Master Bath Remodel

After updating the kids' bathroom, my thrown together bathroom has been driving me crazy. It's one of those things that is hard to be motivated to update because it still functions...just isn't pretty. I kept waiting for the $2K to be able to do a real remodel (move the tub and shower etc.) but come on...never gonna happen. So step one was painting the bathroom. I went with a light gray. It's about 25% lighter than what I put in the kids bathroom. Dave hates the color b/c in his colorblind world it look too much like green and red. He'll just have to believe me that it's gray and not red...bwahaha, I do enjoy messing with his mind though!!

So after the walls were painted we spray painted the vanity and light fixtures black and added new nobs. We got rid of the big mirror that the contractors put in 15 years ago and put two black mirrors. We left it at that for about a week and I HATED it. It was WAY to harsh with the big black mirrors. I was ready to take a sledge hammer to the whole bathroom.

I called in the troops (my artist friend, Jeri) and told her my plans for going berserk in the bathroom with heavy tools. She talked me out of it and promised that with a few accents and new towels I would love the bathroom. I was doubtful. Plus spending day after day walking around stores to choose the perfect accents and towels did not sound fun. If I go shopping, I want to get the perfect thing, all at one store, all of it. I don't want to take it home and try it out and return it. (I hate doing returns!) Luckily for me, she loves it and she stayed happy and positive as I got progressively grumpy and more irritated with each stop. We all need friends like that.

In between store hopping I was also running into troubles on what to do with the window in the bathroom. I have always HATED the window right by the bathtub. Who wants a big ole window in the middle of their bathroom?!?

We had slatted blinds up, but those were so dirty and flopped around so much that they were a bigger pain than it was worth. Plus, they never closed all the way so you had to be pretty quick toweling off and hope nobody went in the backyard.

I wanted to put window film over them, but that was going to end up being about $100. No way was I spending $100 bucks on that ugly window. Next I went to Home Depot and got a $5 can of spray frost. It worked...but wasn't pretty. It just looked like the window was fogged up or super dirty.

So I headed to IKEA and got their flat hanging room dividers/window curtains. Those hung weird and looked terrible. So I was now down $25 and thinking I should have just got the window clings.

Then I remembered my time in Russia and how they would put paper on the edges of their windows in the winter to prevent drafts. I did some research and came up with an awesome idea all on my own!!!

I took the dividers from IKEA and cut them down to size. Then I made a cornstarch mixture that I painted on the back of the dividers to use as a type of glue. Then I stuck it on the window. PERFECTION!!!

They have stuck up there and aren't peeling at all. The best part is that if I ever need to take them down, I just pull it off and wipe with a washcloth. WAHOOO!!! I think it looks amazing! I have the privacy I want without the big dusty blinds and it only cost me $20 for the dividers and $5 for the wasted frost...I'm not counting the man hours that went into the project or the running around. Next time it'll be super easy though!!

After the shopping (6 different stores, 4 different returns required, 3 days), I wanted to go home and build a bonfire with everything we just purchased. Instead, Jeri put me down for a nap with Ivy and began her magic. You'd think throwing a couple of branches in a vase would only take a couple hours...at most. WRONG! Two days later my bathroom was finished. Jeri was right...a few nice accents and I really doLOVE my bathroom!!