Bathroom Overhaul.

For quite some time we had been planning on remodeling our downstairs bathroom. I hated everything about it. It felt cramped, the floor tiles were not my style, plus they were cracked, and the grout was all broken up. The toilet was old. The vanity and cabinet were too large for the bathroom plus they were outdated. I attempted to paint the vanity and countertop a year ago to make it a little more pleasing until I could decide what we wanted to do with it.

Then one Friday while I was off work, I dropped Rosalie off at school and wandered to Home Depot. I fell in love with a vanity that was way on clearance and then everything else just spiraled from there.

We started with scraping the ceilings. The old ceilings were popcorn. I hated them because the popcorn creates shadows and makes the room darker. After the ceilings were scraped, Kevin had to sand before we could paint. Warning, if you do this to your ceilings, it is VERY VERY dusty.

THE FINAL PRODUCT!

 

Picking paint was another task for me. I wanted gray... but I didn't know there could be so many shades of it! The color I settled on ended up being beautiful and bright. It is a tannish-gray. It is called "Sandstone Cove". We decided to go with Behr paint and primer in one to save time since we had so much sanding to do.

After the walls were all painted we decided to install our vanity prior to tiling the floor simply so that Kevin could redo all of the plumbing and get the mirror and new light fixture in. Since that was the last we could do over that weekend's time, we decided to put it back in that way we could at least use it until next weekend since this is our commonly used bathroom.

We decided to downsize the mirror and do a framed in mirror. Literally half of this wall was mirror and it was just a plain mirror. We also downsized the light fixture. The old one had 5 valances and it looked like it was crammed in there.  As you can see we also updated our outlet covers!
 
We also decided to go with a much smaller wall cabinet. The one that was in there was huge, and even though it gave us lots of storage, it really made the bathroom look much smaller and it felt like you were going to hit your head off of it when you walked through the door.

 

 

 
 
The next weekend the floor began. We started by taking out the vanity, again. Then Kevin began smashing up the tiles.

After we began removing the tiles, we discovered that an area around the bath tub that the grout had cracked and water had leaked under the tiles and there was mold. So losing a day of work, we decided it was best to rip out the old subfloor (backerboard) and lay new. Thankfully the mold was only on the backerboard.

 

 Once the subfloor was finally down, I could begin laying my tiles! Laying our own tiles only set us back $99, minus cost of materials. We had to buy a wet saw. We bought the cheapest one Home Depot had and it did the job just fine! We have 3 other rooms/areas that need tiled so we will definitely get our money out of it.

We originally planned on matching the tile with the tile we had done in the kitchen.. but unfortunately Home Depot discontinued it. We decided to go with these awesome new tiles. They look like real hardwood, except it's porcelain tile which is much more durable for a bathroom! It also matches great against our kitchen tile.

We had decided we wanted to grout in the evening that way it would have overnight to dry and since I didn't get done laying the tile until late in the evening, we decided to hold off of on the grout.

So the next morning we began with the trim and wainscoting. Our base trim is actually composed of 4 different pieces of trim stacked together. We bought the Cape Code wainscoting from Home Depot and finished it off with chair rail. I caulked in all the nails and all the little gaps and then painted. The only piece that we didn't put on at this point was the quarter round that goes at the bottom that way I could grout tight against the trim.

That night I began grouting. I won't lie, I was nervous, but the grouting turned out to be the easiest part and it was very rewarding to see all my hard work on the floor coming together! Please note that I did somewhat know what I was doing. I had a friend that tiled our kitchen and taught me the ropes.. plus I watched countless youtube videos.

We let the grout sit for 16 hours (per the bag's instructions) and after that, it was time for the finishing touches. We installed our vanity back in, installed a new toilet, and caulked around the bath tub and the toilet. I spent probably a good hour just caulking around the bath tub because I wasn't chancing water getting down under the tiles again!

The finishing result of the bathroom is something I couldn't be happier with!  With a new vanity with a granite top, new mirror, new medicine cabinet, new toilet, new paint (we even splurged for the more expensive paint), paint supplies, porcelain tiles, tiling supplies, new fixtures, and wainscoting only set us back about $1600. Had we of hired someone to do everything we did, I can only imagine how much more it would have been.

The final before and after reveal...

 

Tips for making a small bathroom appear larger:

• Remove any popcorn ceilings. These will create shadows and make the room appear smaller and look darker.
• Choose a lighter color of paint.
• Opt for a smaller medicine cabinet.
• When in doubt, always go with white. This was our reason we chose a white vanity and the wainscoting. It brightens up the room and makes it appear much larger!

 

more budget printables

More printables for your budget binder! Click the highlighted word in each section to print. To see the original post with my budget binder  printables, click here.

 

First is an income spreadsheet that was requested by someone with multiple incomes!

 

Next is a yearly progress spreadsheet for student loans. If you are like me and have multiple student loans, this is a great way to keep track of your yearly progress on individual loans.

 

 

hunting printables

Free hunting printables.. perfect for a little boy's room or nursery! I created these for a friend..then we found out she was having a girl! So now I'm sharing! Simply click the links below each picture to download PDF file!

 download

 download

download

DIY Fall Pumpkin Blocks

After discovering how mod podge and tissue paper make such a neat design, I became obsessed. I created these bad boys. No painting required!

What you will need:
4 pieces of scrap wood
Tissue paper
Construction paper
Mod podge
Floral wire
Burlap
Stencil
Sticks (I purchased mine at Michaels. I'm not sure what they were called but they were a few inches long and I just had my husband cut them with saw)

Start with your tissue. Cut it into strips. I did mine about 1 inch wide. Mod podge it to the wood. Apply a layer of mod podge over top.
Allow to dry.
Take your construction paper and trace out your letters. *tip: I used white chalk!* cut them out.

Mod podge the letters to the blocks once the blocks are dry. Apply a layer over top as well.

Glue your toppers on. I heavily used hot glue.
I then tied a piece of burlap around it.
I took my floral wire and folded it in half. I then went from one end and loosely wrapped it around my finger half way up. Then slid my finger out and loosened up the curls. I did the same thing to the other side and just wrapped it around the topper!

 
 

 

halloween mason jars!

How cute are these!? I found them on pinterest last year and knew I had to make them!

All that you need is:

• Mason jars
• Mod podge
• Tissue paper
• Construction paper
• Raffeta
• Lights

Start by cutting your tissue in 1'' strips.
Mod podge the strips to the mason jars.
Apply a layer of mod podge over top. Be very careful. The tissue becomes very delicate until it dries.
Cut out the ghosts face from construction paper and mod podge it on.
After they are dry, add raffeta around pumpkin.
Stuff with lights!

my second love... my budget binder

5 months ago I began a journey. What inspired this journey? Well, frankly, I was tired of owing money to everyone! It wasn't until I sat down and wrote everything out that I realized how much outstanding debt we had... 2 car payments.. a mortgage.. credit cards.. student loans.. personal loans for major home repairs we had to have. So I began creating this guy....

My new best friend.. my budget binder. What has little guy done for me? He has helped me pay off just a hair shy of $3,000 extra in debt in less than 5 months!

 

So what's in him that makes him so amazing?

 

In the beginning we have a zipper folder. I keep stamps, a calculator, a pen, highlighter, my checkbook, and payment books. Anything I need to pay my bills. The folder pocket I keep all my master copies and any bills I receive.

 

 

Next is a section for all of my account info.

 

A breakdown of the rest:

 

A section for each of our loan debts; ie auto loans and student loans. I keep track of payments I've made, how much was due and how much I paid. This way I can see how much I have paid that is extra towards the principal.

Mortgage. This section is the same as my loan debt. I keep track of when payments are made, how much was owed, paid, and extra toward principal.

 

Savings. Simply a ledger to keep track of how much is in our savings.

 

Expenses. I have 3 pages in my expenses. Gas, Grocery, and Misc. Expenses. This way I can keep track of outgoing money.

 

 

Yearly budget. This is just to keep track of checking and savings at the beginning and end of each month.

 

 

Outstanding debt. Here I keep a sheet for each credit card. Thankfully I'm down to one!! I keep track of all of my payments made. I also keep track of interest because that motivates me to pay faster!!! The first page of this section has an outstanding debt progress page. At the end of every month I go back and log how much extra was paid on credit cards, mortgage, or loans. This has been my motivator because I can see the progress I made!

 

Then we have the monthly budget. Here I break my bills down into sections: the first and the second half of the month. As I pay them, I put a check mark by them. Once they come out of my bank account, I highlight them.

 

I also have a monthly check in. Here I log twice each month. I keep track of income, total bills, total spent for gas, groceries, and misc. This way I can tell if we are staying within the amount we have set for each category.

Don't forget the cover pages for your sections!

 

 

 

Click each underlined section to get a free printable!

 

 

 

Organized shopping!

A few months ago I ventured into the world of couponing. I can save while still getting the brands I love! I have found that shopping and couponing is so much easier and less stressful when you are organized! I wanted to share with you my shopping list I created! I have included a free printable! Enjoy and happy shopping! Just click the link below!!

Download shopping list