#1 He Lets Me Make-over the Bathroom

My mother bought me a cartoon ocean animal shower curtain when I was first married. It was certainly cute enough, so I built on that theme in my bathroom. Using gift cards from my bridal shower, I bought the matching octopus trashcan, the seahorse toothbrush holder, the soap holder shaped like a crab, and the turtle cup holder. It was in this way that the one and only bathroom of the house remained decorated for the first three and a half years of my marriage. The problem that arose was that: 1. An ocean theme in turn is also a summer theme, and in New Jersey, it is not summer all year round. 2. An acquaintance used my bathroom and upon exiting said, "Do you have kids?" When I answered in the negative, their response was, "Oh, I just thought that, with the way the bathroom looked..."

Most certainly, time for a change.

Now, the problem, which most housewives face, is how can I update and change my look without spending more than I can afford? I certainly did not have the funds to do an all out make over to my bathroom, though I desperately wanted to. So I did a mixture of two things: I slowly began my bathroom transformation by getting rid of the old and adding less childish pieces to the bathroom. This started with tossing the soap holder shaped like a crab, which had pieces of soap packed into the claws and paint peeling off in more than one spot.

Luckily, a friend of mine had gotten a little crafty and created something to replace my soap holder. Her piece helped to spark my redecoration plans for the room.

I really wanted to make a toothbrush holder out of another mason jar, but due to lack of time and current ability to do so, I went to Walmart. The mason jar soap dispenser was soon joined by a simpler metal toothbrush holder (cost $6.99).

Now it was time to switch up the rest of the room. Around the same time, my boss had given me a bag full of bathroom linens (towels, curtains, bath rug) that were my favorite color, orange. So, in went the orange. I switched my old magazine holder with a basket that had been in my bedroom, and added two orange vases that had previously been in my kitchen.

The next problem I faced was a corner shelf that the octopus trashcan had once sat on. I wanted something simple and decorative, but didn't want to spend more than $10.

Enter in Ross. Ross can be a great store for home decorations, but you have to have in mind what look you are going for, or else you are bound to end up with a lot of cute knick knacks and no place to put them. At Ross I found the mustard yellow (love that color!) jar, $2.99, and the home tea light holder, $3.99. I added the reed diffuser, which I already had, as an extra touch and a freshener to the room.

Finally, what started it all: the shower curtain. I love shower curtains with designs on them. Originally, I wanted to get a brown zebra or giraffe shower curtain. But that would then have been the highlight of the bathroom. With the other pieces I put in the room, I felt I needed to go simpler. Dark brown shower curtain to match the wood in the vanity and magazine basket it is! There was one on Amazon.com that looked like it had a nice texture to it for $19.99, but I really wanted to go cheaper. So, I went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond and found a solid brown cloth curtain for $12.99 and it did the trick!

In the end:

The final cost of a completely different look with minimal effort and cost: $28.84 (tax included!).