Posts Tagged ‘Target

You read that right! I’m continuing to make progress in the guest bathroom. So far I’ve painted the disgusting gallbladder-colored walls with some lovely Route 66 gray and shared tips on how to paint around a toilet and hang shelves level.

Today I’m showing off the new hardware that replaced the cheap boring builder-grade hardware. And as always I’ve got a tip or two thrown in the mix to help make your life a little easier.

When we moved into our house a year and a half ago, the bathroom was looking a little queasy with the mustard colored walls. It also came with the cheapest builder-grade hardware that you can purchase:

In fact, it didn’t even have a towel ring or hook for a hand towel! I installed a small hook that I had on hand, but I never loved the look. Plus, the towel fell off the hook constantly right into the trash can.

All the new hardware was purchased at Target. I honestly do try to shop around at other stores, but I always end up finding exactly what I want for a great price at Target. Here’s what I purchased for my guest bathroom makeover:

I also found this darling little soap pump (also from Target) at Goodwill. The pump was broken, but I was able to fix it. Yay! I paid $6 at Gwil for it:

Everything was fairly easy to install. I am loving this new towel ring so much more than the little hook I previously had:

I really went back and forth about installing the ring here because of the plug outlet behind it, but in the end it seemed like the most logical place to hang a hand towel. I will just have to forgo plugging in any scented plugins.

I also installed a toilet paper holder exactly where the old crappy one was previously installed.

Oh, I also purchased a bronze wastebasket to match the hardware. Target.com didn’t have it listed so I couldn’t grab a picture of it from their site.

I’ve never owned a nice wastebasket. Isn’t that pathetic? All mine are either plastic or from the dollar spot. I finally bit the bullet on this nice one for the bathroom that all our guests use when they come over. Maybe some day I’ll splurge and replace the plastic ikea one I’ve got in my bathroom.

The other main piece of hardware I purchased was this towel bar that matches the towel ring and toilet paper holder.

Have you ever tried to install a towel bar? It’s kind of a pain! I actually ruined my wall trying to hang it. I had to patch the first set of holes and then install it a 2nd time to get it right. Argh!

My pain is your gain though. I finally found a very easy way to install the towel bar, so I wrote up a little tutorial for you.

Okay, the first step in installing a towel bar is to TAPE to the wall the paper guide that comes with the bar. I tried to hold it in place and mark my holes with a pencil, and trust me on this one. It was a total mess.

Once you have your paper guide exactly where you want it and you’ve double checked that it is level, insert your anchors half way into the wall THROUGH THE PAPER GUIDE. Don’t just make a pencil dot on your wall. Actually insert the anchors through the paper.

Side tangent: You know those little anchors that come with stuff like this? Um, ya, just throw them away. Go RIGHT NOW and buy a big box of
E-Z Anchors
and just keep them in your stash. First off, they hold a billion times better than those cheap little crappy ones that come with hanging kits. And second, they are so easy to install! Hammer them half way into the wall, then get a phillips screwdriver (the one with the plus sign on the tip) and screw them into the wall until they are snug. I highly recommend you buy these for all your anchor needs. End of tangent.

Next step for easy towel bar installation: Peel the paper template off the wall.

Now you have your anchors in exactly the right place! Suh-weet! From here, finish screwing the anchors into the wall until they are snug and flush.

You should now have perfectly placed anchors that are completely level. Now you can simply finish installing the towel bar using the directions that came in the box.

Once your bar is attached recheck that it’s still level. If it isn’t, try not to curse too loud and please refrain from beating the crap out of your new towel bar with a hammer. For the safety of everyone, let’s just assume the bar is level.

And that concludes the towel bar installation tutorial.

Here is a shot of the entire bathroom taken from inside the bathtub. It’s hard to get the whole bathroom in the picture!

This little ol’ bathroom is sure coming together nicely.

Next bathroom post will be all about the shower curtain! But for now, let me leave you with a side-by-side before and progress shot. Seeing them next to each other makes it so much more dramatic, dontcha think?

Here’s a list of where I got all the other decor/accessories that are in the bathroom:

* wicker basket on back of toilet – Garden Ridge
* fake plant & white planter – ikea
* shelves – TJ Maxx (I think)
* gray towel & hand towel – ikea
* yellow towel on shelf – already had (it isn’t staying in this room, FYI)
* both vases with sticks – Dollar Tree (vases) & Target (sticks) – the vases will be getting spray painted soon though

And one final mention:

Without my lovely sponsors and advertising on this blog, I would not be able to fund any of the projects I blog about! So please let me take a second to welcome my newest sponsor:

I wish I had known about Quality Bath before I bought all this new hardware for my guest bathroom. Because honestly, Quality Bath has some seriously great hardware options for great prices! They have hundreds of options! At Target I was limited with 4-5 options. At Quality Bath the sky is the limit.

They also have tubs, sinks, faucets, showers, lighting, and even kitchen accessories, sinks, faucets, and garbage disposals. If you are in the market for anything for your kitchen or bath, from hardware to tubs, check out Quality Bath. They have almost every single style, shape, and color of any bath or kitchen item you are in the market for.

Today one of my friends asked me how I can have blogged for almost 2 years now.

Wouldn’t I run out of content? How do I always think of what to write about?

Well, in short, if there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s talking!

My kids get in trouble for talking in class at school. Their teachers will ask me what they can do to get my kids to just stop talking already!

Honestly, I don’t know. I apologize for my children’s behavior and offer up a few half-hearted suggestions like taping their mouth shut or removing their vocal cords. Nothing works.

Poor teachers. They really have absolutely no hope. They are at the wrong end of a losing battle.

I got in trouble for talking too much from grade school through the end of High School. In fact, I was booted from an extra curricular class in 11th grade for talking too much. I seriously cannot seem to just shut the hell up!

It’s genetic. And both my kids inherited it.

And that, my friends, is why I always have something to say.

Oh, and I’m a huge tinkerer. I’m always tinkering and moving stuff around. There is always and will always be at least one project in the works at my home at all times. I just can’t help myself.

It’s an illness.

So, would you be surprised if I said I’ve been tinkering again? Probably not.

Well, I have. And it involves this horribly ugly, but perfectly clean and organized desk in my family room.

The plan for the past year has been to replace this ugly desk with a pretty one so the kids have a nice place in our family room to work on the laptop, do homework, and color.

What we have had instead is something more like this:

I LOVE keepin’ it real, yo. Just telling it like it really is.

Their desk has turned into the catchall of the house. It is a nightmare.

(pictures were taken in December hence all the Christmas crap)

The kids can’t even use the desk for their homework because it’s always covered in piles and piles of random crap.

And the plastic drawer organizer next to the desk is not doing my family room any favors either.

This little area of my house is one big fat HOT MESS.

I finally put a stop to the hot mess madness. If the kids (oh, okay, myself too) can’t keep their desk clean, then guess what? They don’t get one anymore.

{Don’t worry, I’m not that mean. I relocated their crafting supplies to the kitchen and now they color at the breakfast table.}

I totally found the perfect piece of furniture to replace the desk, and besides being free! (I already owned it) it also fits the space so much better!

Do you remember that sofa table I had behind my couch?

Yes, the same sofa table that use to be my king sized headboard.

Well, I love the new sofa table, but honestly, after a few months of living with it behind the couch, I wasn’t sold. It was hard to see back there, I had to move my couch closer to the TV taking up valuable floor space, and whenever anyone plopped down on the sofa (like, daily) they would inevitably knock something off the table and onto the floor.

Getting rid of the trash heap desk instantly gave me an idea. What if I pulled the sofa table over to the desk wall and scooted my couch back again?

Absolutely love it.

The table fits the wall so much better than the desk. It also shows off the table and makes it a focal point instead of it hiding behind the couch.

It also opens up the walkway a lot more and makes the room feel so much bigger.

(Say hi to Ben!)

I also feel like I have a lot more freedom in decorating the sofa table now. Before, when it was behind the couch, I was afraid to put anything fragile on it in fear that it would get knocked onto the floor.

Well, now I can actually put stuff on it. I’m still trying to figure out how I want to decorate it, but I’m really digging the clutter-free, minimalistic decor approach right now. Less is more they say.

The burlap covered lamp (tutorial here) is a necessity as our family room has horrible lighting.

The pots of grass are all from ikea (both the grass and the pots).

The cute little cacti look perfectly placed nestled in the corner of the table.

(Find out what happened to the cacti’s brother here. Sad, but true story.)

My most recent Target score is this adorable guy:

I’ve been eying this Buddha Pillar Candle Holder for foreveh’. But dang it, it has never once gone on sale. Ever. And I’m way too cheap and broke to pay $30 for it, even though it’s quirky and cute.

Well, as luck would have it, I found it at Target last week for $4.88! I am not yanking your chain y’all.

There were 3 available, and this guy was the only one with a clearance sticker. The other two were full price.

I managed to find one tiny chip on it’s back, hardly visible to the naked eye. I’m assuming this is why he was on clearance? I do not know.

All I know is that I snatched him up so fast and sprinted to the check out. I nervously waited as she rang him up. I just knew it had to be a mistake and she would take my Buddha away from me. But nope. $4.88 later, he was mine. All mine.

My mom thinks I’ve gone crazy loco for collecting not one, but two Buddhas. I don’t know why I like them. I just do.

Here’s a full view of the family room (pre tv-mounting extravaganza) to give you a better idea of the placement of said sofa table.

So see? I’ve been tinkering again. I thought the sofa table had a permanent home behind the sofa, but here we are 4 months later and I’ve already moved it. Maybe it will stay here permanently, but you never know. I love it today, but tomorrow I might drag it around the house again.

All I know is that with all this tinkering and furniture switching, I will probably have enough content for this blog for the next 10 years! So help us all!

Are you a tinkerer? Do you constantly have to be rearranging your furniture and nick-knacks? Or are you of the more sane variety and can just leave stuff alone?!

*the art above the sofa table is by Rodney White. You can read all about my crush on him here.

This week I’ve randomly decided to start obsessing about my piano room again.

There’s really no rhyme or reason to what goes on inside my head. I’m having a hard time finishing any one room because I get so bored so quickly. I like to randomly hop from one project to another; most of the time before the first project is even completed.

So anyway, this week is Project-Piano-Room. Here’s where we last left off…

…carpet lines and all. I swear, these carpet vacuum lines have been heard ’round the world. Who woulda thunk a few lines would cause such a commotion?! (Several people have asked, so a carpet vacuum line tutorial is in the works. Fo’ shizzle.)

Okay, so first on the ixnay list: get rid of those chairs. Which I did. The maroon one went in my bedroom and the brown one is in my family room.

I drug the two captains chairs for my dining table in here, but obviously you can’t sit in them at the moment… Still working on that project too. :/

I’ve decided though that I’m just going to purchase two new chairs. As in, brand-new-from-the-store (not Craigslist or goodwill!). I’m doin’ it! Soon, my pretties, very soon. So, um, anyway, I guess just ignore the dining chairs as well ’cause they aren’t stayin’ either.

Isn’t my little orchid so cute?! Target. For five bucks on clearance. I swear, I am the queen of Target Clearance. I should do a post dedicated to showing you how to shop the clearance at Target. ‘Cause I’m the clearance master.

Back to the point. Wait. I haven’t even gotten to the point yet. Well alrighty then. The point today is ::drum roll::

Curtains.

I bet you so didn’t see that one coming. ::sarcasm, people. sarcasm::

I want curtains in here. Really bad. And I just so happened to be browsing through my linen closet the other day when I stumbled upon these bad boys:

Almost two years ago my best friend Heather gave me FOUR curtain panels that she didn’t want anymore. And they are nice. Really nice. But they are Toile. And I don’t know how I feel about Toile in my piano room. I mean, it’s really not the style of the room at all.

(Toile is pronounced TWALL).

So, what exactly is Toile? What does it mean?!!!

I used the ol’ ugooglizer and came up with this definition:

Basically, black and white fabric with fancy European people in fancy clothes and little fancy parasols printed on it.

But what the heck. I already have them which makes them FREE, and they are cute, though not really the style I’m going for in the piano room, but I’ll give them a go anyway.

To get a full visual I decided to take some thumb tacks and tack them on the wall.

Oh ya baby!

Heavens to Betsy, I think I actually like the way they look. Trust me, I am more shocked than you.

But I’ve got four panels so let’s just see what it would look like if I added another panel between the windows…

Oh, er, ugh, ick. No thank you. It’s like Toile threw up in here.

Plus, now it looks like I’ve added a curtain panel down the center of one large window instead of having two small windows in here. And that is just plain stupid. Don’t do that. It looks dumb. Okay?!

Two and through is what I say. Two and through. Oh wait, I say that about my kids… Um, two is plenty? Two is enough? Let’s just stick with the two panels.

But, Roger, we’ve got a problem here…

These things are in high water central. And considering Austin is in one of the worst droughts ever, we do not need to be preparing curtains for a flood.

So I bought a yard of dark gray fabric at IKEA to attach to the bottom of the curtains to lengthen them.

I’m not really 100% ready to bust out the sewing machine just yet, so I used some safety pins to attach the fabric just so I could see if I was even going to like this idea.

The result? I think they are going to look glamfabulous when I’m done with them. The gray actually makes them more luxurious. Now they POP!

I may even add a smaller strip to the top. You will just have to wait and see!

Isn’t this just the worst way to end a post?! I know. I’m so mean. But seriously, in my defense, I need to now go buy two curtain rods, sew up the curtains, then get them all installed… like a car stereo.

Part two will be on it’s way soon. I just wanted to show you my thought process when I decide to decorate the way I do. I test things out. Visualize different looks. And I even use tacks to give me the look I want before I do any permanent damage.

I’m 100% confident in exactly the kind of curtains I want for this room. Now that I’ve visualized it and planned it all out, hopefully I’ll be able execute the plan without any hiccups. That’s the plan at least.

Are you a planner and a tester? Or do you just throw caution to the wind and execute projects before thinking them through?!

Do you like the toile? I’m thinking the room will be Mid-Century European meets modern classic. Ya, that’s what I’ll call it. Or I can just call it “Allison’s random decorating style with no rhyme or reason (except cheapness).” That works too.

So, bottom line: I’m using the Toile curtains. I’m adding some additional dark gray fabric to them. I’ll hang them soon. The End.

And Heather, I miss you! Thanks again for the curtains. I love them. I hope you don’t want them back! Ha! If so, I have two panels left over that I can send to you.

I’m a step ahead of you. Here are all the answers to your questions before you ask me:
• The gray paint color is Route 66 by Dutch Boy. The white trim is Alabaster by Sherwin Williams.
• The yellow in the hallway is Honey Bear by Dutch Boy.
• My pictures for my tutorial on how to hang box moulding were accidentally deleted, but here’s the link anyway.
• Here’s how I added moulding around my windows with rounded edges.
• The little black table is from Target. Shocker.
• No, I still have not painted the piano. And I still don’t know what color to paint it.
• I made the red pillows. Here’s the tutorial.
• The plate rack leaning in the corner is from Garden Ridge about 9 years ago.

I think that should cover it. Feel free to ask me anything else I forgot to include in this list.