Making over a Kids Room/Bathroom-on a shoe-string Budget!

When it comes to living with two 5 years old's, life has to function and function happily.  Considering our daughters bathroom is small for all four of us to brush hair, teeth and get the day started off right and closed off nicely, it was important to us that their bathroom be serene and I think we accomplished just that!  If your pondering a room make over for your child, it can be done and without too much pain or strain on you or your budget.  Really.

Before-yuck.

Builder-grade mirror-generic and a space hog-bye bye.

Let's START!

My starting ground: It got to the point where if I glimpsed at my kids bathroom, I would cringe.  Now that being said, I know how fortunate I am in just having a bathroom for them.  When I was my girls age, we shared a smallish bathroom with our parents and believe me we never thought we were poor or unfortunate or struggling financially.  We never knew any different.  Now kids today have four star bathrooms, completed to look like Pottery Barn catalog ads.  Seriously.

Can you imagine paying $40 for a bath towel?!?  (if you did, it's quite alright-I just wish I had your money) My parents and grandparents would blow through the roof if they thought I paid that much for a towel! Imagine (this is my friend/neighbor from NY-Nicolette and she always said this term and she's awesome, she's from the Bronx!)!!!!! I paid $5.99 each for the girls towels at IKEA.

FAMILY GOAL: 

1) Buy can of paint and let the inspiration roll from there!

I grabbed some samples from HD and almost knew without hesitation. Baby pink.  Ballet pink.  Soft pink. Pink it is.  They are girls.  The color before.  Gross aqua blue.  I don't know why I ever picked that color for my stepson but it had to go and go fast!  He visits every other weekend and now that he's older (14), we decided it was best that the girls use that bathroom and he can have the bathroom in the finished basement. Deal.

2) Coerce husband to paint the girls bathroom, pending I tape off the trim and walls.  Deal-deal.

I left for a friends daughters birthday party and when I came home (I think I headed to a park after that!) the bathroom was beautiful and delightfully PINK.  My hubby told me it took him 3 coats of paint and even more around the trim and harder to reach areas like the ceiling.  I'm sorry. It looks beautiful though honey.  You did an AMAZING JOB I tell him.

****Even though your paint comes with primer, just know that if your covering a darker paint, your labor will be longer.  It will require a few coats but the wait was worth it.......................

Ahhh.  I love grey and pink together.  My hubby's idea.  He's brilliant. 

Love the mirror.  We borrowed it from the foyer.  Oh well.

3) Buy bath towel hooks and towels at IKEA.  Reasonable.  Hang up with ballet pictures from Goodwill.  Lucky.

I'm a happy Mom now.  For now anyway.  I did want a new sink but that would cut into the budget and our time and because we don't know how long we'll be here, we thought "another time."  For now, it's a sweet, beautiful and cost effective bathroom that suits our lifestyle, budget and our pleasant little pea pods.  When I look around and see how independent they are, I'm reminded at how fortunate we all are.  We live here in America where if you want to redecorate during any time of the day, you can.  It's up to you.  How do you spend your time, what makes you feel good, how do you help others?  What completes you?

Think about it.  Write it down.  By the way, on New Years Eve 2014 I decided to go back to college to get my long awaited Interior Design degree-in Manhattan with one exception-I get to study on line from the privacy of my own lovely home.  Happy now.  Off to help my husband make dinner.  Love to all.