Painting, Moulding And Artwork Oh My

It’s week three of the $100 Room Challenge. If you remember I actually joined the challenge just last week. In that post I shared that I am making over the upstairs bathroom. So I have the additional challenge of getting a room completed in just two weeks because the last week is the all-important REVEAl. So let’s get started on Painting, Moulding And Artwork Oh My!

Painting, Moulding And Artwork Oh My

This past week I completed 90% of the painting needed for the room. I was reminded of how much I dislike painting when it is 100 degrees and HUMID outside. But an old cabinet and a Victorian wicker shelf stand needed a coat (or three) of white spray paint.

I had the spray paint, cabinet and shelf stand already so absolutely ZERO dollars was spent on this portion of the makeover.

Then there was the bathroom itself. After I washed down the walls it really became evident that not just the walls would need painting but the ceiling too. I knew that the $100 budget was probably all going to go towards buying three frames/mats for the artwork as well as the moulding for the ceiling and to surround the mirror.

There would be no budget for paint.

So I needed to get creative.

Out in the garage I had two cans of leftover white latex paint from previous projects. They each had just 25% of the paint left in the cans. Since they were the same brand and formula I mixed to the two together. It would be just enough white paint to cover the walls and the moulding.

Which left the ceiling. I surveyed the half of dozen other leftover paint we had. My eyes settled upon “Cumulus”. We had painted our downstairs guest bathroom this soft aqua shade when we first moved in.

Given that we updated this bathroom last year to crisp white this was a can of paint I didn’t even need for touchups.

A quick tour around Pinterest and I found a few images of bathroom ceilings that featured soft shades of blue and aqua.

GAH! The prep work and clean up took twice as long as the actual painting. But the bathroom ceiling now sports a soft shade of aqua blue and the walls are a crisp white. Perfect for a room without a window.

The moulding was also painted and just needs to be installed.

All The Eye Candy

What is really going to make this bathroom pretty and cheerful is the artwork. I had three art prints that I had purchased when I had visited the Getty Museum and the Barnes Foundation. They needed framing. I quick jaunt to the big three craft and hobby stores didn’t provide any options that I liked.

I wanted the frames to be a soft gold to match the existing hardware as well as follow suit of major museums. This is the original of the print I want to hang over the commode.

While at Target for another project I did a quick stroll past the houseware clearance endcaps.

Although online these two prints are still regular price, they were on clearance in-store.

The large gold framed flower print was marked down to $17.48 and the smaller frame was $7.48. I needed two of those. I used my Target debit card and received 5% off. The total for three frames was: $30.81

I also needed matting for the prints. Hobby Lobby has pre-cut matting for a 16″ x 20″ frame for $4.99. I used a coupon and got it for $2.99.

The two smaller prints needed custom sized matting. It was $8.00.

Grand total for artwork: $41.80

Gulp! That is over 40% of my budget!

How Will I Ever Stay Within Budget

Luckily, three happy things occurred.

When I cleaned out the cabinet under the bathroom sink I found the one piece of missing door hardware. It just needed a nut which we had in our extra nuts and bolts jar.

In the back corner of the cabinet, I also found an empty glass soap bottle I had forgotten about. This item had been on my list to purchase.

Then when I went to go put the remaining aqua ceiling paint back out in the garage I spied the two aqua rugs I had put in our garage sale pile. They would work!

The Fastest Update

I also changed out the two “soft white” ie YELLOW light bulbs (shown on the left) and updated them with “daylight” bulbs (shown on the right. It made a HUGE difference in the space. It no longer looks grungy.

So What’s Left

Installing the moulding. We purchased the moulding at Lowe’s. It is very thin and simple. So it won’t overpower the small space. It cost $5.50 for an 8-foot section. We needed a total of 5 pieces. Thankfully they offer a 10% discount for Veterans.

Moulding total: $24.75

Creating a shower curtain. I wanted a sheer linen type of shower curtain. I didn’t want the curtain to overwhelm the small space or distract from the artwork. As with previous bathrooms we’ve redone, I like to hang my curtain high. Which means using curtain panels to create a custom look. I’ll be using the existing shower curtain rod and rings. A quick look at the budget and it became evident that I would not be able to purchase new curtain panels.

Budget Spent: $66.55

Remaining money: $33.45

I went to our local thrift shop and purchased two white “linen look” curtain panels that were $3.00 each.

I also went to the Dollar Store and purchased a plastic liner. $1.00

Remaining budget: $26.45

So now it’s time to head to the sewing machine and create something like this:

Next week will be the reveal. (I hope.)

Laura

Other $100 Room Challengers