The Bathroom is Finished (for Now)

Happy Monday! How was your weekend? The car is fixed, but it cost a pretty penny. On the plus side, I found curtain fabric for our back/family/TV room and had a late night baking extravaganza on Friday. I'll share more about all of this later this week or next week.

In the meantime, how about a reveal of the second bathroom? We put the finishing touches on it over the weekend. Here's a refresher of the bathroom before I went to work.

And here's the mini-inspiration board I created.

Here's how it looks all prettied up!

As planned, I hacked a Home Depot roller blind using these instructions from Design*Sponge. It was super easy. Just be sure to cut and sew straight lines and that the fabric is level with the roller. It would probably also help if I centered the pattern with the roller, but I'm OK with it not being perfect.

Instead of the West Elm striped shower curtain, I found a single gray curtain panel from Target. Stripes ended up being a little too much with the curtain fabric and the gray panel was less expensive. Win! You can't tell from the picture, but the curtain has a pebbled texture that adds a little more interest to the room.

Artwork was really inexpensive because the picture frame and matting were already on hand. John's Dad graciously printed my photograph of The Alhambra.

The biggest purchase was the West Elm zig zag bath mat at a whopping $31. You can also see that the curtain panel is a little too long. Maybe I'll hem it once I make the curtain panels for the back room. And I had to share my silver sparkle TOMS.

Here's the cost breakdown:

Bath mat from West Elm: $31

Curtain panel from Target: $27

Shower curtain liner from Target ($4, cut in half): $2

Tension curtain rod from Home Goods a while back: $5

Roller blind and universal window bracket from Home Depot: $10

Waverly Modern Essentials fabric in Solar Flare (Onyx/Lilac) from Joann's (on sale for $10/yard): $5

Picture frame and matting (already had): free

Printed Spain picture (thanks, Chuck!): free

Vase and wine glass for flowers (already had): free

Total: $80

Not too shabby! We might still tweak the bathroom by painting the walls or changing the mirror, but I'm happy with it for now. 

Post edit: My Mom also reminded me that we need a shower rack to hold soap, shampoo, etc. for guests. I also remembered that we need additional towel hooks. We have a towel bar for the hand towel, but nothing for bath towels. I'll be sure to get those by the next time we have overnight guests.

Pin It

Watching Our Garden Grow

How was your weekend? No major updates on the bathroom yet. I bought a curtain panel from Target and the to-be-hacked roller blind from Home Depot, but stopped there. Most of our efforts were concentrated on the outside instead of primping the bathroom. If you're really curious, here's how the bathroom looks with the new shower curtain:

So back to the yard. It looks a million times better thanks to the help of my parents! My Dad loves working in the yard, so I like to think we gave him an early Father's Day present for "letting" him help. Here he is transplanting a hosta from the back of the house to the front. He also moved the salvia plants over to make room for the hosta.

Before Pictures

Before I show you the rest of the fruits of our labor, how about some "before" shots? These were taken in April during the final walkthrough.

Not too much going on in the front, except for John. The small evergreen on the left is still close to that size. The tree in the middle has filled out a little and the burning bush on the right has completely exploded with greenery! There are also some salvia, black-eyed susan, and other plants that have since sprouted.

Beginnings of the hosta that eventually found its way to the front. 

We are also proud owners of the world's largest hedge. Well, maybe not, but it's definitely too big for the house. We're considering different options for this area and they all include cutting down the hedge. We might add some different bushes, like hydrangea. Or maybe we'll lay some brick for a patio area. Regardless, it will probably be a next summer project.

The backyard also has a berm, which is a raised flower bed. (Not a burial ground.) Don't worry, the weeds were evicted Memorial Day weekend. The purple flowers are Walker's Low Catmint. Just wait for the "after" pictures of the berm!

After Pictures - Front

Let's start with the front of the house again. To the right of the front door is this area. I can't remember the name of the plant in the back. They have some small pink flowers. In the middle are black-eyed susans. See how there are two larger plants on the outside of the picture and two smaller ones in the middle? The black-eyes susans were spreading towards the grass so my Dad split them in the front and transplanted them in the middle. The small pink flowers in the front are impatiens.

The area to the left is still a work in process. The bright green plant is the hosta and the purple plants on each side are salvia, which already grew in the bed. We My Dad planted some begonias down in front. Here's a little close-up:

After Pictures - Back



The biggest difference is obviously in the berm! The weeds are (mostly) gone and the catmint has been moved to the back of the mound. On the top are all sorts of herbs and veggies. Since this is our first real garden, we went all out: basil, Greek oregano, sage, tomatoes, red and green peppers, zucchini, and watermelon. Most of the plants were less than $2 each (sometimes for a little 4-pack), so we won't go broke if a few croak.

We also added some pops of color in the back with these hanging flower baskets.

One of the main purposes of the trip was to bring some rose plants from my parents' yard. My Dad planted them shortly after they arrived on Saturday and I think they're still in transplant shock. The weather has been slightly cooler and we've made a point to water them daily. We even watered with rose food on Saturday. Hopefully we'll have a successful "after" picture soon!

This pink rose bush replaced the hosta plant that was moved to the front.

Here is the climbing rose with some extra begonias.

Since we're pretty new at gardening, it's exciting to watch everything grow. Hopefully in a few months we'll have some fresh-picked veggies from our garden! How about them savings?!

Are you growing a vegetable or herb garden? Have any gardening tips to share? If your thumb isn't so green, what are your favorite fruits or vegetables to enjoy in the summer?

And a big "thank you" again to my parents for their help!

Pin It

Let the Decorating Begin!

I could tell you about our push lawn mower or the conclusion of my cell phone saga, but it's Friday. Plus, something moved up on the priority list. My parents are visiting this weekend! They're bringing some rose plants from their yard to help our garden grow. While they don't expect the house to be put together, I think I can get one room ready on short notice. Our small second bathroom:

Since my parents might be staying with us, having the second bathroom ready will make getting ready in the morning much easier. However, it doesn't have much privacy. It's difficult to tell, but the windows are clear glass. To make it even better, the bathroom looks out to our neighbor's backyard. Here's my quick inspiration board:

We bought some brown blinds from Target two weekends ago, but they ended up being the wrong size. Plus, they're a little too dark for the room. After some thought, I'm going to attempt a custom roller blind using that purple-y Waverly fabric I bought from Joann's a while back. Design*Sponge has an excellent tutorial and it doesn't seem too difficult. Here's how it might look. The roller will be installed under the window trim.

With so much flair on the window, the shower curtain will have to be a little more subdued. Right now, I'm thinking gray to pull from one of the colors in the fabric. The gray and white striped shower curtain is from West Elm. Maybe we'll go striped or maybe we'll find one in solid gray.

To play off the global vibe of the window, I'm thinking about framing a picture from my time studying abroad in Spain. That's one of the fountains at the Alhambra in Granada. We have some extra frames lying around, so it will only cost as much as the print.

So what do you think? I'll post some post-decorating pictures after the weekend.

Anyone else have parents visiting this weekend? Or are you visiting them? We're going to celebrate an early Father's Day and I plan on baking some carrot cake cupcakes.

Pin It