Exploding Projects

It all started with a new mirror. Then two new mirrors. Finally a complete redecoration of the bathroom and partial redecoration of the bedroom. I was tired of fighting a foggy, spotty mirror to put on eyeliner. I had Christmas money waiting for a good cause. Aha! I would order a new mirror for our bathroom. Something that should have been done six years ago when we moved in. When the man came to measure it and give me an estimate, I had him give me an estimate for the hall bath. It also was in bad shape, just not as critical as the master bath. With a new mirror expected I decided that before it went up, the old wallpaper in that bathroom should come down. It is at least 10 years old, and it was starting to peel near the shower. I could see the 20 year old layer underneath it. I dreaded that project. The wallpaper in this house was all put up over one very thin layer of paint so it doesn't come off well, even with the good remover, and it takes the top layer of sheet rock with it in places. It was a huge project to get it all off. They had pulled the tank to wallpaper both layers behind the toilet, so we had to pull the tank to get it off. One of the bolts was corroded so it took a long time to get it off. With all the paper finally off, all the holes patched and sanded; I was ready to paint. I had a gallon of taupe that I got on clearance last year for $5 on a mixed tint table at Home Depot. It turned out to be a little greener than taupe. It is more pewter. It is okay since the bathroom is very light, it has a big window. Shan really likes it so I will deal with it. After I painted the walls I didn't like the antique brass and porcelain handles on the vanity. They were too frou frou for the new streamlined look. I know to go to Lowe's would cost about $6 a handle, so I looked on ebay. I found some brushed nickel, which match the rest of the bathroom fixtures, for $1 a handle and a flat rate of $6 shipping for however many I want. I decided to get enough to do both bathrooms so for $1.50 a handle I have a much nicer looking vanity. My mom had a border print from clearance. It actually goes pretty well. It has a tan background and then hearts and stars in an American Flag theme. With the blue towels and floor mats it looks pretty good. I inherited barely used bath mats and toilet lid cover from my mother, who had to get new ones to go with her recent redecorated bath and bedroom. I only had to get one mat to go in front of the toilet to keep feet warm in the winter on the cold tile first thing in the morning. Mom had enough to do the bedroom as well, since the border in there had matched the top layer of paper in the bathroom. So I took off the (again two layers) of border and then we had to paint a small strip at the ceiling, since the new border isn't as wide as the old border. We had painted the bedroom when we moved in and it still works so we left it alone. We didn't have any of that paint left so we used the darker paint from the bathroom. It actually looks pretty good. This led to a new comforter and pillow shams for the bed. Those were 11 years old so it was time they were retired. My mom called from Macy's sale, she'd found a denim comforter clearance for half of half. I then had an additional 20% off so it made the $300 Tommy Hilfiger comforter $65. The next day I was back with my sister, and found red denim pillow shams for $20 each and I had a $10 off $30 purchase so it made them $15 each. When I described this progression to my mother and sister, they thought it sounded logical and rational, even normal. My husband keeps shaking his head wondering how a new mirror project exploded.

Original Mirror estimate on just the master bath: $142
Redecorating Tally:

Mirrors: $233
Paint: $5
Wallpaper: $50
Comforter: $65
Shams: $30
Bath mat: $ 9
Handles: $20

Total Redo: $412

Yes it is a differnce of $270 dollars but bear in mind I hadn't orginally planned on a new mirror for the hall, it was a bargain when the guy said he would only charge us the cost of the mirror since it would be a snap to install and they would be here anyway. The wallpaper was a deal also and since I changed one I need to do both. I had been saving Christmas and Birthday money for a while to use for some worthy project and this seemed like a great idea. I also had been looking at new comforters and quilts in the catalogues longingly, since I bought the one we were using for Shannon, before we were married. It was actually a comforter cover for the down comforter I gave him for Christmas 12 years ago. In the summer we have been using a quilt that we got for our first house about 8 years ago, so it was looking pretty sad. Basically it was time for a redo. Of course, since paint is a pretty cheap redo I will probably do more painting somewhere in my house this year. We will have to see where.