Step 1: Bathroom Redo

I wanted to get the bathroom done first for a couple reasons: it is the smallest room with the least amount of options (no rearranging of furniture, etc.), and I have been itching to get a new shower curtain for the longest time. When we went to New York in August we stayed at the Ace Hotel for a couple nights, and I was inspired by the simple, utilitarian decor and the little pouch that acted as a makeshift medicine cabinet for us to store our toiletries.

Inspiration: the Ace Hotel in NYC
(image via notcot)

Our bathroom


Rather than buy a new shower curtain, I walked over to our local fabric store, (which happens to be having a 40% off sale right now!) and spent $15 on 2 1/2 yards of lightweight denim and some silver grommets.

I stitched up the top and bottom, added the grommets, fashioned a little storage pouch, and it's done!

The best part of this bathroom redo has to do with the fact that I spent an entire afternoon cleaning and reorganizing everything in it, top to bottom. Got rid of all the old makeup, shampoo, hairbrushes, expired cough medicine, and everything else that we don't use on a regular basis, and put everything else into labeled bins. We hung a couple pieces of art on the wall and are contemplating a new paint job, but for a one-day room redo and less than $20 in expenses, I'm pretty pleased.

Finally, I hung all our back issues of Housekeeping on the back of our little storage closet door, so I can read it when I'm brushing my teeth in the morning. Housekeeping is a free, one-page, double-sided 'zine of sorts, consisting of random newspaper clippings, obituaries, stories and recipes that some friends of ours in New York put out every now and then. It's really, really good stuff!