Any inexpensive "sprucing up" suggestions for bedroom/bath...company coming!

[DDD]

husband invited sister in law to come visit for a few days. Once easy child/difficult child moved out (with all his furniture, etc. and with permission) I've had an empty bedroom and a bathroom that has no flair. Truthfully I never have been interested in doo-dads etc. Just focused on keeping things straight and fairly clean.

Well the bedroom has been painted, new verticals installed, a new bed and coverings purchased along with two new lamps. The floors are laminate and ok. There is zip on the walls. There is no rug on the floor. There is a nice table/chair set in the room and the end tables are aok. The closet has been rearranged so one side is ready for company. But the room as no personality or warmth. I plan to put fresh flowers on the table but still...can't figure what I can inexpensively add that doesn't look inexpensive. LOL

The bathroom no longer has the old ratty wallpaper. It's freshly painted and the color, thank heavens, matches a stripe in the shower curtain the way I hoped. But
there is nothing on the walls, vanity tops etc. to give it warmth. Any ideas??

Oh, yeah, I replaced the light switch plates so that's an improvement. Also put new hangers in the closet. What else can I do on the cheap..that would hlep. DDD

 

[LittleDudesMom]

Fresh flowers are always a great addition. A small bud vase with a one flower on the bedside table - some of your home decor magazines, a local paper, a couple cookbooks on the table/desk. A framed photo of members. A little basket with nice toiletries, some nice smelling potpourri, some battery operated candles that are four or five hour programable is a nice touch. Go around the house and look for a couple decorative plates - plate holders are really reasonable to Tuesday Morning if you have one of those nearby. An old quilt on the foot of the bed, a nice batch of throw pillows on the bed. I always make sure my overnight guests have any toiletries they may need, reading material, nice lotion, room smells nice, mood lighting, pad and pencil/pen, phone in the room, etc.

In the bathroom - you could always go someplace like Walmart and get some lotions and spray to put on the vanity, some little glass containers to put q-tips, cotton balls, makeup applicators, little decorative soaps, smelly candle..... I don't know you style, but mirrors or artwork on the walls is nice or perhaps a wicker shelf with rolled up hand towels and washcloths with one of those white bottles with pretty soap in it. Perhaps in the bathroom one of those diffusers with the bamboo sticks, you know what I mean. Those things are pretty affordable and you can find them almost anywhere nowadays.

I say go and browse Marshalls, Home Goods, Target, Walmart, Tuesday Morning, etc. All of those places have decorative bath and bed accessories. Another nice touch is glass perfume bottles. I have those on the vanity/dressing table in my mom's guest room upstairs. Nothing in them, but they look really pretty. How about some dresser or table runners - crochet or lace?

Have fun.

Sharon

 

[nvts]

What about hitting the dollar store and picking up some of the different candle holders and use them for potpouri/scented candles?

AC Moore/Michaels has lots of those various "dressing up" things really, really cheap too. Especially now - they're always ahead of the game for the "craftier" people out there so their wintery stuff is extremely marked down - spring is in full swing now and the summer stuff is arriving in droves.

You could even do the bathroom in a "summer" motif - with all the snow we've been having it's a nice "wishful thinking" atmosphere and since it's rarely used, you might even use it when you need a little respite from the doldrums of winter.

Beth

 

[HaoZi]

I'm with nvts, you can find a lot of "little touches" things at dollar stores, like decorative soaps. You could also check carpet places or somewhere like Lowe's for a good sized carpet remnant to use as an area rug to add some color and make those laminate floors not so cold on the feet first thing in the morning. Clearance aisles are also great places to find things or ideas. I have one of those Airwick flameless candle things, and I adore it, but potpourri gives me migraines anyway. Also check the travel-sized section of stores like Wal-Mart as well as the lotion section to find personal sized bottles/tubes of lotions, etc.

 

[Andy]

I have been enjoying switching up my bathroom for different seasons - A winter theme right now includes snowmen and nutcrackers. My Spring/Summer for now has soft colors. I love my Fall theme with bright rusts and oranges.

I get much of my items to decorate (including pictures for the wall) at second hand stores. I have found nice soap dishes, pictures for the wall, tiny vases, items to build on my theme.

One other idea that I do is put clings on the mirrors. They are sometimes hard to find but I do have snowflakes for the Winter, flowers for the Spring/Summer, and leaves for the Fall. Along the bottom, in one or two corners, or around the edge of the mirror are options to bring a little more cheer to the room. In the winter, I have clings on the shower door of snowmen children sledding and throwing snowballs with other snowmen watching.

As a "filler" for the winter I place scented pine cones around the counter. In the Spring/Summer, I put out polished rocks. Funny, I don't remember if I put anything out for the Fall. I think because everything was such bright colors and I had a set of toddler statues to place around a ceramic pilgrim style girl that I used the set of kids scattered around to bring everything together.

Guess my main point is to check second hand stores for pictures and vases and soap dishes and boxes/plates to display your travel sized items, ect. You can get many for under $2.

 

[katya02]

I've gotten baskets at great prices at dollar stores, but also when on sale at Michael's or Kirkland's. I get trial or travel sizes of various toiletries and things guests might
need and put a basket in the bathroom and one in the bedroom. Something to read is always nice - a couple of light books, magazines, puzzle or logic game books or
crosswords, etc. Sometimes photo frames are on sale for great prices and you can put several on a table.

 

[KTMom91]

What about those decopaged (sp?) boxes? There are all different patterns, colors, sizes, and shapes. I've seen them at Michaels, Home Goods, Marshall's, Ross, TJMaxx...they're great for storage, and they're pretty, too. I have several sets, in different colors and patterns for different rooms.

I use a stack of five graduated hat boxes as a nightstand.

 

[muttmeister]

I like everybodys ideas. One other thing that works well in bathrooms is to buy some pretty colored, inexpensive towels and washcloths. Roll them up. You can even do two colors together - like a sushi roll - and put them on open shelves or in baskets. Useful and pretty. Also some greenery - it can be real or silk. Place an uplight underneath and it makes interesting shadows on the ceiling.

 

[DDD]

I'll go shopping tomorrow. Ugh! I hate to shop. on the other hand, thanks to you guys, I will have some idea of what to look for. I wish I had friends nearby so I could borrow some fresh plants for a couple of days. Fortunately there are alot of sales this month on home decor stuff so probably I'll have success and then can stop worrying about the guest room and start worrying about the rest of the house. LOL Thanks. DDD

 

[Mattsmom277]

I haven't read replies yet so probably repeating some ideas here. I'm a dollar store fan for things like this. My bathroom was recently jazzed up very cheaply. I found a brown flat woven (bamboo like, dark brown) tray of sorts (not quite a basket). I have in it a few bars of soap, shampoo/conditioner, shave cream, disposable razors, a few bath salts and lotions. I have a matching dark brown woven proper basket (square) with rolled up face cloths and hand towels in it on the vanity. I picked up 2 short candle stands, kind of aged dark iron looking. They are flat on little scrolly "feet". I bought 2 short and fat scented candles. I picked colors for the candles and baskets and hand towels/face cloths that match the general color scheme.

My bedroom has little decoration, it's bottom of the list in terms of what I want to pay for. Been here 6 years and still it is that way. At the dollar store as well I picked up a few things and stuck to one theme. I bought two wall sconces that match the paint color and bedding in my room. I grabbed those blocks of floral foam for making your own arrangements and some white silk roses. The roses came in large bundles and were very nice looking. They didn't look cheap or cheesy. I clipped the ends to the right length and filled the sconces. I picked smaller flowers that were different but similar and put them into a few various vases I also picked up at the dollar store. They are on the end tables and the dresser.

I'd say the bedroom cost about $15 and the bathroom perhaps about $20 (including the toiletries).

 

[susiestar]

For cheap, easy, fun wall decor, check out placemats and if you have time see if any wallpaper/home improvement shops have any old sample books. Also check out calendars for pictures, old magazines, anything printed. You can even get pieces of fabric in patterns you like. Then use cheap frames. Either from dollar stores/walmart or use masking tape and acrylic paint and paint frames on the wall. If you use fabric, wrap it around a piece of cardboard or one of those canvas covered artist boards. Then put a contrasting ribbon or a picture from a magazine or calendar or something on it for an accent. Make the painted frame a couple of inches bigger than the canvas to let the wall color add another layer of "matting" to the picture. Put in a hook and hang the cardboard with the picture on the fabric. Or just frame a page out of the wallpaper book. If they have some complimentary colors of the same design, or complimentary patterns on a theme, you can use those and arrange them near each other.

To do the painted frame, just block out the frame with masking tape and put 1-2 layers of paint on the exposed area. You can get 2 oz bottles of acrylic paint for $1 or so and they will work well. If you get tired of the area you have the frame in, a bit of wall paint will cover most colors. If you put it up and hang a picture inside of it, you can change the picture often. This time of year they often have calendars on sale for cheap and they have stunning artwork. Secondhand shops often have coffeetable books that you can cut pictures out of too. It may sound like heresy to cut up a book, but if the book isn't going to be looked at as a book, and may be thrown away, then at least some of it got used.

Another frame option is to get some molding from lowes or wherever and cut it to frame size and just nail it to the wall. Then hang a picture inside it. It is a LOT easier to change the pictures this way.

Vintage ads, magazine covers, etc... are great wall accents. Also wonderful are old sewing patterns if you like to sew or like clothes. I know a lady who got a box of old Vogue patterns from the fifties and sixties. The patterns were falling apart and unusuable, but the envelopes were awesome. She has them hanging on the walls in her home and they are stunning. She did painted frames on the wall so that she can change them when she gets tired of them with-o taking down frames, etc...

To make a guest feel extra welcome, consider putting a small basket with a few individual snacks, bottled water, etc... in the room. That way any late night munchies won't wake the house or leave someoen wondering if you would mind if they raided the fridge. While most wouldn't mind, it makes things more comfy for the guest.

 

[DDD]

OK...I went shopping this afternoon. Just couldn't do the cute kind of stuff. Yeah...the only shopping I enjoy is going to the grocery store or the farmers market. I'll try again this week.

I did buy two washable rugs for the bedroom. They'll look fine and I'll get use out of them in other ways when company isn't here. I bought some kind of new bathmat ??? that is really soft and cushioned and supposedly absorbs 40% more water when you get out of the shower. I looked at the clearance bathroom decor stuff and it wasn't my cup of tea. But, lol, with your encouragement I will try again mid week. Truly I don't know why so many people love to shop. Really I don't. Thanks for helping. DDD