I revamped my bathroom in 2 days. NBD.

We are hosting the Marcums for dinner this upcoming Sunday as a farewell to Chris's brother, Jared, and his family who are moving to Hawaii for work next month.  The Marcums are not a small bunch--we are expecting right around 30 people.  Chris is cooking up a stellar menu and I have been working on getting our home in tip top shape.  Although my list of things I want to do is a mile long, I have shortened it down to keep my self sane.  One of the major things that makes me a nervous wreck is when guests have to use the restroom.  Before this week, we had no presentable bathrooms.  They all work, but they don't look good.  At all.  We usually send our guests up the stairs to use the bathroom in the hallway--which sadly, is our best looking bathroom.   I took the last 2 days and spruced it up so I don't have any heart attacks when one of the Marcums need to go potty.  Here's what our best looking and tiniest bathroom looked like before:

A room in our home wouldn't be complete without stenciled edges and outlets.  This picture also captivates that standard 90s gold vanity light.

The vanity cabinet was exactly the same wood as our kitchen cabinets used to be.  Old. Dingy. Brown.

We tried to hide the grandma-looking laminate on the floors with a brown shaggy rug that we had laying around.  And apparently we don't have the best aim when it comes to throwing things into that black (actually dark green) garbage can in the corner.

The shower rod (it came with the house) was almost in as bad of shape as the wall it was leaning against.   Since we don't use this bathroom other than to bathe Greta, we never bothered replacing the rod or even hanging a curtain to cover up the almond, faux-marble tile.   

Due to budget and time constraints, I wasn't able to tackle everything (read: the floor, countertop, and shower are still pretty bad), but I made a few updates that really transformed the room.  The walls got two coats of fresh paint--Valspar's Dove White. White? White.  This room is tiny and windowless and I wanted to keep things feeling airy. 

 We also got a new light fixture from Ikea.  Originally a wall lamp, Chris worked his magic and hard-wired it and it became our vanity light.

The Marcum 11/8 painting I did last year set the color stage for the room.  I am a believer of fine art in the bathroom.

I swapped out the dark trash can in the corner for a translucent garbage can to keep things looking lighter (which is a common theme in this room).  The toilet paper holder I spray painted oil-rubbed bronze and the new area rug is also lighter, sleeker, more modern and totally belongs in this room. Although we didn't have the time or money to redo the floors right now, the lighter rug blends a lot better with the existing floor than that brown, shaggy one did.

The cabinets got a coat of primer, two coats of gray paint and two funky knobs I got for free from Pier One.

When I got the knobs, I wasn't so sure where I was going to use them and I'm pleasantly surprised they fit so well with this room.

We did away with the towel rack above the toilet and hung a couple of shelves instead.  On them I placed: a few colorful towels, my favorite penguin, a souvenir from our cruise a couple years ago, two books (Eat, Pray, Love and Love Letters), and a framed paint swatch which made for some free, pretty, ombre art.

A new oil-rubbed bronze rod, the shower curtain and rings hide the oog-ly shower to finish off the room.  For now, at least.  :)  

 This room is really so small that it is impossible (with my camera) to get a full shot of the whole room for before and afters. But here are some side by sides to save you the scrolling:

And here's where the money went:

1 quart Valspar Dove White in Semi-gloss: $12.97
1 sample size Valspar Paint for cabinets: $.50 (I scored it in the mis-tinted section so it doesn't have a name)
1 can Rustoleum oil-rubbed bronze spray paint: $7.97 (I used this for a few other projects elsewhere)
New Bath Mat--really just an area rug from Ikea:  $3.99
Knobs: Free!
New light fixture from Ikea: $60
New trash can from Ikea: $1.99
Shelves (2 shelves and 4 brackets from Ikea): $19.98
White picture frame from Ikea: $1.99
4 solid colored hand towels (the printed one I had): $11.96
ORB shower curtain rod: $8.99 from Amazon (Originally $18.99, but I had a $10 gift card)

Total:  $130.34 (plus tax)

Not bad for revamping an entire room....and cheating a likely heart attack.  Rest assured, any Marcums that want to use the restroom this weekend, can.