The Little Things

We hoped to update the downstairs bathroom without ripping out the shower, so we're working with what we've got. The pastel yellow tiles are in fantastic shape. The camera lighting is terrible in these photos, so I apologize in advance. It really doesn't read that yellow in person. Though we were keeping the shower tiles, we knew we had to replace the fixtures. They were awful and dated. Tim swapped out the old showerhead for this guy:

Isn't it amazing? Tim chose brushed nickel to match the rest of our house (door knobs, cabinet knobs, etc.). I wanted a shower head with a hose because the downstairs bathroom is our primary dog bathing shower. It's so much easier to give the rascals a bath with the hose attachment. This one is perfect and luxurious. It was a bit pricey, around $45. With all of the cost savings elsewhere, we felt like we could afford to splurge on new fixtures.

Our house had Delta fixtures before. Apparently, it's easier to replace a Delta with a Delta, keeping with the same brand. We purchased this fixture from Menards and it's designed specifically to match with Delta replacement fixtures even though it's a knock off. It also wasn't cheap, at about $40. It was shockingly complex to install because it has instructions for replacing this on 3 different types of fixtures. Who knew this would be so complicated? I did figured it out after slowly walking through the instructions and it couldn't look better! It's amazing what a huge difference $100 worth of shower fixtures makes.

As we've painted each room, we've slowly been replacing all outlets and light switches. We want everything to have a crisp white look when we're finished. It's been a slow process, but we're getting close!

This is the light above the shower. I realize photographing a light is tough to do and results in terribly lit pictures, ironically enough. We planned to replace this recessed light above the shower, but decided it looked good enough after Tim cleaned it well. Again, we're cheap!

While shopping for our faucet at Menards, we happened to find a 3 pack of fixtures for $35. Are you kidding me!? That is so cheap! It's crazy that you can buy an entire vanity for the same price that some fixtures cost. This is where a project will really kill you-- all of those seemingly little items. Shop around for things that won't break the bank.

I wasn't sure about the 18" length of this towel bar, but it works fine. We can comfortably hang two bath towels on it. It does the job, especially for a guest/lower level bath!

I also wasn't crazy about this hook style toilet paper holder. I've only had the traditional style prior and I worried the toilet paper might fall off, but worry not! I've actually liked this better than the traditional style holder. It has a more modern look.

Finally, Tim painted the door and reinstalled it with new hinges and handles. Easy enough? Not quite. It's actually quite a tedious process to prime one side, flip, prime, paint 2 coats, flip, paint 2 coats. AND you have to make sure the door isn't too thick to fit, otherwise you're faced with a sticky door-- a problem we have upstairs. We're still working to resolve that issue upstairs and will let you know when I figure out the magic trick. We decided to paint the doors so all of the doors and trim are a seamless color (America's Finest Semi-Gloss White). Also, we are cheap and replacing them all would have been wowza so much money.

This bathroom isn't quite finished, but the little things make a HUGE difference! We would love to get a new shower door. Unfortunately, it's $200, so that's not in the budget right now. When our upstairs bath is finished, I will purchase new rugs (I've been on the hunt for pastel yellow rugs), get some art in there, and place some scrapbook paper for pops of color. I will post a before and after picture when we're done!