I mentioned in my previous post, that I have declared January 2020, my month of Creativity!

So with that in mind, since it is still January, I wanted you to know that my creativity is not limited to art on canvas - I also am obsessive about interior design and diy projects!

While my house was in good shape when I moved in, I always feel there is room for improvement, if not just to make your home yours. That first summer in my new home, I made a long list of renovation and DIY projects I wanted to complete. Some were very expensive and required outside help, but others were DIY projects that I knew I could do myself.

So for my first post in my DIY: Before and After Series, I am going to show you how I transformed my small 3FT x 5FT powder room for under $450.00 and finally made it a room I wanted to use.

My small 3 x 5 powder room has been in need of a face lift since I moved in.

This is what it looked like mid- renovation.

I wish I had photos just prior to this step so that you could have seen the cabinet I removed from that back wall but unfortunately my photo taking only started here.

The cabinet was wall to wall on that back wall. It had 2 doors painted the worst shade of brown you can imagine (yes that one) and it had wooden scrolls attached to the doors which were also painted in the same lovely color.

That cabinet was in there so solid that a 10 point earthquake would not have shaken it from the wall.

It was a good 1 day job removing all the 4” nails, molding, plaster and everything else used to hold it up.

Needless to say, removal of that cabinet left me with more plastering and sanding than I had originally thought.

To make it worse, I removed the molding in the corner of the wall only to discover that I now had a 1 inch gap on each side of the 90 degree angle of the wall. So that’s why they had the molding there!

But even though that cabinet was an eye sore, the thing that bothered me THE most about this bathroom was the sink.

In fact, if there had been another sink in there I may have lived with that bathroom as it was. You can see it in this picture on the right.

It may not be so obvious in the picture, but trust me when I say that this sink looked like a miniature version of a pedestal sink. I forget the exact height but it only reached to my waist (and I am short). Yes, this bathroom could only withstand a very small sink but this looked ridiculous - it had to go.

Oh also, I forgot to mention, that this is the after picture for the toilet seat too. The original one was “wooden”!

I also changed that just before I snapped my before pictures.

The light fixture (which you cannot see very well) was art deco but not intentionally. Not being a big fan of art deco in any case, that had to go too.

And now, here is what it looks like now!

Unbelievable change right and here are the details and costs of what I did:

• New toilet seat cover $ 22.00

• New vanity and sink $168.00

• New faucet $105.00

• Wallpaper $132,00

• New mirror $16.99

• Misc accessories $0.00 (I used what I had in other rooms!)

• Labor $0.00 (Used my own elbow grease)

• Plumber $0.00 (Friend of the family)

TOTAL COST = $443.00 Canadian Dollars

The Details:

Vanity
So the vanity and sink were the biggest cost but still pretty inexpensive since it included both the vanity AND sink (and I love the sink). This was the biggest challenge since I had to find a sink I liked which was LESS THAN 15” in depth. They do exist but most are wall mounts which I could not do since the wall would not bear it. I had to find a sink with a vanity which was unusually small in first - depth and second - in width since the room was so small. Most I found with these dimensions were just awful so it was only when I found this one that I was motivated to start. I fell on this one totally by accident at a large box/home improvement store here in Canada (Rona Hardware - thank you!.)

Faucet
The faucet was also a big box store find - Home Depot. Honestly it was a last minute purchase since the plumber was coming and I had to just get something that same day. I probably could have found something cheaper if I had more time- my bad - but I do love it.

Wallpaper
The wallpaper from York Wall Coverings was, of course, the “piece de resistance” - the piece that made everything work. I love this wallpaper. It is peel and stick and I purchased it online here and will definitely do it this way again next time I want to wallpaper. This went on beautifully, was easy to apply and was very forgiving. Note: In a small room like this with so many cut outs you really need to have experience wallpapering to attempt this DIY project. Not for the faint of heart.

Mirror & Other Accessories
Home Sense (I believe Home Goods in the States is the same) is really the best place for all of these little details that make a room come to life. I had bought the mirror about 6 months prior to doing the reno since I knew this was the mirror I wanted. Other accessories, as shown in my bathroom, could also be purchased at HomeSense. I had these little faux plants in my living room and just decided to relocate them to the bathroom!

Labor and Plumber
Yes it’s true that had I used and paid for outside help on the labor and plumbing, the cost of this DIY might well have been over 1000.00. But if you have any skill at all in DIY you can avoid the labor charges. Removing the cabinet, plastering and sanding is an easy though very physical job. If you are up to it you can save yourself the cost of outside help which is probably 8 hours of work, multiplied by their rate, which you can estimate at anywhere from $40-$80 dollars an hour so add $320-$640 for labor if you can’t do this yourself. As for the plumber, well there was probably less than 1 hour of work to install the cabinet and faucet and in retrospect, I probably (and you if you are a DIYer) could have done this myself. Luckily we have a friend who is a plumber and he only asked for the short rib dinner I was making in payment!

I hope you enjoyed this, in the first of my DIY: Before and After Series. I’d love to hear from you.
Have you tackled DIY’s yourself? How did it go and how much did you save! Leave comments below!

PS. Don’t forget to check out my handmade shop full of delightful finds.