Master Bathroom Update

We have been working on updating our master bathroom for about two months, and it is finally starting to get there. We finished painting, and there is no longer even a hint of that hideous red we used to have.
When we first started planning for what we wanted to do I made up a mood board, so we would have a solid plan, and something to reference. My rooms never turn out exactly as planned, but it's a great way to get started. Here's the original mood board.

See, the two lights at the top? The stripe one is our dream light, but I just wasn't able to swallow the $200 price tag, no matter how cute it is. Especially for something so simple. The other light is from cb2, and was priced a lot more reasonably at $50. We were planning on buying that one, but life got busy, and it just didn't happen, then...


I was browsing ebay when I found this light.

It's from Good Earth Lighting and usually costs about $90. Here's the kicker, I got it for $8.50!!! With shipping it came in just a little bit under $20, which is unbelievable. 

I was really excited, but a little apprehensive about whether or not it would have all it's parts and function properly. When it arrived this past Wednesday, I took everything out of the box, and checked for missing or broken parts, and it was all there, and in excellent condition. WOO-HOO! 

Mike started installing it on Friday, but because of the shotty way our house was constructed he had to do some improvisation. Just so happens our junction box was installed so that it was recessed about two inches,

properly installed junction box

 and it wasn't going to be as simple as it should have been, so he took a break from it, and last night he figured out some way to make it work. (have I ever mentioned how grateful I am for my handy husband!)

I am ecstatic about the way it looks installed. It changes the look and feel of the whole bathroom dramatically. I don't think I've ever seen a light fixture do so much for a space before. It took the bathroom from ehhh-  functional and efficient, to my soon to be spa haven. I LOVE IT!

Here are some before and afters of the room so far. We have some more projects that we're still working, on, but it's finally starting to come together!

Please excuse the not so great photos this bathroom has zero natural light!

I really wish I had taken better photos of the light before. 

We spray painted the old frame with a hammered metallic to hold us over until we got a new one.

Here's the view from our "sink nook" which is just outside the bathroom.

 It's SO much better already! This light definitely has some serious "bang for it's buck" I still just can not get over how huge of a difference it made. 

Where do you find amazing deals?

In the Mood for a Bath

Our Master Bath is in SERIOUS need of a makeover. I have some photos of it, but I'll save those for the end because I don't want to scare you away. 

Here's the moodboard for the Bathroom and Sink Nook.

Sources-
1. Paint by Mythic. I won't be to picky when it comes to the paint color as long as it's in the tan/khaki/greige family. I can't be because I am hoping Mike can snag a gallon from his boss for very little cost.
2. Inspiration Lamp from Layla Grace, though at 200 smackers we'll have to improvise.
3. Our improvisation. I am going to paint or use fabric to add some stripes to this baby from CB2.
4. The Champaign Bath Bar from Savoy House is something I don't know that I will be able to cut costs on. I love it in a million ways, and I think it will look totally fab!
5. This "Compacted Canvas" from Home Decorators Collection would look amazing in our bath. I'm hoping that I will be able to achieve a very similar look myself. Time to get out my paint brush!
6. I am head over heels for these Antique Tile mirrors from West Elm are A-MA-ZING, but at $150 each I think this will have to be another DIY for me. I already have three similar sized mirrors, now I just need to transform them.
7. The shower head and knob are the Telford Line by Moen. They were purchased at Home Depot.
8. We plan on staining some trim and using it to frame the builder's grade mirror in our sink nook.
9. We have a space saver for over our toilet. We've had it forever and I don't know where we bought it.
10. Some nice New Towels! The ones pictured are from Target. I purchased some from JCPenney last fall, but they were misplaced during our move. I really hate to buy new ones, when I already did!

11. I found a very similar garden stool at Ross for only $25! WOO-HOO!

12. I actually was so lucky to find this shower curtain at Big-Lots for $15! YAY! I don't think they have it anymore, but $39.99 on amazon is still a pretty decent price.

13, 16, 17, 18. The towel bar, hook and rings are the Crestfield line by Moen. We got them at Home Depot
14. We ordered our Moen- Belden faucets from overstock when they were having a big sale on bath fixtures.
15. I added this double sink vanity from Home Decorator's Collection because I really like the color. I think for now we are just going to refinish our existing vanity with a dark stain, but a girl can dream, right?

We are using the colors from this basket and it's liner as our inspiration and starting point.

Now, that you have an idea of where we are trying to go, I'll show you what we are currently dealing with.

WARNING: These photos may cause you extreme nausea and eye pain!

what were they thinking! why red?!? why not a nice tan!?!

I played with it in photoshop for a minute to give you an idea of what we want the walls to look like. They came out a little greener than they will be in real life, but they are still WAY better than the current red/orangey mess!

This is a shot looking from our bedroom into our sink nook, the bathroom is behind the curtain.

We have all the fixtures taken care of now, and most of the accessories, now we just need to patch the million holes, go crazy with the sander and get those walls painted!

Our other bathrooms aren't much better. They are full of some crazy wall paper!

Do you have any rooms in your home that you have no clue what the previous owner was thinking?

Let there be Light!

We had a very busy weekend with lots of running around to do, but we still managed to get quite a lot done around the house. I am in awe of my husband for installing four light fixtures in less than 24 hours. He is quite the pro! ( I suppose I may be a bit bias, but that's ok. it's my blog) Here are some not so great shots of the lighting that I took with my iPhone.

this fixture is directly overhead when walking in the front door, and was a replacement for a boob light that I was thrilled to say farewell to.

this replaced the worn out 20 year old brassy looking light that hung just to the right of the front door. We have a few more changes to make to the exterior, but this made a HUGE difference!

this was the replacement for yet another old brassy lamp that just needed to go in our powder room. With this addition all of the hardware/ fixtures in the powder room are complete. simple but sophisticated.

this is our new dining room chandelier and most definitely my favorite of them all. when we bought the house there wasn't any fixture in the dining room, and it was not very inviting. what a difference a chandelier can make. we might throw some shades on it eventually, but for now we are just enjoying the beauty of it.

What have we been up to?

I have been working on a timeline over the past couple of days to see just how much progress we have achieved since purchasing our house two months ago. It's interesting to me how differently my brain processes data when it's presented in another way. Before we actually owned the home we put together a timeline of what we thought we would be able to get down in the first two weeks. WOW! those two weeks went by fast, and we still haven't gotten everything done that we thought we would right off the bat. I think that is a prime example of what HGTV has done to my mind as well as the minds of other innocent viewers. You see these dramatic transformations completed over a few days, and it makes it hard to be realistic when scheduling work on your own home. I suppose it would be possible if I had a staff of 30 plus people and some of that TV "magic" but alas I do not. We are just two average homeowners putting all we've got into our poor beat up house trying to love it back into a home. So far, so good. I am quite happy with what we've accomplished.

If you want to have a look at what we've been up to just check out our timeline and you'll be up to speed in no time. (hint: it'll be much easier to read if you click on  it and open it in a new window)

I hope you enjoyed checking out our progress. We have sure enjoyed the process. We still have a to do list that is 3 pages long, and always growing so check back soon to see what we're up to!

Lots of Love,

The Barkanics

Dreaming Big!

If you've read any of my previous posts it was probably quite apparent to you, that I like to plan things out before getting started on them, especially when it comes to decorating our home. The fact that we have to wait till closing just makes this disease of mine worse. If it weren't for my amazing husband I would probably have every single detail worked out and the fixtures and supplies ordered before we even signed the contract. 

Here are some shots of the upstairs bathroom which also has a door directly to Livi's room.

this is the view from the loft/ playroom

This is the view from Livi's bedroom.

The layout isn't bad for the size of the room, but the wallpaper and vanity are certainly in need of some updates.

I was looking through Domino: The Book of Decorating, searching for some inspiration when I came across Krista Ewart's awesome pink and white striped bathroom. LOVE IT! These are not your everyday run of the mill stripes. I love how when the stripes reach the ceiling they start to converge into a center point, a la circus tent! A-MA-ZING!  

I found this sweet chandi on ebay for about $40! I think it will look fabulous!

As more details come in for the bathroom I'll be sure to share them here. It's surely a good thing that I am married to a painter, or these circus tent stripes would be nothing more than a pipe dream. Gotta love the Hubs!