Master Bathroom Makeover

I love this next redo. This is our current master bathroom. The cabinets were still in decent shape, and we didn't have a lot of money to make it over. We didn't want to mess with moving any plumbing, or redoing the floor which the previous owner had replaced not long before we moved in. 

But I was adamant that we had to do SOMETHING, because the sink--your the basic cultured marble--was cracking and discoloring. I had tried everything to make it look clean without success. I thought of lots of potential ideas for replacing the countertop, but with it being only one sink and a long empty counter to the right, it made it impossible to find an inexpensive solution that wouldn't look really amateur. I was stumped for a good while.

 But after a few months of searching craigslist, I had the best piece of luck! A man was selling a bunch of the same type of sinks, and happened to have one that was an almost exact match to my old one, except no cracks! Sure, I would have loved to have new marble or granite countertops in a perfect world, but I was seriously thrilled to have found a match that worked great and saved us SO much money!

 Interestingly, when we took down the mirror, there was all of this strangeness going on behind it. You never know what you'll get with DIY, that's for sure! We took down the mirror and I then realized how expensive mirrors that size are. It's crazy! Instead of buying one, we bought a mirror cutting kit and cut down the old mirror and put it into a frame I found and repainted from Goodwill.

 The last thing I decided to do was paint the cabinets. I am a big fan of making my own chalk paint and using it on furniture. It is cheaper than the paint you buy ready made, and is fantastic! I'll post a link to my favorite recipe. Just click here!  I love white cabinets usually, but I went with a custom blue I mixed in the end because I don't think chalk paint stands up to as much scrubbing as usual paint, and I didn't want it to look dingy. I did wax it, and the great news about chalk paint is that it is easy to touch up and you can rewax it whenever you want!

 Oh, I almost forgot! I really love planking and convinced my husband to try it out in our bathroom. I only wanted to go up about 3/4 of the wall and wanted to top it off with molding, but we still haven't finished that part. That's the only downside to DIY ha!

 We updated the hardware with some pulls found from Home Depot. I love Restoration Hardware's cabinet hardware, so I was really happy to find some "look alikes" for a MUCH lower price. Here's a close up.

In the close up you can also see how much woodgrain is visible. I know I was worried about that before painting, but I think it looks great! Not too noticeable, and I think that has a lot to do with the nature of chalk paint and wax!

 I was really convinced that I was going to splurge on the lighting, because it can make such a big difference! We got rid of the old lights, which I always call Miss Piggy's Hollywood lights, and I was looking for a replacement for a few weeks, but found myself cheaping out again. Because that's who I am. I apologize not for my cheapness. It just makes me feel even better when I figure something else out and it ends up great and costs so much less. This light fixture was on an endcap all alone at Home Depot and was clearanced. Absolutely nothing wrong with it! It was a major find!

 I was a little stumped about what to put in that small space between the tub and cabinet. I figured I'd have to get a cute hamper or something, but I wasn't thrilled by the idea because I knew it would look clunky, and I don't like laundry in a bathroom. Then I chanced upon that little bench for $3 at Goodwill one day! I didn't know if it was the right size, but for $3 I took a chance and it fit PERFECTLY. There may have been happy dancing. Not by me you understand. Ahem.

 Ah yes, the faucet! We replaced that as well! My great deal on this was that I found it on Amazon under their "used" section. That's one of my favorite secrets. Sometimes people return things to Amazon, and there's nothing wrong with them. Amazon then will occasionally relist those items heavily discounted. And that, my friends, is how I got this beauty for 3/4 of its list price! The description said it had dents, so I was a bit leery. But when I got it, there wasn't a dent in sight. I finally figured out why it had probably been returned. They show it as having different handles! I actually loved the vintage knobs, but the other person probably returned it because it had been mislabeled!

And that, my friends, was our master bathroom makeover on, you guessed it, a major budget. I still love it to this day! It feels very fresh and pretty!