Monday, January 17, 2011

Bathroom Vanity Mini-Makeover

I think a lot of us who either own or rent have bathroom vanities that look like this. Our home was built in 1992, and we bought it in 2007. So previous owners/tenants can make a mess inside, and you really don't know what was in there beforehand. Even if you're a renter this is something you could do without it being a permanent change and having to ask your landlord for permission.
This is our guest bathroom. It is literally the size of a closet. The width of the vanity? That's how wide the room is - the tiles are 12x12 so you can see its quite a small space. It's perfect for guests because its always clean as our family uses the other two full bathrooms in the house. Now I probably could of gone to the store and picked out some contact paper or something to the like but I wanted to see if I could pull it off without having to spend anything and just shop my own house.

I wanted the floor of the vanity covered up because of the various water stains and such that have happened over the last 18 years. I took an old towel I had and measured out what the dimensions were and cut accordingly.

Then I grabbed my stapler gun and started stapling the towel down on all 4 sides. It looked unfinished/raw with the staples showing through that I went into my ribbon box and found some ribbon to make it look more finished.

Much better. I also stapled the ribbon as well but since the ribbon is patterned the staples blend right in.

The main reason for this little mini-makeover was that I wanted a place to put towels, toiletries, and the like for guests in all one place so that when we have friends and family stay, they have the things they need at their fingertips and don't have to feel awkward looking through our cabinets for a clean towel, toothpaste, ect. This is what I included: Towels, washcloths, travel sized shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, lotion, soap, facial cleaner, chapstick, his and hers razors, shaving cream, baby powder, dental floss, a few toothbrushes, and most definitely feminine hygiene products. I know how embarrassing it can be to ask your host for a pad or tampon when the lovely "time of the month" comes. I also had an extra blowdryer, curling iron, and flat iron that I rarely use so I put those in there as well.

I had this small white plastic bucket that was being unused and it fit all the loot perfectly! I did not go out and buy any of this stuff separately, they were all things around the house that I corralled. The travel sized shampoo, conditioner, and lotion were from hotels that we had previously visited. I grabbed a metal tin that I wasn't using that I had previously spray painted and put the blowdryer and curling irons in it.

And here is my completed guest bathroom vanity! I can put those white towels on a clean surface finally!

6 comments:

  1. Wow, great idea to use a towel for the base. I would have never thought of that!

    ~Allison @ House of Hepworths

    ReplyDelete
  2. LOVE it! What a great idea!!! Especially the ribbon to finsh the edges- so cute. And good job sticking with what you already have :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love it! I love the towel idea too!!! I will be using this when we move to Alabama. You never know who was in the on base housing before you. Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great idea! And what a great hostess you are! I should probably rethink my current guest bath situation: one half empty bottle of conditioner and ... that's it.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hey! Love your blog Melanie. All about things I LOVE! We just moved into a rehab house and one thing that we did with our brand new cabinets was line it with our flooring (we used marmoleum) but you could use any vinyl. Its waterproof, easy to wipe clean and easy to replace. Just another option.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hey Melanie! I'm Heidi's friend Megan. This post inspired me to do this to my guest bathroom! I just posted it on my blog www.mykindofmakeover.blogspot.com

    THANKS FOR THE INSPIRATION!

    ReplyDelete