ORC FALL 2019 Week FIVE: Lots of Progress!!

Here we are!! This is officially the last progress post of this season’s One Room Challenge! This has been a tough one for me… I didn’t really get to see much pay off from the work I put until this past week because it’s been mostly painting and wallpapering. Once the new sink went in (thank you dad!!) and I was able to put up the new bathroom mirror, I really started to see my vision come together!

Catch up on my previous progress posts here: Week One | Week Two | Week Three | Week Four

I am pretty proud of my progress this past week! Making over a powder room and laundry room on a budget isn’t easy! It seems like anything that involves plumbing is pretty expensive, so I had to really research what my best options were.

Before I get into more photos and a breakdown of what I’ve spent so far, let’s look at how the space looks today compared to the listing photo and the before photo!

I always assumed that replacing a sink was a super complicated/ expensive job… so that wasn’t even on my radar when we first moved in. I did what I could to try and make the bathroom look better though… paint, new hardware, and new mirror - easy and inexpensive fixes.

This is a TINY space… 39”W x 77”L. The old sink and cabinet was 22” deep, which made the space feel even more cramped. In case you’re having trouble visualizing those dimensions, I created a little floor plan with the powder room’s actual dimensions. One has the dimensions of the new sink (15” deep) and the other has the dimensions of the old sink (22” deep). The extra 7” of space definitely makes a difference!

The paint got super scratched when we were putting the sink cabinet in. You’re supposed to let the paint dry for a full 7 days before moving furniture around on it. I think I had put the most recent coat on just a few days prior to installing the sink cabinet. I think I’ll be able to paint over without any issues though. There are also a few spots on the sink cabinet that I need to touch up.

**Side note — did you know there’s a difference between paint DRY time and paint CURE time? And it usually takes 3-4 WEEKS until paint is cured?? This is why if you’re painting your floors, cabinets, any furniture, etc… it’s best to let it sit untouched for as long as possible (even if it’s dry to the touch).

I took a poll in my Instagram stories asking for advice on cabinet pulls. I ended up buying what the majority of people voted for - but once they came in, they were a lot more silver than I expected. I definitely wanted something warmer and closer to brass. I found these from the same Etsy shop and knew they’d be perfect!

I borrowed this soap from the kitchen for this photo - I’m planning to get a prettier bottle from HomeGoods (best place for affordable & pretty soap)! Also - not gonna lie… I’m super annoyed that I didn’t see how many finger prints and smudges were on the faucet before I took this photo… grrrr.

Full disclosure: I’m sitting on the toilet in this picture lol… small spaces are hard to photograph!! But I love that you can see the ceiling light. I’m so excited to take this shot again once my new light from Troy lighting is up!! And how good is this mirror?!? The minute I saw it online, I knew I had to buy it right away. I’m pretty good at knowing when a certain product is most likely going to sell out- and I had that feeling about this mirror. Turns out I was right- this guy is still available in certain stores, but it doesn’t look like you can buy it online anymore.

If you’re interested in how to easily hang level wall decor AND a hack on how to space the holes correctly, check out the little DIY post I put together as I was hanging the mirror!

And now for money talk… I’ve ended up spending a little more than I anticipated. The little things that start to add up are what always kills me! In the future, I will definitely plan better and create a table with every possible item I might need and the cost. That way I can see upfront where I should cut back or maybe use something we already own… every dollar counts in a budget reno!!

I still have to buy wood and brackets from Home Depot to use as open shelves in the laundry room, and possibly a couple of canvas laundry bags. Other than that though, I’m finished with spending!

I still have a decent amount of work to do before I can take the final photos (finish painting floor tiles, take laundry cabinets down, put up open shelves, wallpaper laundry room ceiling, replace two ceiling lights, put up two sconces, and replace two door knobs, decide on decor)… but I WILL get it finished and it will be worth all of the stress and hard work!!

Thanks for following along with me so far this season - don’t forget to follow me on Instagram for more up to date peeks at my progress!