Improvised Toothbrush Holder

So I know lots of people like to keep their toothbrush hidden away in the safety of a medicine cabinet or such. But not me. I like to keep my toothbrush on the counter -- within easy reach. I mean, you never know when you're going to have a toothbrushing emergency!

I must brush my teeth right this second!! I don't have time to be opening up all kinds of DOORS just to gain access to my toothbrush!!!

Or maybe I'm just lazy. Truth is, it is just how I grew up -- with our toothbrushes out in the open, hanging in one of those ever-so-lovely metal holders attached to the wall (think circa 1970's). Something like this:

And you can argue with me all you want that it isn't very ~pretty~ to see a toothbrush sitting out in plain sight (THE HORROR!) or that it is unsanitary (even BIGGER Horror!). But franky, our master bath isn't Grand Central Station and, well... we follow a strict closed-seat-flush rule in our house. So... I want my toothbrush on the counter, gosh darnit!

But have you tried to buy a toothbrush holder lately?? Clearly the toothbrush holder makers have not actually purchased a toothbrush anytime in the last couple of decades. And the toothbrush makers apparently don't actualy talk to the holder makers, because... they don't fit each other!!  Most "modern-day" toothbrushes are fat at either the top or the bottom or BOTH.

 

And yet, it seems every toothbrush holder out there has these cute little, tiny, petite holes. And even if the holes are big enough, half of them look like they would topple over every time you breathe on them, let alone when you are grappling for your toothbrush in a foggy morning haze. Um, yeah. Not gonna work.

I need something with a wide opening - like a cup - that won't topple over on me if I look at it funny. Well.... on a trip to Target, I spotted something! The style/shape/color are just what I'm looking for!! EUREKA!!

But wait... No. It's just a paper cup dispenser. And you can't actually store anything in it -- except paper cups.

:(

But then I started thinking... hey, can I make this work somehow? So, I took a closer look at the inside "mechanism" and noted how it worked. There was a flat disc on which you would place your cups (face down) and then a big giant spring under the disc that you would push down and compress as you inserted your pile of cups into the dispenser. It was clear that I could not remove the disc from the outer cup - it was just too big to fit through the opening. Hmmmm... but what if I could remove the spring?

So once I got the dispenser home, I attacked it. I pushed the disc down enough so that I could turn it sideways a little bit in order to gain access to the spring. And after a little finagle-ing (is that a word?) I managed to get the end of the spring out the top. Then I just pulled the rest of it out and the disc simply fell to the bottom -- TADAAAA! 

After the spring was removed - disc meant as base for paper cups is now floating around in there

Disc now fallen to bottom of holder

I now had myself a perfectly shaped, sturdy "cup" that wouldn't topple over and could easily hold my toothbrush (or whatever else I chose to put in there). Wahoo!

And I liked how it turned out so much that I bought a second one for my makeup brushes (which I do keep in the medicine cabinet :)

 

Powder Room Makeover

As mentioned in previous posts (such as HERE) we were pleased that our house was (relatively) move-in ready when we bought it 2 years ago. But, while ALL of the walls had been freshly painted, they were ALL the same.exact.color. Yes, even the ceilings had been painted that same color. And every surface, in every room was done in semi-gloss! Now, I don't know what the color is called, but it comes closest to the color of one of these...

... but not quite so yellow and colorful. {HAHA}. I knew we could live with it for a while, especially since it meant I could add furniture and decor in any style, color, etc. to any room. But eventually, it began to wear on me. I got soooooooooo tired of seeing the same. exact. color on every surface of this house!! I need color!!! I want to paint!!

...but...

The ceilings on the main floor of our house are 9 feet tall. And our master bedroom and bath have slanted cathedral ceilings. And our foyer is two full stories high. And while I am plenty capable of doing a nice paint job on a "normal" sized room, I just don't have the capacity to deal with ladders or *gulp* scaffolding! So that means hiring a professional painter.

...but...

Due to the open floor plan of the main level and foyer, I know that if we do one room (i.e. - the Family Room) we probably need to do the kitchen and the dining room and the foyer and the upstairs hallway and..... ummmm.... can you say CHA-CHING?!?!?

Yeah, we just don't have the money right now to hire someone to paint this entire house.

BOOHOO

But as I said, I need some color somewhere, darnit! So I decided to take the plunge a baby step and do the powder room on the main floor. Here are a few pictures of the bland before. The only "change" I had made at this point was to install a new towel rack. (and sorry these pics aren't the greatest - it is hard to take good pics of such a small space that has no natural light).

Powder Room Before - Blah!

Plastic "Brass" Light {EEK!} and Boring Mirror

Shortly after we moved in, I found these prints at Target and fell in love with the color scheme. There were two in the set and I hung them on opposite walls.

Print from Target

I added some nice Chocolate Brown hand towels (from Target) and found this soap dispenser (and a matching kleenex holder) at Bed Bath and Beyond (and YES, of course I used a couple of 20% off coupons! This is ME, after all!).

(note that boring wall color - our ENTIRE house is this color!!)

I really like the chocolate brown and eggshell blue color scheme so I decided to match the blue of the soap dispenser for the paint color knowing it would keep things fresh and light in this small room. I went with Valspar (from Lowes) in Lake Breeze. I also bought a new light fixture and mirror.

And I have to say... I am SO pleased with how well it all came together!!! Here are some pics of the finished product. (It is kind of hard to really see the true blue in these pics. Take my word for it when I say that it really isn't quite as washed out as it seems in these pics. It is such a pretty, soft aqua).

Lovely New Light Fixture from Lowes 

I love the two-tone look and the bevel on this mirror
(from Bed Bath and Beyond)

So hard to get a good pic in this small space!

I love these little mirrors I found at HomeGoods
(there is a third one on the opposite wall)

I still need to replace the faucet on the pedestal sink, but overall... I think the makeover was a success!

As always, here is the before and after:

BEFORE

AFTER

So? I know I like it! What do you think??

:)


This project was featured by It's So Very Cheri! Thanks Cheri!!

I'm linking this post to the following parties:

Silly Little Sparrow
Between Naps on the Porch
Its So Very Cheri
The Shabby Chic Cottage
A little knick knack
Remodelaholic
House of Hepworths

Mirror Transformation (aka the Frame Fiasco)

So a few days ago I shared my Master Bath Makeover HERE . One of the big impact changes I made was to add a mirror frame to our humongo builder-grade  mirror.

Now, I have seen other wonderful DIY-ers who built their own frame using molding and liquid nails. (of course now I can't find any links). But I didn't want to deal with cutting my own wood and glue and all that hassle.  So, when I stumbled across the Mirror Mate website HERE , I was sold! The measuring process was surprisingly easy since they provide you with detailed instructions on how to do it. The hardest part is choosing which frame you want. I sent away for a few samples (I think it was $5 for 3 different frame samples) and decided on this one:

Pemaquid Black (photo courtesy Mirror Mate)

I ordered the frame in early December 2009 with the intention of putting it up over my Christmas vacation. Unfortunately, due to some family medical emergencies, this wasn't possible.

So it sat... and sat... and sat... in our garage. For a loooooooong time.

Finally, about 3 months ago, I decided I was going to put the darn thing up already! So I unpacked the frame pieces and laid them all out in our dining room. Only to discover that the Heelamonster (my husband) had "misplaced" (aka "lost") the assembly kit which had been mailed along with the frame pieces.

So the frame sat... and sat... and sat... in our dining room while Heela "looked" for the missing kit.

 After about a month, I couldn't take it anymore so I called Mirror Mate and told them we had lost the kit and that I wanted to buy a new one. Well, I'll be darned if they didn't send me a new one free of charge! How nice was that???

~~happy dance!~~

So after yet another month, I FINALLY set out to get the darn thing up already! First I laid out all my pieces in the playroom...

Ready for Assembly!          

Then I followed the instructions and put it all together

Ready to Hang!

Now it's time to go put it on the mirror! YAY!


Wait... NO... It won't work... CRAPOLA!!!

*sigh*

So the installation concept is that you basically take your frame and walk straight towards your mirror and stick it on (more or less). Simple. Provided that... there is nothing blocking your "straight-on attack" on either side. Which is what we had. On both sides!! AUGH! On the right we have a medicine cabinet that sticks out a bit that we had to somehow shimmy around. And on the left, we have this built-in shelf thingy (yes, that is the technical term) which we realized we would have to cut away enough so that the frame could fit in the newly-created gap. (Obviously, I hadn't thought about these obnoxious design elements when I ordered the frame!)

In-the-way Medicine Cabinet - CHECK!

Cut-Away Shelf Thingy - CHECK!

Once we got the "gap" big enough (using a chisel to remove some of the molding at the end of the shelf), we knew we'd have to slide the frame in from above (after shimmy-ing around the medicine cabinet) (and without letting the frame stick to the mirror until we wanted it to). But, as our luck would have it, our lovely ~Hollywood Lights~ prevented us from sliding the frame in from above. CRAPOLA!  But, thankfully, we knew we wanted to replace those anyway, so we decided there was no time like the present!

Light Fixtures Removed - CHECK!

This created enough room on top to raise the frame up and... FINALLY, after much cursing, we were able to shimmy the frame around the medicine cabinet, slide it down into the newly-created gap and stick it into place. 

YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY! 

And although I'll admit it was a huge headache to install,

 I LURVE IT!!

Frame Finally Installed - CHECK!

Now before you freak out decide to choose another option, I have to say that this product really is easy to install. You just have to be careful if you have any design elements on the sides of your mirror that could be in your way and prevent you from taking a "straight-on" approach. Otherwise, (as you can see if you check out the helpful installation video on Mirror Mate's website), it really is easy peasy! And in all honestly, I would definitely recommend the product AND use it again!

Here is another view of the Before and After

BEFORE

AFTER

SO??? What do you think?? Nice transformation, huh?

For the record, I have not been compensated in any way by Mirror Mate for this review or for using the product. I paid full price for my frame (ok, not true - I used a discount code I found online - this is ME, after all!!) and was given no personal guidance on installation (clearly!! LOL)

Master Bath Makeover





We bought our house a couple of years ago and were thrilled that it was already in really nice shape which meant we weren't going to have to tackle a lot of new projects immediately upon move-in. We just didn't have the energy at the time.

And while the kitchen had been upgraded with lovely silestone countertops, tile floors and ~stainless steel appliances~, the rest of the house had only had the basics done - fresh, but plain jane neutral paint everywhere and neutral new carpeting upstairs. The rest of the decorative touches in the house are all "builder grade" boring. From the mid-1990's. Which means a lot of BRASS door knobs and HONEY OAK cabinets. Loverly! NOT! But, we knew we could live with it all until we could find the time, energy and money to make some changes.

And... we lived with it... and lived with it.. and lived with it. For like 20 years until I finally asked my toddler to poke my eyes out with a fork.

OK, that isn't true... it's only been 2 years, not 20. But it feels like it's been forever!

When I finally decided to make some changes, I figured the most logical place to start was the master bathroom. After all, it is where I start and end every day - shouldn't it be a pleasant experience? It already had a nice double sink vanity but... it was HONEY OAK, with a HUGE, plain, unframed mirror above. And the whole thing was topped off with *~*HOLLYWOOD LIGHTS*~*.

Don't you wish your bathroom was HOT like mine? Don't you? Don't you?

This doesn't show all of the wonderful features we were presented with when we moved in, but here is a photo from the original real estate listing (funny how they didn't want to show off the oak cabinets or the hollywood lights either!).

The first thing I did was get rid of the pink curtains. I searched everywhere for the right length but couldn't find ANYTHING that was 52" (unless I wanted to pay for custom - which I didn't!). Eventually, I found some "make-your-own length" panels at Ikea and was able to create some nice light and airy curtains in the perfect length I wanted. 

Next was to get rid of the HONEY OAK cabinets. Replacing them wasn't an option, so I painted them instead - a nice satin black - and added brushed nickel knobs to the doors. I LURVE the end result! More details to be provided on this project later.

The next thing i knew I wanted to renovate was the huge builder-grade mirror. Since the bathroom has cathedral ceilings, we can't paint the room ourselves and we just don't have the budget to hire professionals right now. So removing the mirror was not an option since we'd be left with no choice but to paint the area behind it. So.... Enter... a mirror frame! 

Now I know there are plenty of DIY-ers out there who have built their own frame and I applaud them. But, I opted for the custom-cut-kit route instead and am THRILLED with what an amazing difference it makes. More details on this project can be found HERE.

We finished off the look by replacing the Hollywood Lights with modern brushed nickel lovelies.

I still need to replace the faucets and we need to patch the holes in the wall left from the old light fixtures, and I want to replace the towel racks... but still... what a difference!

Here is the before (again, when we moved in) and after for you admiration:



BEFORE



AFTER




 

What do you think? I never enjoyed brushing my teeth so much! :)

This post was featured!! Thank you House of Hepworths!!

Linking this project up to the CSI Project's Beautiful Bathrooms Challenge

Squeeee!! I made the Top 10! Soooo honored!

This post was also featured by Remodelaholic! Thank you!!