Little by Little

This little bathroom upgrade is coming along little by little, we are getting there I promise.  Here are some detail before and after pics to hold you over until we have more major things to show you - I just know you all are losing sleep as you have been anxiously awaiting which bathroom towels we are going to choose so just hold tight, that's coming soon.

Our little storage cabinet not only got a paint job it also received a cabinet hardware upgrade.  I couldn't bare to put these eyeball knobs back on so I opted to use more glass ones like I used on Silas' dresser that I had laying around, I love the sparkle.

The old white metal bathroom hardware is now replaced with shiny new brushed nickel.  I scored this towel bar at Homegoods for $7.99.

We also added a new hand towel ring, once again scored at Homegoods on sale - $5.99.  I kind of like the fact that they are not the exact same style, it might have looked a little too matchy-matchy.  Keeping with the same finish in brushed nickel brought the two together nicely.

Bye-Bye tooth brush holder, none of our guests want to look at our used tooth brushes while they wash their hands (at least I don't think so).

We still haven't installed our new faucet

We were in need of a new shower head since our old one was not only rusty but leaking too.  We went with the 3 cycle Moen Nurture shower head that is supposed to use 1/3 less water while still maintaining good water pressure.  I have to say that we have enjoyed our shower head so far, I cannot tell any difference in the amount of water pressure - actually it's better since it isn't leaking.  Changing the shower head was a very simple project.  First Justin unscrewed the old shower head.  Next, he removed the shower flange - it just popped out.  After popping the flange out he unscrewed the arm and screwed in the new arm - adding Teflon tape to both ends of the arm to waterproof the seal.  Finally he just added the new flange and screwed in the new shower head.  Super simple and major upgrade.

I don't know why but adding a little plant like this one has given so much life and atmosphere to this space.  I read somewhere that plants help to improve your overall mood and can help you feel relaxed, I just might agree with that after adding this little guy in there.

These are all really simple and affordable upgrades that anyone could do in their home.  It's amazing how the small details of a room can make a huge difference when it comes to style.  So what about you guys?  Any easy upgrades going on in your homes?  Comment and share with us!

Progress Makes Perfect

Some of our bathroom booty

Yesterday we shared with you a few items we purchased over the weekend for our main bathroom in our new house.  Today, we wanted to share with you the actual progress we are making in there.   We had big dreams of getting everything accomplished over the weekend but we just didn't quite have enough time in the day night to get there.  King Silas had his own agenda in mind and we were happy to oblige (you only get a small amount of time with them this age you know?) It was all we could do to get the bathroom back in a working order so we could take showers for church Sunday morning so we didn't walk into Easter service stinky and covered in paint - although I think a lot of people would have found that amusing.  So pretty much in standard with the rest of our house we will eventually be replacing everything in this room for the bathroom remodel.  We are starting with some easy less expensive things first and plan on working our way up as we go. It's amazing what a few changes will do to a room, just some paint will work wonders and then add some textile goodness and you are starting to really see progress.

I loved shopping for new things for our bathroom, starting with a new shower curtain rod, new shower curtain rings and a new shower curtain.

I was on a mission to find things that were priced right and also something that I loved.  Many times in my life I have purchased something just because it was on sale, when I really didn't love it.  So I made sure I did not impulse buy but waited until I found something that I truly loved -plus was a great price - it takes more time and patience but totally worth it in the end.  Here's a  round up on the cost with this upgrade:  

Curtain Rod - Target $12.99

White Fabric Shower Curtain - Homegoods $9 (on sale, originally $22) 

Patterned Fabric Shower Liner - Homegoods $12.99

Shower Curtain Hooks - Homegoods $5.99

I was very adamant about finding a fabric shower liner for our home after reading so many warnings and reports about the old tried and true vinyl polyvinyl chloride (PVC plastic) shower curtains.  There is a lot of info about how harmful to the air those bad boys can be, off gassing voc's and such.  If you are interested you can read the report from CHEJ.  You will be happy to know that many retail stores have caught wind of this as well and are offering a lot more fabric shower liner varieties as well as zero PVC ones.  The one I found was not only affordable but cute and all I have to do is wash it when it starts getting yucky and it will be good to go - just makes sense.

Quick Before

And After, looking all Misty Lake green and bright

We found this awesome curtain for our window and just had to have it.  This window is actually pretty small - we did buy a curtain rod for it and realized when we got home that it was too small, so the towel stays for now until we find something that fits.  I just like showing how we roll around here, very far from perfection.

Bathroom Weekend and Mini Rant

With all of the spare time we have we like to fill it with home improvements, this weekend it was filled with bathroom home improvements.  Honestly, we were able to go shopping for the bathroom and get it painted - pretty good considering everything else going on.  So here is a little round-up of some of the things you will be able to find in our bathroom pretty soon.

Just a quick glimpse of what state our main bathroom is in now (looking very beigeriffic, yes that's a word) ...

A soothing green/gray paint is now on our walls, we chose Misty Lake in Olympic Premium no VOC.  I remember this weekend how much I hate painting bathrooms.  In general, I love to paint, I've enjoyed almost every part of our house painting so far (with the exception of knotty pine).  Leading up to painting this bathroom I tried to convince myself it wouldn't be that bad but I was just fooling myself.  The room is not large, that's not the issue - it's the little nooks and crannies, corners and edges that hide and reveal themselves while you're painting.  I really think I deserve a medal for the acrobatics and contortions I performed while getting this room painted.  Craziness.  But, it's now finished and looks wonderful so I will live.  Only one more bathroom to go. Ok, finished with my rant now, you can put away your small violins.

We are going with a brushed nickel finish for all of our hardware and such like this hand towel ring (not the exact one we bought but very close).

We have a leaky shower head so we will be replacing it with this Moen Nurture 3 cycle one.  It's supposed to use less water and not sacrifice on water pressure - we will see.

We scored with our faucet purchase with this delta faucet - on sale at Lowes!  It was actually our favorite so we were pumped.

We still have dreams of installing a new granite tile floor and purchasing a new sink/cabinet.  The little finishes we purchased over the weekend will work wonders for now.  Stay tuned for more bathroom updates this week and also a few other updates that we were able to squeeze in.  Have a great week everyone!