Making a Bath Mat, Fail

I snagged a couple of bath mats on clearance and had the idea of putting them together to make a more interesting bath mat.

I thought chevrons.

Then I thought, eh, too much work.

The problem is once I finally got around to trying this, I already knew that I am completely changing the bathroom. So it's hard to put too much effort in.

I decided I would still try something, but simplified my idea to stripes.

I measured, marked the backs and cut.

Once I laid them out, I noticed that the mats were not quite the same size. Then I couldn't find the duck tape. At this point, with fuzzy bits all over the place I just about said, "screw it." (In a less PG version. ;) )

But I had come this far already. Might as well continue. I just grabbed some packing tape and taped the rug strips together from the back.

In the picture it's not as clear just how uneven the edge wound up being. Or how much fuzz I had every where.

In an ideal world I would have used actual carpet tape (at the very least duct tape) and I would have finished it by binding the edges, but I know I'm not keeping it. So, I was lazy. That's okay though. Not every project works out.    

Design on No Dime

Our bathroom needs help. I want to take the tile out, but it's just not in the cards right now.

I talked about the why's and how's of the dandelion shower curtain in this post.

I wasn't thrilled because it was just too dark for the space. Gabe ran in and exclaimed, "Cool, mom! You made it look smaller!" Uh, yeah. That's exactly what I was going for. :/

Then I wanted to steal the bathroom valence for the kitchen, so I replaced it with the one from the kitchen which I knew was too big, but I just went with it anyway.

It was starting to look like I should just throw up a disco ball and call it the seventies. It was getting bad. I cringed when people asked to use the bathroom because I didn't want them to see it!

But, with other things going on, I did not want to spend any money on it right now. So, I shopped my house.

I found green curtains I no longer use, and discovered that it takes two curtain panels to span the bathtub. I just put the tabs through the curtain rings and overlapped the panels in the middle.

I found the flower valence as well. I was surprised I still had it because it's just not my style anymore, but for the purposes of this bathroom, I was going with it because it fit the window better.

I didn't have anything that could stand in as a bath mat, so I tried to bleach the lime green one. But, alas, being made of synthetics, it didn't work. So, it doesn't really match, but still. It looks better than before.

Before.

After.

And I spent zero dollars!

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Shower Curtain Painting

I told you yesterday how to make a shower curtain out of a sheet. Today I'll tell you about the image.

I've been seeing dandelions everywhere (and not just in my yard. *cue drum, da-dunch). I particularly loved this image from Persia Lou:

So, that's what I decided would be on my new shower curtain, but I didn't want to paint it because I didn't want stiff fabric. I haven't really used fabric paints much. Anyone know about them?

I've been painting tee shirts with bleach for awhile. And I used the same technique.

I drew the image on the sheet with chalk. I made some changes (you might be able to see where I crossed out and wrote no).

Once I was satisfied, I got out the bleach. Brushes with white synthetic bristles work best. The bleach destroys other brushes. Dip your brush in the bleach and paint.

If you have ever painted with watercolors, it's reasonably similar, the only thing is it takes a moment before it shows where you have painted. It is like watercolor in that you really can't undo it. In that aspect, it's not for the faint of heart.

Unfortunately this fabric bled quite a bit on the stem so it's nearly twice as wide as I painted it. Grr.

As soon as I was done (and paint it all in one go), I washed it to remove the excess bleach/stop it from working.

Next I attempted to add some lime green with fabric dye, but it didn't really work.

If I saturated it enough, it spread too much. So I gave up and rewashed it. I am still thinking about trying some fabric paint because I would like a punch of bright green in the curtain.

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Eh. It's done. Bathroom project.

Problem: beige walls, beige tiles equals blah!

Detour: tried dark paint sample and it failed

Solution: cheap and easy, used leftover green paint.

Interesting side note: If you draw a line separating the front of the house from the back, every room on the back is now some form of green. Hmmm. Well, someday the master bedroom will get a new color. The green in there was inherited.

It's not adding a lot of contrast with the tiles. More than the original beige paint, but I'm just not wowed. 

I had intended to purchase something, but some unexpected expenses arose this month and I just couldn't stand the gray splotches from the tester anymore. So, I pulled out the leftover paint from the kitchen. Free is always good. 

Check out Little Man. He's always trying to get into photos! :)
 
My wish list for this bathroom is a new, slimmer vanity:

(source)
I like this one because I love dark wood, it has a full size sink, but slim body that has covered storage. (You can't tell from the picture, but the sink pops out more than the rest of the vanity.)It will make the room look a bit bigger. I'll have to save up a bit. 

I also want to take out all the tile and put in a new smooth bath surround because I don't like absolutely hate to clean grout! And I want beadboard wainscot in place of the rest of the tile. I've gone back and forth because some people say wainscot in the bath is bad because of moisture. What I think I would do though is seal it with a marine grad poly. With that, it should be fine, don't you think? Then I also want new colors and accessories. 

But other projects are priorities right now. Someday we'll get it all done...

FAIL

I'm pretty good with colors. I can usually be certain of a color just by the paint chip. But since, at least for now, I'm keeping the tile in my bathroom, I decided to buy one of those testers. Glidden has these cute little bottles that are kind of like nail polish bottles of paints. It's easy peasy, you just find the one you want and for a little less than $2, you're out of there, no waiting at the counter. 

I have beige tiles from the late 40s early 50s. I'm not sure really. These tiles look suspicously like tiles that are always labeled vintage 50s, but I know the house was built in the late 40s so my guess is that these tiles have always been there. And for the most part, they are in good condition.

I'd like to take it out, but I don't have the time, energy, or money to deal with that mess. So, working with beige it is. I thought about blue, but everybody and their brother and second cousin twice removed has a blue bathroom. I like to be different. (No offense if you have a blue bathroom because it usually looks good. I just don't want one. Okay? Friends again?) I decided to go with gray, but would gray work with the tile, I wondered? I kind of wanted a dark gray. Enter, the Glidden tester in Seal Gray...

...and FAIL! It doesn't work at all! Boo.

So, now I have dark gray (Deathstar Gray, people, not Seal, Deathstar) in my bathroom. Now I'm really motivated to fix it. I'm going back for a light gray with blue undertones. Wish me luck. It wasn't on the agenda, but apparently this week, I'll be painting a bathroom. ;)