Has it really been a week since this challenge started? That means there are only four weeks left to get this little bathroom reno of ours complete!

If this is your first visit to Prairie Girl Home you might want to start by reading last week’s post, where I explained what the One Room Challenge, created by Linda of Calling It Home, is all about. Basically it’s a blogging challenge where we all have six weeks to complete one room in our homes. Technically, it’s only five weeks of actual work, but there are six weeks of posts.

I really hoped to make a dent in at least some of our to-do list that I shared last week. However, this little thing called ”real life” got in the way of all my renovating and decorating plans! Don’t you hate when that happens? So the bathroom looks exactly the same as the pictures I shared last week. Oh, wait, we did take the towel bars down. That’s progress, right? What did happen is I made quite a bit of progress in nailing down the design plan.

Last week I shared a mood board of where I was heading with the design for our pink bathtub, pink sink, time-warp 1955 bathroom. The pink tub and sink are staying – so my challenge is to make that look somewhat intentional and not “we don’t have enough money right now to do a full renovation.”

The plan ended up changing a wee bit. I did warn you that might happen! I change my mind constantly when it comes to design decisions!

So some things are on track with how I originally planned them. First off – the chandelier! This was just a “maybe” on my want list, but when I found a steal of a deal on a local used site I had to jump on it! Check it out.

Five bucks!!! How great is that? Maybe you’re thinking, ‘Uh, Kari, I wouldn’t have paid a single penny for that.’ Don’t worry. Once I get rid of the glass and spray it all black, I think it will be perfect when centered above the tub. We don’t have electrical in this spot, so it will just be decorative. I think I can somehow remove all the wiring and then I will rig up a way for it to hold some of those battery operated flameless candles. Which, by the way, are super expensive! At least the ones I found on Amazon are. I will keep searching, because there has to be some out there for less than $60!

Here is my kind hubby holding the chandy in place so I could have an idea if it would be a good fit.

Wasn’t that nice of him? He puts up with all of my crazy design ideas. As you can see, he’s a tall fella so we will hang it a bit higher. I’ve decided to move the shower rod up to ceiling height, so it won’t block the view of the pretty chandelier. I think the chandelier will make a great focal point, since it’ll be one of the first things you see when you walk in the door. Here was my very amateur sketch from last week, but you still get the general idea of where I’m headed.

In other developments, I realized that my tendency towards hoarding has reached new heights (or maybe depths, you decide). Between my office/craft room, basement and garage, I officially cannot remember what I have stashed and where. This should probably be considered a bad thing, but I’m going to count it as a win where the One Room Challenge is concerned, because after digging around I found quite a few things that will save us quite a bit of moolah! Yippee! I told you last week this reno is all about trying to do a lot, with very little.

I remembered that we still have some 4 inch pine boards leftover from when we planked the ceiling of our main living areas.

That is awesome, because beadboard panels can actually be quite expensive.

I’m also kind of hoping we can do the ceiling in the bathroom while we’re at it as well. I mean, we already have the boards! I haven’t asked my hubby how he feels about that idea yet… he may not share my enthusiasm.

The thing I spent a lot of time on this week, as far as design planning, was wallpaper. Oh, wallpaper, how I do love thee. Seriously. I loooove looking at wallpaper samples! Here is where I struggled – I love ALL the samples and choosing just ONE was so hard! The thing about wallpaper is that it can be a bit pricey and it’s also a bit of a job to install, so you really want to LOVE the one you pick. I mean truly adore it. So I was on the hunt for a wallpaper in my price range (AKA as low as possible), but one that I loved and felt confident I would love for years to come. No pressure, right? Here are some of the ones I was admiring.

 

via anewall.com

This is the one from my inspiration board, but it was a bit out of my price range – especially once I factored in the US/CAN exchange rate, taxes, shipping and duty. Oh boy. Sometimes online shopping is just not as much fun for us northerners!

via wallflorashop.com

This one from wallflorashop is positively gorgeous, but again – way out of my price range.

via anthropologie.com

Oh, Anthropologie. You are boho and vintage and classy and chic and modern all at the same time. Beautiful – but not going to happen this time.

via farmhouseforfour on Instagram

This bathroom by farmhouseforfour on Instagram (amazing farmhouse – go check them out!) is so inspiring! I love the black and white floral wallpaper. It’s by JF Fabrics, but is ”open to the trade” only. Meaning a designer can order it for you, but little ole’ me cannot.

I posted this pic to Instagram earlier this week. For a brief moment I was considering a pink toile wallaper, thinking that it would help tie in the pink tub and sink. Even though I’m only wallpapering the upper portion of the wall, I decided this would be a little too much pink. At least for me! I also liked the black and grey toile you see here on the left.

This grey and cream floral is really gorgeous, but has a little too much cream for my taste.

I considered both of these. The grey floral was just too much grey. I wanted something with a little more contrast between the white and the grey/charcoal or black. The black and white toile is beautiful, as well as a good price. I did seriously consider it.

Now this pretty white, off-white and grey floral was a real contender. I can’t find the link online, but it’s from the book English Florals, Traditional Wallcoverings. Here it is against my pink tub, along with my charcoal and white striped turkish towels and a grey curtain panel that I totally forgot I had! It makes for a nice combo though. When I saw all of this together it really helped me see that I wanted a much softer grey palette than I had originally thought. I think the grey and the blush pink combo will be very pretty and sophisticated.

My dilemma was that while I liked this wallpaper a lot, I didn’t really love it. I definitely didn’t totally adore it!  Also, because it is only sold in double rolls (majority of wallapers are), I would have to order 4 rolls to do my tiny bathroom, even though I think I only need slightly more than 2. Which was going to be…. $200 plus tax. Yikes! I was kind of hoping the entire bathroom reno could be done for $2-300. So this was out. I was also a little worried about ordering time. The store I was ordering it through said it would take 3 weeks. I was cutting it too close! So I decided to take another look at what I could find in stock. No ordering involved.

Home Depot and Lowes didn’t turn up anything I loved that went with my design plan. So I tried Bouclair Home. I found this.

Cute, right? It had all the colours I was searching for – a clean white, grey and charcoal. I know the birch tree theme is quite popular, but you know how I feel about popular trends? If you love a trend, go for it! If you don’t, then don’t! Just do what you love. That’s all that matters in the end. It’s your house! I think the birch trees will go nicely with the cottage theme I have going, but the sophisticated colours still leave a lot of room for me to “glam it up”! Oh, and did I forget to mention the price? Only $35 per double roll. Remember, the wallpapers above I linked to were priced mostly in single rolls. Which means a double roll is double the price! So this one is really only $17.50 per single roll. I may have to go back for another roll, but if my calculatons are right, it’s going to be close. So the total wallpaper budget may be just this one roll at $35.

I have also been looking at lights to go above the vanity. I found a cute one at Lowe’s.

They were out of stock, but that’s okay because I think I can do better than $65. There is a similar one on amazon for $40, but again, I’m worried about it shipping in time.

I also shopped the outdoor lights at Lowe’s. No, not for our home exterior, for the bathroom. When the kind little teen boy there asked if he could help me and I said I was just looking for a light for our bathroom, he kind of giggled and kindly told me the vanity lights were in another aisle. I’m sure he thought this poor lady has no clue what she is doing! But seriously, outdoor lights can go anywhere! Sarah Richardson says so, and she is my decorating diva, so it must be so!

Look what I came home with.

The exterior lantern light you see here on the right is so cute! It looks way better up close than it did in the box. I think it was $45. The simple one light candle sconce is also very adorable, and was $26. I like them both, but I think I’ll keep an eye out for anything used that might pop up. Spray painting light fixtures is so simple and a great way to update an old gem that someone else might just pass over as being too outdated.

The charcoal “silk” curtains you see on the far left are another hoarding item I forgot I had. They are long enough to hang from floor to ceiling, so I think they will make a great shower curtain, to frame the tub and the pretty chandelier.

The small white and grey towel is actually a tea towel from Walmart. I think they could work as a cute hand towel!

That adorable little hanging wire magazine basket is yet another hoarding find. I bought it at Target a couple of years ago. Back when we still had a Target. (Insert sad face emoji here). May you RIP Target Canada. I miss you and I loved you, even if your shelves were often empty.

The other decor items are things I just grabbed from around the house. Overall, I really love the direction this is heading! Now we really have to get cracking on the actual work! Wallpaper shopping was a blast, but we’re going to have to start getting our hands a little dirty. Hopefully we will have a decent amount of progress to show you next week! Thanks for stopping by, and be sure to check out the featured designers of the One Room Challenge here, as well as all the guest participants here. You can also follow me on Instagram – @prairiegirlhome if you would like to see more updates on how this little reno is going! I’ll be back next Thursday with more room progress!

Kari