comments:

  1. i can't wait for the end product!!! hurry!! don't keep me in suspense any longer!!

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  2. Can't wait!!! We did a DIY bathroom makeover a few years ago and I totally screwed up the flooring. Most of the time, the mistake hides under our nice wooden bathroom stool, but every time I clean the floor (not as often as I should) I get mad at myself.

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  3. This bathroom most deff needs new flooring and a new faucet set and a new tub, etc., but that's just not in the budget right now. Another blog post for another year, I suppose.

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  4. Very cool! I can't wait to see how it turns out!

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  5. I too am a DIYer, when I have time. I have tiled, painted, nailed etc. And as much as m husband says he would like to change this or that, I am usually the initiator of the project.

    I like this place! Way to go!

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  6. Love the line ''check back in a reasonable amount of time'', you're so hilarious. Can't wait to see the transformation - you're amazing!

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  7. How awesome! I'm trying to redo my bathroom too! It's extremely scary! =) I can't wait to see how yours looks when it's done! =)

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  8. Goodness, looks eerily enough like my hall bath! Maybe seeing the finished product will entice me to get to work too! All 3 of my bathrooms have that huge mirror....I would really LOVE to cut them down.
    Waiting anxiously for the next installment~
    ♥,Lilly

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  9. I think we've done some much DYI-ing in the last two months that my eyes are permanently crossed. Have fun!

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  10. I'm impressed--and somewhat tired just thinking about it. I wanna see the final pics soon!

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  11. You? Are awesome!

    Just saying!

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  12. I love the title of this post! Eeek to Chic, perfect! DIYers rock!

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  13. Can't wait to see the 'after'!! Glad you got that wallpaper down ;)!

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  14. I love my DIY projects around here... of course, some never got past the "Eek" phase!

    I looked on my calendar for this elusive "reasonable amount of time" and it's not showing up... :)

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