DIY, DIY on a DIME, Home Improvement

A Tiny Piece of Paradise: Budget Bathroom Reveal

Good Morning Y’all from my own personal cozy cone. This morning greeted us here in South Carolina with the most blissful chill. The air is crisp and full of endless possibilities, and I am happily sequestered in my living room in front of a raging fire, wrapped up tight in my buttery-soft pink sweater with a hot cup-a-joe. Literally my definition of paradise on earth. I think my true Libra self is most at peace in the fall. When the trees boldly start showing off their colors with no abandon, I know it is MY season. My favorite season of all.

 I had vacation this month, which equated to me working a whopping 6 days, and let me tell you… RETIREMENT is for me, people. I am just kidding… sort of. I have literally had the best month and I have gone NOWHERE. My butt has stayed happily in Clinton, South Carolina for almost 17 days straight and it has been just the respite that my soul has needed. No planes. No road trips. No travel. Nada. It sounds crazy, but when you are on the go for a living you really just need time to press pause on that. To stay still instead of moving. Easier said than done when you are an antsy-pants like myself. 

That being said the past 17 days have been anything but idle. I cleaned the house (surprise surprise it already needs to be cleaned again. You would think we actually live here or something *rolling my eyes for effect), hand-stitched countless, tiny leaves for a baby mobile I am making (for my COUSIN – before y’all start that gossip chain), and I painted and installed board and batten in our third bedroom, with a lot of help my family… Emphasis on the A LOT. My poor Dad probably stifles a sigh every time I send him an idea for the house because he knows that will mean he is along for the ride. Along with all that crafty goodness, I was able to get many many other things done that I have been letting simmer on my own personal back burner. So I would call that a win. 

John and I have officially lived in this little house together for a year now, and I have to say it is quite the charmer. It really had the bones, to begin with, but man… have we put our own little spin on things. Every little project we do has the place feeling more like “ours.” I have been waiting patiently for the perfect time to reveal our latest project and I think we are there! So without further adieu, Ladies and Gentleman, I give you the tiny bathroom! No REALLY. The tiniest bathroom you have ever seen. This was honestly the room that gave me the most anxiety when we were thinking about buying the house because the footprint is “fun-size”. Yet somehow, they managed to fit a toilet, sink, and shower in there! The perfect trifecta!

Do you want to know the irony of it? That teensy room that I was worried about the most is now one of my favorite rooms in the house. Now let me show you “the why”.

This was the only picture we got when we went to buy the house. It makes you feel a certain kind of way, doesn’t it… claustrophobic? Maybe? Like it’s slowly closing in and we need to GET OUT before it eviscerates into nothing! Yeah? You felt that too?

Before

And here was after we moved in. As you can see it is pretty much bare bones. We didn’t have a toilet paper holder for at least 7 months. That is one of life’s joys is getting up to pee in the middle of the night and playing “Marco Polo” with the toilet paper that doesn’t talk back.
Eventually, I would love to tile in here. I have been toying with the idea of penny tile or small black and white hexagons. I want to go with a vintage look. I love tile that looks like it has been there for 100 years.
Gotta love that plastic sheeting for a backsplash :/

After

TADA it’s a bedroom! MAGIC! Just kidding. I am going to give you a sneak peek of our bedroom so you can see the “flow.”
I kept the vanity the same color because I felt like it complimented the dark hues in the wallpaper well. I did change the hardware to a vintage glass knob that I used all throughout the house.
Hi there Lovely.
It took me a very long time to find a gold mirror small enough for this space. It couldn’t be wider than 16 inches, but I eventually found something. I got this pill-shaped gold mirror from Bed Bath and Beyond. In the future, I plan to change the sink hardware to a matte black, but for now… silver it is! I was doing this reno with a very small budget that had very little wiggle room. I hung Orainege wallpaper in this room from Amazon. I absolutely love the pattern, but I will say the quality was more like contact paper. That is great for cleaning the bathroom but it is very difficult to hang. It took me several tries to get it right. The coloring in different batches is also different, so if you decide to order you need to order all at ONCE. Believe me, I learned this the hard way.
I found this beautiful reclaimed wood shelving on Etsy.
Do you recognize this light? Instead of buying a new one I took it down and spraypainted the hardware gold. It saved me close to $100!
I painted all of the trim in this room a bold blue-gray. I had some leftovers from an accent wall I did in the guest room and it pulled out the blue in the butterflies in the wallpaper so I just went with it. It was a bold choice… One that John wasn’t quite sure of, but we both loved the finished result.
“Marco!?” “Polo!”
I ended up taking a piece of wallpaper into the Sherwin-Williams store in town and having my wall paint matched to the creamy color in the base of the wallpaper. It has a very vintage feel and I love how it turned out.
“The End”

There you have it. A tiny transformed bathroom that no longer feels like it might just squish into nothing. And now I must sign off. The dogs have just about had enough of my writing for today, and my house currently is nestled under a mountain of fuzz from the decapitated elephant they keep fighting over… You know. We just live here 😉

Until next time,

XOXO,

Pill Shaped Gold Mirror $55

Reclaimed Wood Shelving $67.50

Wooden Light Switch Plate $14.99

Wallpaper $27.99 – I used two rolls to do that one wall

Glass Knob for Vanity $3.49 I got mine on a half off sale!

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DIY, DIY on a DIME, Home Improvement

The Painted Bungalow: Living Room Reveal

Raise your hand if you have been absolutely enveloped by the craziness of life lately… If you aren’t raising your hand right now – call me stat*. I need to know what you know! My life lately has been constant GO GO GO with a side of “okay… GO.” I swear I haven’t been to my house in an entire month. Thank goodness for roommates and husbands (only one in my case:P) to hold down the fort while I am on my seemingly never-ending trip. There is a light at the end of the tunnel though. I have much-needed vacation time in October and I plan to do absolutely NOTHING but be home. Do some laundry, take time to garden, heck maybe I will paint the whole house if I feel like it. The world will be my oyster for an entire seven days and y’all I am here for it.

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DIY, DIY on a DIME, Home Improvement

DIY on a Dime: Budget Bathroom Makeover

Well good morning y’all from my striped Magnolia sheets. John literally was an angel of mercy today and let me sleep until the audacious hour of 1:00 pm!!! I know it sounds totally wild but I am pretty sure my body was in desperate need of some decent rest because I NEVER sleep that long! We did the math and I traveled more than 10 hours yesterday with work and the commute back to “small-town-USA,” otherwise known as Clinton, SC.

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It's My Party and I'll Cry if I want To, Lifestyle, Love & Relationships

And They Lived Happily Ever After…

Good Morning from own personal nest of white sheets. I should be napping right now because I was up at 3:00am this morning flying 180 lovely souls from Tampa to Charlotte – but you know me… I only get tired when I HAVE to be awake. So since I have a moment to rest clearly I am wide awake as a barn owl at midnight. In any case, it seems like the perfect time to sit down and update you all on this little life of mine. I AM A MARRIED WOMAN! Shout it from the rooftops. Hallelujah!

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It's My Party and I'll Cry if I want To, Lifestyle

Let’s Talk about Sex, Baby. My Last Fling Before the Ring.

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Lifestyle

My Kentucky Bridal Brunch

I am currently sitting on a glorious king bed in Salt Lake City, Utah. I am what we “flight attendants” like to call a “door slammer,” today, which simply means I am doing ABSOLUTELY nothing other than being a room hobbit for the next 15 hours. Sounds pretty boring, I know, but for me, this is pretty much pure bliss right now. I don’t think I have gotten a free moment since January, and I didn’t think it was affecting me too much until I almost had an emotional breakdown over a cheese platter last weekend. Nothing like the price of a good Gruyère to throw a gal overboard. Expensive cheese and jokes aside, this season has been a tough one for my fiancé John and me. I am pretty sure we boarded the super-sonic, express train of life once we got engaged because there has been NO time. Just none. Y’all. I legit have a pile of laundry the size of a small walrus in my laundry room. My flowers are knocking on death’s door. I am actually pretty sure they have joined a permanent residency… let’s be real. John and I are closing on house number 2, and have currently turned the Charlotte living room into a moving distribution center. Not to mention the fact that I personally have AT LEAST 100 small things lefts to do for our wedding, all of which adds up to 1 very big stressor. Those are just a FEW of the things going on in our lives right now. Send up a little prayer for us folks…

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Lifestyle

Our Madison, Indiana Engagement Session

Can I get a show of hands from everyone who thinks that this year has gone by “lightning rod” fast? I honestly cannot believe that it is nearly June. I truly thought that this year would crawl by at a snail’s pace and here we are… nearly hitting the “two months away from the big day” mark. It seems like the closer that I get to our wedding day, the faster things move. There are so many fun activities coming up within the next few months, and I am just sitting here antsily waiting and trying to be patient – not really my strong suit.

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DIY, Home Improvement

The Painted Bungalow: Master Bedroom Reveal

Hello Lovelies,

It has been quite the whirlwind year for me. I have been managing life precariously, juggling going back to work with the airline, planning my wedding, and house hunting in Spartanburg, South Carolina, among MANY other things. To be quite honest I have been working my little tail off… As it turns out your girl is pretty high maintenance when it comes to weddings… go figure. Every time I finish a project I seem to have another idea. To be honest, I have been so non-stop busy that writing has been pretty much pushed to the back of my never-ending list. Until now.

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Love & Relationships

For this One, I Have Prayed.

There was a time when I was a little girl, always a romantic one… I took a number 2 pencil and I scrawled out all of the wishes I had for the man of my dreams. It wasn’t a whole lot really. I think there were four or five things on my list. Just the important stuff: Must be taller than me (not hard to be). Must be good with money. Must make me laugh. Must love Jesus. It was more of a prayer really, and multiple times in my life I remember pulling out that tattered, butterfly-thin sheet and clutching it to my heart – asking God to bring my most intimate prayer to fruition.

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DIY, Home Improvement

The Painted Bungalow: Kitchen Reveal

Well hey, y’all! I am being a true journalist today and I am coming to you from somewhere in the middle of Florida, typing away on our road trip back to my sweet Carolina home. I spent the past week in the Sunshine state applying for more jobs and just enjoying some beach solace. I can’t get enough of that little beach house y’all. There is a quote floatin’ around out there that says, “Love grows best in little houses just like this,” and that just about sums up how I feel about our little piece of paradise.

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