oh chandy, you came and you gave without taking.

so, most rooms in my house have nothing hanging on the walls, and the same depressing paint colors and  boob light fixtures that were there when we moved in over a year ago.  one bedroom is entirely void of furniture, finneas' room has a duvet cover nailed to the wall for a black-out curtain, and our master bedroom has dropcloth curtains and bare, cracked, chipped, sad, paintless, grey, plaster walls.  our rugs are all too tiny for the rooms they're in, and one of them was covered in cat hair when it was found in the dumpster behind our old apartment building.

sad, sad, sad.

part of the delay in settling everything has been due to the busyness of the last year.  we closed on our house in may, moved everything out of our apartment and cleaned it before it turned over in june, found out we were pregnant in july, went on vacation in august, went on another vacation in september, got through the fall and holiday season, spent january and february nesting and making freezer meals before finneas came, actually brought finneas home in march, and pretty soon it had been a year and very little had been done in our house.

the other part of the delay was due to the fact that we're raising and diapering and clothing three kids on a single income, while also paying for such luxuries as heat and food.  as much as i would love to be able to drop a couple thou on rugs and curtains and lighting and more practical seating for the living room, it's just not do-able.  so that's my other excuse for not having done anything at all: that i'm not a bajillionaire.

well, folks.  that popcorn ceiling massacre a while back released something in me and i've decided to do what i can with what i've got.  and you know what?  necessity is the mother of invention ugliness and tightwad-edness are the mother of my recent powder room overhaul.

let's look. 

the 'before' shot.  don't let the lighting fool you, the paint color was a dead-ringer for the color of a smoker's fingernails.  you can't see the boob light in this picture, but i promise she's up there, watching over you with creepily-unsubtle maternal protection.

AND NOW...

yeah, baby.  (austin powers, anyone? is everyone too young and/or with-the-times to act like they remember that at this point?)  the wall color is journey by valspar and is a really rich brown with charcoal tones.  the paint is the only thing i spent money on specifically for this project, and if i had gotten paint and primer in one (like i requested but didn't get and didn't notice until too late), it would have only taken a quart.  i painted the trim with semi-gloss white i already had on hand. 

as far as the previous owners can tell, the toilet was original to the house.  the plant i bought for 50 cents at a garage sale, and though it's in a cheapo plastic pot, i tried painting it with acrylics to make it look more clay-like.  i also bought the picture frame at a garage sale, where it was priced at ten cents because it looked like this:

i just hot glued some fabric scraps to it and declared it art.

the tiny counter.  large canning jar filled with soap, old listerine bottle, silver goblet thing also filled with soaps, and basket on left filled with tissues, all purchased for less than $3 total at garage sales.

the curtain is an old pillow sham that my mother in law found while cleaning out her house and gave to me.  clearly, i need a curtain rod rather than permanently hanging it with painter's tape, but you do what you gotta do to be modest without spending any money.  maybe someday i'll at least buy a podunk tension rod.

that little sign on the door says "WC" and it makes me feel british and also hoity-toity because i bought it on clearance at pottery barn a couple years ago.  three bucks maybe?

  

this was clearly already here, but i love it so i took a picture.  sue me.

and the BEST PART OF ALL! the over-the-top, covers-half-the-ceiling, stolen-from-the-formal-entryway chandelier.

when i had todd's dad move this from the entryway into the tiny bathroom, i'm pretty sure he thought i was crazy.  i KNOW todd thought i was crazy.  i also strongly suspect that any male guests who use our bathroom and hit their face on it while trying to pee also think i'm crazy.  but isn't she lovely, isn't she wonderful?

i painted the ceiling grey (just the wall color mixed with white) to offset the medallion we bought a long time ago.  i'd also like to point out that the ceiling is popcorn-less thanks to the many hours and the right bicep i sacrificed for the cause.  totally worth it.

one more look at the 'after' shot? okay, you twisted my arm.

so there you have it, our on-the-cheap bathroom makeover.  it motivates me to try to tackle more projects.  and save up some greenbacks for a tension rod.