We’ve been spending a lot of time in the bathroom lately. It’s kinda like a toddler magnet. Leyna’s really into using the potty, and splashing in all things that hold water…
It’s given me plenty of opportunities to appreciate the mini-reno we did in there recently. We’re pretty big on that kind of thing here. We have only taken on a few really big house projects (like installing our own hardwood floors), but we’ve finished a lot of smaller ones that have updated our home with minimal expense.
We haven’t taken out any loans to finish our projects, we pay for them as we go, so I’m always looking for ways to get the most bang for our buck. 9 times out of 10, all we need to do to a room is paint (walls, cabinets, or both) and change out the fixtures for the room to look brand new.
My favorite site to stalk really great deals is Slickdeals.net. I have their app on my phone, and must admit I check it way too often. It pays off, though! Earlier this year I got a new solid surface countertop with built in sink for the kids’ bathroom for THIRTY DOLLARS. It was 90% off from Lowes.
Of course, once we got the countertop in, we needed a new faucet, which meant we’d have to change out the light fixtures, which would then lead to switching out all the fixtures in the bathroom.
I posted my “If You Give A Jill A Good Deal” predicament on my FB page when I realized all this was about to snowball, and my friends from Moen emailed me right away to say they’d be happy to send me a new faucet and fixtures. Holy grateful!
I’m especially loving this nifty Retractable Towel Ring that I deliberately had Scott install next to his own sink in our bathroom because it is obviously terribly difficult for him to re-hang the towel back on the towel bar after he wipes his hands. So this one just pulls from the wall on a retractable cord. It has “man fixture” written all over it.
Of course, they look amazing, and they’re 10 million times better quality than the builder grade crap we upgraded from. Then Moen was like, can we send you a fancy new shower head and another for you to give to whoever you want?And I was all, YES.
It’s called the Halo, and it’s glorious. You know, for the 5 spare minutes I can find to take a shower in peace.
And I’m going to do a quick giveaway for one of you. Since I have to ship it myself, the winner has to be from the U.S. Sorry everyone else!
All you have to do is comment below, telling me your favorite way to update a room quickly and cheaply. I’m going to hoard all your ideas.
I’ll draw a winner at the end of this week and ship it out with some of my Christmas packages this weekend.
Also, if you’re on Twitter and free this afternoon, I’m going to co-host a little Twitter chat with @Moen. Hope to see you there! (I’m @BabyRabies.)
Disclosure- Moen sent me the bathroom fixtures, faucet and shower heads at no cost to me. I wasn’t obligated to blog about them, but I love them so much – especially that towel ring- that I had to show it all off to you. All pictures and opinions are my own.
My favorite way to update a room and give it new life is painting the walls. It’s cheap and easy!
My favorite way to update a bathroom is the faucet fixtures, and the cabinet hardware! That and a new coat of paint a room look brand new!
If I don’t have time to paint, I like to rearrange the furniture! Quick, easy, and can totally change the look of a room.
A fresh coat of paint goes a long way! It’s amazing how new it makes a room look!
Not so original, but paint!
Throw pillows or paint.
Love, love, love a fresh coat of paint!! And right behind that is new fixtures and hardware! On the cheaper side though, would be adding some new pictures, either frames or canvases.
My house is seriously 70s. Hand texturing the walls completely changes the whole feel of a room. And its very cheap, fast, and easy-as long as you don’t want it to be too perfect! Followed by a fresh coat of paint, obviously!
change of paint, and updating accessories. Just put new pillow covers over my current throw pillows in the living room and what a huge difference it makes!
Paint, curtains, lights. All quick, easy, relatively inexpensive updates to a room. Of course, I like to go for the huge, gut the kitchen and rebuild projects too (just did that a year ago, and I’m still recovering, emotionally).
My quick update is to buy new door knobs for cabinets. Especially for older homes that haven’t been updated in years.
I stalk eBay for name brand fixtures. I’ve purchased door knobs, faucets and more for far less than what Home Depot charges. And I also love Moen! I actually had an issue with one of the towel racks that was installed in our house when it was built in 2007 and they’re sending out another free of charge even though we aren’t the original owners of the house.
Paint for sure. Makes a huge difference!
Hey, not sure if this giveaway is over… but I’mma comment anyway.
I recently discovered the absolute JOY of painting a room with that paint & primer in one formula. Seriously, I was joyful over painting and that does NOT happen! That stuff is so worth the extra dollars!