We made it! A month and a half ago, my handy husband and I signed on for a seemingly crazy venture: to make over our master bathroom in six weeks with $300. As part of the One Room Challenge hosted by Calling it Home, we planned a makeover on a minuscule budget.
Everyone thought we were nuts. No-one thought we’d do it! (Actually, that’s not true: we had an amazing cheering section of wonderful friends and readers the whole way.) But with plenty of elbow grease and only one particularly horrible meltdown (guess whose?) we did it!
If you are joining me for the first time today: thank you and welcome! I’m so glad you’re here to toast the completion of this seemingly gargantuan project. I couldn’t be more thrilled with the result, and I really hope you’ll stay a while.
Come on in and see how things look now…
To truly appreciate the transformation, you need to journey back to where we started. It wasn’t always so bright and rosy…
Well it was rosy if you count cranberry-red as “rosy”. Looking back, all I can say is “yikes”!
Our to-do list read like a Greatest Hits of the DIY Category on Pinterest and our shopping list was a mile long! But we stretched our $300 budget a looooooonnnnngggg way. Here it is:
Paint $46.00 (Rona)
Shower Curtain $20.00 (HomeSense)
Coral Hand Towels $18.00 (Home Outfitters – Déco Découverte)
Bath Mat $13.00 (Ikea)
Krylon Copper Spray Paint $8.00 (Canadian Tire)
Rust-o-Leum Oil Rubbed Bronze Spray Paint $10.00 (Rona)
Shower Curtain Rod $20.00 (Giant Tiger)
Picture Frames $20.00 (HomeSense)
Vanity Hardware $35.00 (Rona)
Contact Paper $2.00 (Boutique du Dollar)
Vanity Accessories $45.00 (HomeSense)
Basket for Linen Cupboard $3.00 (Maxi)
Light Fixture by Hampton Bay $50.00 (Home Depot)
Wastepaper Basket $1.00 (Dollarama)
Mirror Framing $30.00 (Rona)
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TOTAL $321.00
Yes: we did exceed our $300 budget. By a mere $21.00. I think that’s pretty darn close.
So how did we manage to achieve such a drastic change with almost no budget and without making any major changes? Lots of DIY and shopping what we already owned! We already had primer and trim paint. The art is pieces that we already owned (the beautiful sunset photograph is by my voice teacher, Madeleine Palmer, and the two seashells are actually greeting cards I bought on Prince Edward Island).
I think one of my favourite quick little DIYs for this makeover was spray painting our towel rack and toilet paper holder. I used oil rubbed bronze paint, so that the finish would co-ordinate with that of the curtain rod, vanity hardware, and light.
Considering that Home Depot wanted me to spend $50 on exactly this towel rack, I think my $10 spray paint makeover was worth it. We’ll have to see how it holds up to daily wear and tear.
Decorating the linen cupboard was another of my favourite details. (And no: it will not be staying this prettified – it does need to function!) I put extra toilet paper rolls in the woven basket (which was a clearance find at our local grocery store, as was the cute little bowl for toiletries). We already owned the lotus votive holders and all the white towels.
I quite literally stalked the bathroom aisle of HomeSense week after week, waiting for those gorgeous copper and silver accessories to go on sale. When they finally did, I actually did a little dance. Not kidding. People gave me strange looks. Clearly they do not understand.
Hello, gorgeous!
The major DIY of this whole makeover was framing out the mirror. Before, it looked like this:
And just look at how much more finished it is with the frame:
Ooooh… Ahhhhh… Joking aside, it was a much bigger undertaking than we thought it would be. Those “I Framed My Mirror in 20 Minutes” posts on Pinterest are lying. Sadly, this is one of two projects that is actually not quite finished. We still have to caulk around the out and inside of the frame (to guard against moisture and for a more finished look), and there’s a few little touch-ups I’d like to make to the paint. Still, I’m pretty pleased with the difference!
I cannot possibly finish this nutty six-week venture without thanking several people. First of all, my lovely readers: thank you for sticking with me when the going got tough and the tough were, well, not so tough! Thanks to my parents for giving us the primer and ceiling paint. That was a huge help for our budget! To my friends who egged me on supported me and gave me decorating advice when it was looking bleak: thank you so, so much.
And most importantly, to my husband Erick, without whom there would be no framed mirror, no hung art, and no installed light. Without you, I would be rocking in the bathtub in fetal position clutching my paint brush, lit by the lonely glare of a naked light bulb.
You laugh, but I’m not kidding.
If I could offer one piece of advice to anyone planning a purely cosmetic makeover of a room (in other words: you aren’t ripping out tiling or flooring or changing major features), I would tell them to work with the room and not against it. You may have ugly brown tile like mine. Or perhaps your lighting is really sad (like mine was). Or maybe you just can’t afford to do very much at the moment. I’m here to tell you that IT’S OK. You don’t need a designer budget (or experience!) to come up with lovely decor.
Thank you again for riding this six-week decorating roller coaster with me! If you’d like to catch up on my other One Room Challenge posts, here they are:
Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | 6 Reveals to Watch For!
I’ll be back tomorrow with a special (early) Christmas DIY – stay tuned for it! For now, I’m off to bed where visions of coral and copper bathroom accessories will dance in my head. 🙂
*****
I love makeovers on a budget! It came out great, well done!
Thanks, Roxanne! I appreciate you taking the time to check it out.
The finished room looks absolutely wonderful! You each did an amazing job. I like your comment and advice to “work with the room”. This is SO true. I have also come to realize (after many, many renovation projects of my own) that it is always wise to make a plan – but don’t start right away. Think about it for a bit. If, after a week it still seems like a great plan, get started! Again, good job guys!
Thanks so much, Lorna! I’m so glad you like the final result, and I agree completely about making a plan and then sitting on it a while. I started planning and prepping this makeover back in the summer, so I knew more or less what I wanted when the actual start date rolled along.
Wow, can’t believe you did this for $300! What an amazing job! Congrats 🙂
To be honest, neither can I… And I think my husband doesn’t believe it either. 🙂
Looks amazing!!! Great job! I now want to do the same thing…almost like a tag lol.
Sounds good! If you have pics of your “leg” of the bathroom makeover journey, please share them! 🙂
You did such a great job! Love the light!
Thank you so much!
The bathroom looks great! I love the new light fixture and shower curtain. It’s amazing how much more modern the bathroom looks without having done any major demo work. Well done!
Thanks so much – it was certainly a challenge to update it without ripping out that god-awful tile. But at least now I can stand it until we have the $$ to replace i!
GREAT makeover! And I love the fact that you did the job on a “real” budget! Those posts or videos where they have budgets in the tens of thousands are not for me, I’m afraid! My favourite accessory is the rose-gold soap dispenser!
Thanks so much! I agree: re-doing a room with several thousand dollars isn’t really what I think of as a “budget” makeover.
Congratulations on completing the ORC! You did an amazing job with your master bath. I love how you were able to make such a big impact on a small budget!
Thanks so much, Tee!
I love the colors you used in here, gorgeous! That light is adorable in the ceiling. It feels like such a bigger bathroom now. Crazy what changing the colors can do. Great job!
Thanks, Emily! It does make a big difference and it was so nice to wake up to such a bigger-looking bathroom!
Amazing transformation!!! We’ll done!
Thanks, Lianna!
Wow, what a difference! I love the color scheme you decided to go with and the paint lightens and brightens the room so much.
Thanks so much, Jess!
WOW!!!! It’s so much brighter and light! The pops of coral are beautiful. Well done, especially with $300!
Thanks, Sara! I’m so glad you like it. Thanks for stopping by!
So pretty! It is inspiring to be able to make such a big change on a small budget.
Thank you, Carolyn!
Makeovers on a budget are my type of makeovers, and you did awesome on yours! I love the way your bathroom turned out.
Thanks so much, Jenny!
Thank you for sharing at the Thursday Favorite Things blog hop
Thanks for stopping by, Betty!
Oooh lovely job! I don’t even want to know what my numbers are at at this point. It’s obvious you really maximized your budget without sacrificing style.
Thank you so much, Corinna!
Sarah!!! You did such a fantastic job!!! The bathroom looks SO much brighter and I love that soap dispenser (I would have totally done a happy dance in the aisle!). Framing the mirror really did make a huge difference. Great, great job!!! (And $21 over budget is pretty much keeping with the budget 🙂 )
Thanks so much Erin! I’ve really appreciated all the support our little blogging group has given along the way. I loved seeing your makeover, too!
The room looks great! I love the mirror frame and shower curtain. Thanks for linking up to our first Inspired By You party! See you next Sunday! 🙂
Thanks for hosting and stopping by!
I love it! Thank you for sharing your thrifty makeover at the Thursday favorite Things blog hop. watch for your feature tomorrow xo
Thanks, Katherine! I’m so excited!
This looks beautiful! It has come a long way from the cranberry paint. Love the coral color and the light fixture. Framing the mirror makes such a difference.
Thank you so much, Tiffany!
What a big difference you made in here. It looks great! Thanks for linking up to the inaugural “Inspired by You” link party!
Thank you so much, Angie!
The fact that you only spent 300.00 is the WOW factor! I always say that paint is a game changer and you proved it to me again:) Good job!
Thank you, Sherry! It isn’t easy to stay on-budget, but careful shopping is the key.
You did an amazing job with that budget. Seriously impressive. Perfect example of the power of paint.
Thank you so much, Linda! And thanks for hosting such a fabulous event. I really enjoyed my first ORC!