Wednesday, June 25, 2008

My frugal bathroom makeover

Some of you may have seen the "before" of our dilapidated '50s bathroom. For those who haven't, I'm sorry that I don't have a photo to show you, but it would have broken the lens.

I dumpster-dived a massive armload of fabric wallpaper samples from the architecture firm near a downtown bank. I don't usually prowl the dumpsters, but they was lying right on top on a pile of clean-looking magazines, so I backed the car up and loaded them in. I also found the green rug that lives on our porch. Just your basic, industrial-grade rug, but it's better than nothing.

I debated for a long time what to do with the samples. One day last week when we were having guests over for our dinner party, I decided to tackle the bathroom. Hubs and I have been meaning to repaint it since we moved in, but good intentions don't make for time off work, and I don't feel confident enough of my painting/sanding skills to tackle it alone.

So we used upholstery nails to nail the samples in a (hopefully) artistic way around the bathroom. We also made a Home Depot run to buy knobs for the cabinet, which didn't have any, and I rehung a couple of framed, pressed flowers between the sort of awful mirrors. I hated those mirrors at first, but now I've embraced the whole gold thing and they are, unbelievably, growing on me. I picked up on the gold again with new switch plates and a thrifted gold toilet paper holder. So, here it is, in all its dubious glory!


The picture is sort of yellow because we don't get much light in the bathroom, but the wallpaper is unfortunately sort of yellow anyway. This might not be my dream "after," but it's already such a relief to both of us not to have to look at quite so much of that wallpaper, and when your decorating budget is $5, you can't be choosy!

So, I still have a big pile of same-sized fabric samples in various prints and fabrics. I'm considering making a really big, mismatched quilt, which shows how (not) crafty I am. Does anyone more blessed have some more practical ideas?

2 comments:

cakeybakes said...

Throw Pillows! Easy to make with your new sewing machine! Also, sachets for your drawers and closets. The BR looks awesome!

Laura said...

I had thought about throw pillows. I have some really cute beachy-looking samples in a polyester blend. Do you think they'd hold up if I used them out on the (covered) porch? Glad you like the "remodel!"