I live with 2 teenage boys and 1 hubster. That means roughly 100 showers a day are taken in this house! OK…I’m exaggerating, but not by much! For some reason teenage boys seem to think they need to take a shower BEFORE and AFTER….everything!
In addition to being hard on the utilities budget, this shower situation is also becoming a major pain!
The problem is this: the “boys bathroom” doesn’t have a traditional shower stall….it has a tub shower…and they don’t like using it. Consequently ALL these showers are being taken in MY bathroom and frankly it’s beginning to cramp my style. ;-)
I’ve made some half-hearted attempts to make the “boys bathroom” more enticing to use….like a “fancy” rainshower shower head. They hated it. :-/
So a couple of days ago I decided it was time to get serious. I decided a “Bathroom Makeover” was in order…but not your typical bricks and mortar and paint makeover. This would be primarily cosmetic and I wanted to keep it affordable.
Well…approximately $130.00 later and afternoon’s worth of effort…here is what we came up with:
Here is the cost breakdown. I was shooting for between $100 and $150 and landed almost smack dab in the middle!
- Shower Caddy
- $12.97
- Shower Curtain Rod
- (4) Bath Towels - $3.97 each
- (3) Bath Mats - $3.47 each
- (4) Hand Towels – .97 cents each
- (4) Wash Cloth – .47 cents each
- Over-The-Toilet Shelving
- Shower Curtain Hooks
- Shower Curtain
- Fabric Shower Curtain Liner
- Framed Art – FREE (removed old artwork from existing frames, replaced with pictures printed on my home printer, and moved them to the opposite wall)
- Various woven and wire organizing baskets – approximately $3 at the thrift store
GRAND TOTAL: $133.76
(I’ve added a few links to SIMILAR items to the ones I purchased at Walmart. In most cases I couldn’t find ONLINE the exact same thing I bought in the store.)
Here are a few more “before and afters” that hopefully capture all the details (because I’m too lazy to type them all out!) ;-)
Eventually I plan on doing a few more DIY projects in here….like switching out the cabinet knobs and adding moulding around the stock builders mirror. (Got the tutorial bookmarked and everything!)
But for now…..at least I have “lured” the boys back into the “boys bathroom”. They LOVE the new shower head and the new shower curtain/shower rod combo. It’s the curved kind you find in some hotels that dramatically increases the amount of room in the tub shower! BIG HIT with the shower crowd!
Oh…and the new “fluffy” towels were a crowd-pleaser too. They were very inexpensive but I washed and “fluffed” them with homemade fabric softener and they were a BIG improvement over our current towels which are all in pretty bad shape. Definitely need to pick up some more for my bathroom.
So bathroom peace has been restored in our home with a few simple changes that took an afternoon to complete and less than $135.00 out of my pocket. I’m chalking this one up to SUCCESS! :-)
A few more random “After” pics….
Looks great~~lucky boys!
I’m a new follower and I’m enjoying you posts. Isn’t it amazing how we get used to things, or at least I do. The changes you made were simple, but it sure made a difference. I’m going to look at my upstairs bath with new eyes this morning! :D Thanks a mil!
Debbie
Another little ‘make the shower feel bigger tip’… hang the shower caddy on the opposite wall using 3M Command strips. Get some heavy duty ones and they will hold very very well. I have had mine up for several years and it has only fallen once (I think… or not at all). Makes the front end where the shower is seem more spacious without the caddy hanging from the shower head.
Good call on the rounded shower curtain rod – LOVE how much extra space those provide! There’s also a Pinterest idea about using a regular shower rod along the back wall and hanging lots of little baskets from it for bottles, scrubbies & things…in case teenage boys also love their products, lol. Echoing Robin, I’ve seen that same idea but with a coat hook that might be more sturdy. Also, if the boys like to shave in the shower, DH loves his little suction mirror in ours – holds razors and as some kind of anti-fog something or other. 3M makes the one we have, and it’s worked out well for years!
I saw this and thought about how awesome the lockers would be in the bathroom (painted with Rustoleum, maybe?).
http://pinterest.com/pin/122371314844460759/
Where did you put the laundry hamper?
Good question. I went back and forth on that one. It seemed that most of the time the boys were simply piling stuff on TOP of the hamper rather than actually USING it. So I decided to remove it. This forces them to hang UP their towels to dry, rather than putting them in the hamper…or most likely…just setting them on top of it. We’ll see how it works out. :-) I like it without…makes the bathroom seem bigger.
The trick to getting the clothes IN the hamper ………. drum roll inserted here please……….. is to remove the lid! I know it seems so simple but its the truth! My hubby would stack his clothes on top of the hamper and subsequently all over the floor. I removed the lid and its a slam dunk every time!
We have a super small bathroom… no room for a hamper. There really needs to be a hamper :) . Otherwise I have to pick up stuff from the floor. Any creative suggestions?
I found you over the weekend on Pinterest. THANK YOU! I don’t even know where to start to tell you how wonderful this blog is. My shower is now just like brand new – clear glass doors and all thanks to your shower cleaner recipe, a little baking soda sprinkled on a nylon scrub brush and very little elbow grease. Our bathroom suffers the same problem – 4 of the 5 of us crammed into our little master bath with only a shower stall. Somehow the oldest child – 17 year old girl has commandeered the BIG bathroom all to herself. Kicked the brothers out and into our bathroom.
The peroxide and dawn mixture saved an inexpensive school cross country pullover. THANK YOU. I just couldn’t bring myself to throw it away, since I paid for it! I let is sit for an hour, threw it in the wash and the grease stains are GONE. I’ve tried everything to salvage this garment. Next up to try – homemade shout – I go through that stuff by the gallon getting White baseball pants clean. I’m sure your recipe will work better and be less $.
Just bought dollar store oxi clean to make my own dishwasher detergent – will try that later. Going to clean my washing machine this afternoon, cleaned my makeup brushes yesterday – can you say GROSS?
I’ve made the grate type laundry detergent for a few years and love it. I’m now going to try your liquid version using Dawn. Ok, I’ve rambled on and on.
Thank you again – I’ve read almost every post you’ve done – I’m up to April 2012. The ideas you share are wonderful.
~Ann
Ann……Wow! I am IMPRESSED! You’ve accomplished ALL THAT since the weekend? You are an inspiration. :-) So glad you like the website. Hope you stick around. Welcome!
Just curious… where did the hamper end up?
Hi Jillee! I am seriously wanting to know where you found the over-the commode shelving unit! Where did you commandeer it? I have only seen the cheap-o plastic ones and I am not interested in buying something that is going to crack, fall over, etc. I would appreciate your source. If you know the name of the company I can always look it up online.
Great makeover of the bathroom! You are such an inspiration! Even if I don’t do the exact project that you do I get inspired by your projects and have done much more than I used to do. I suffer from depression and its so tough to get started moving and motivated. You help me to get motivated; THANKS!
I had a similar shelving unit in my apartment in NYC and I got it from Amazon but saw similar ones at a Bed Bath and Beyond. Makes SUCH a difference in storage space and bathroom organization! My husband and I had our own “baskets” of stuff, extra TP & towels, even a shelf with a houseplant and a cheap-o stereo.
You are more than welcome Demaroge! I’m thrilled if even one person gets one idea from the stuff I post. :-) I’m so happy you’re enjoying it!
I got the fancy over-the-commode shelving unit at my local Walmart. As a matter of fact….I got the majority of the stuff I used there….with the exception of the thrift store baskets, etc.
Hope this helps! :-)
If those towels are from wal-mart, I have the same ones and absolutely love how fluffy they are for the price. Only problem I’ve seen with them so far are little strings from the terrycloth coming undone after a few washings. Some of our old towels are terrible too, as in you can almost see through them! lol So I’ve started buying one new towel each week. Cuz it gets pricey if you buy a bunch of new ones all at once! I also found some even cheaper smaller, thinner towels there for like $2. I like the thinner ones for my hair after showering. I’m saving my old towels though…they’ve been designated as “hair dye towels”.
Love the bathroom re-do!
Ok Miss Jillee you must have been sending out the vibes last night because I just bought that same shower curtain rod. I have been wanting one for while and just never got around to getting it. Our shower/bath combo is so small and this just opens the whole thing up, I love it. I also bought a fabric shower curtain liner, Love that too!!! Amazing work my friend. Thanks for all the ideas. :-) Love ya
I have a question about the curved rod: If the tub isn’t curved, just the rod, how does it keep h2o from leaking?
KelleyJo….there is a shower liner inside the shower curtain. The curtain hangs out….but the liner stays inside the tub to keep the water in.
Once again….great minds think alike! ;-) xoxo
Looks great Jillie! Just enough to make the teen age boys have a little place of their own! Hugs
It looks nice and has function. So many of the redesigns I see have no realistic function. It is just not practical to store shampoo, soap, etc any place except IN the shower. And everyone has a wet towel EVERY day so there needs to be a place to hang it. And there MUST be a separate hand towel. No one wants to dry hands someones used, damp shower towel. I like your choice of colors too, very pretty but not girly.
Thanks Penni :-)
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Quick question about the shower rail – does it bow out over the side of the tub? Do they put the shower curtain inside the tub when they use it?
What a marvelous “remodel.” For an additional $20, I probably would have painted and COMPLETELY changed the feel with a quick and easy fix. I love your posts, and use MANY of your ideas.
Excellent suggestion. I have a painting phobia! I really need to get over it.
You found incredible deals! Love the Canopy Curved shower curtain rod, been meaning to get one of those for a while now! The new makeover turned out really good, this gives me the needed inspiration to tackle my hole in the wall bathroom. Thank you!
Both my boys showered several times a day when they were teens. One to wake them up in the morning, one after school because PE class got them all “funky”, one to wash away the practice or game time funk, one before bed because of late evening play practice which always included dance. It is still better than the alternative– my friend had to “wrestle” her boys into the shower daily.