We’re four weeks in to gut renovations of two of our bathrooms, and while we’re not finished yet, we’re starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel!  This renovation journey has not been totally smooth sailing, but we’re making it through and have learned some important things along the way.  If you have a bathroom remodel in your future, read these five tips for surviving a bathroom renovation and file them away.  They just might save you from losing your mind! 

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Tip 1: Pack it up, move it out

Before construction starts, make sure to get everything out of your bathroom.  Take this time to toss unwanted or expired products and pare down to the necessities.  My husband and I each filled up our favorite travel toiletry bags and limited ourselves to those items during the bathroom renovation.  

The rest of the items went into moving boxes that we purchased at Home Depot.  (I didn’t know you could buy moving supplies there before this renovation!)

If you have spaces other than your bathroom that are impacted by the renovation, you’ll also want to prepare those areas.  My husband and I have moved out of our master bedroom and into the basement while construction is ongoing.  

He chose to pack and move everything in his closet and dresser, while I packed some clothing items and put the others into bags in my closet and dresser.  The clothing items that we brought to the basement with us now hang on a portable rolling clothes rack, which has been a lifesaver!  Once we’re finished using the clothing rack for ourselves, our guests can use it when they visit us, or we can use it to hang coats during winter parties. 

Basically, you don’t want to be interfering with construction because you need to get something you left in the space, or be unable to get it because it got damaged or thrown away.  So, pack carefully and plan ahead!

Tip 2: Protect Your Surfaces

If you’ve renovated anything in your home, you know how much dust flies around!  It’s pretty crazy!  Because of that, it pays to protect surfaces and areas that you don’t want to be covered in dust.  

My kids’ bedrooms are upstairs where the construction is happening, and they had to stay there during the project.  We covered their bedroom doors with thick tarps, and then used these awesome tarp zippers to create entrances for them.  During the day we zip up the tarps, and unzip at night to let them back in to go to sleep.  This has helped tremendously in preventing dust from spreading throughout their rooms! 

Other closets on the second floor that we don’t need to access got covered with regular tarps (no tarp zippers).

Finally, in our bedroom, we put our box spring and mattress into mattress moving bags, to shield them from the dust, and wrapped our furniture pieces with moving stretch wrap. 

Tip 3: Stock Up on Cleaning Supplies

Our contractors are awesome and try their hardest not to destroy my house, but construction is messy – there’s no way around it!  Before the project started, I stocked up on cleaning supplies, and I’m so glad I did!  Every day after they leave, I have to clean the upstairs and downstairs – it’s that dusty and messy.  

Here are the must-have cleaning products for a bathroom renovation:

• Broom and dust pan
• Mop and bucket
• Floor cleaning solution (I’m using Murphy’s Oil for my hardwoods)
• Swiffer WetJet for in between mopping sessions
• Pledge and dust cloths
• Swiffer dry cloths
• Vacuum cleaner (if you’re in the market for a new vacuum, I absolutely LOVE my vacuum cleaner)

Mentally prepare yourself for cleaning every single day.  There’s no way around it.

Tip 4: Be Flexible

No matter how prepared you are for a bathroom renovation, there are bound to be hiccups in the process.  You need to expect the unexpected and mentally prepare for there to be collateral issues.  During the course of this project we’ve had to open up a wall in our foyer downstairs, have had water leaking through the ceiling of our living room, failed our plumbing inspection because of the tub faucets I chose, and had major plaster cracking in my son’s bedroom adjacent to the hall bathroom. 

It’s always something.  But we get through it, and so will you!

You also need to be flexible with your own schedule and routines. I can’t tell you how many times my day has gone off course because of this project.  I’ve had to drop everything and go to Floor & Decor for tile and tile-related items more times than I can count.  Or I’ve had to push dinnertime to finish cleaning up the mess from the day’s work.  

Tip 5: Communicate

Finally, my biggest tip for surviving a bathroom renovation is to communicate!  

First, make sure to keep the lines of communication open with your contractor.  He or she needs to know about concerns you have, how you want various design aspects to look, who the main point of contact on the job is, and more.  Making sure to do a daily check in on tasks accomplished and the next day’s plan will help you feel more in control during this stressful time.

It’s also important to communicate with your family members to see how you can help one another cope with this intrusion in your lives.  I have been shocked at how frustrating this process has been for my kids.  Letting them talk it out and helping them understand how this will benefit them in the long run has been helpful.  Being able to vent my own feelings of stress to my husband has also been important for me to handle the intrusion into my daily life.  Since I work from home, I am here while all of this is going on, and since I’m serving as my own designer, I’m fielding all of the questions from the contractor. 

While renovating a bathroom is definitely stress-inducing, it will serve as a place of calm and relaxation once the project is finished!  Follow these tips and give yourself grace, and you’ll come through unscathed – I just know it.  

If you have any tips of your own to add, please leave them in the comments!  

-Bre

Though I would love to be one, I am not a plant lady.  All plants have a hard time surviving in my care.  So when I updated my living room last month and decided to add a fiddle leaf fig tree, I knew I needed to go fake.  I know there are others of you like me out there who cannot keep plants alive, so let me show you how I made my fiddle leaf fig tree look real!  (And p.s. – this trick will work for making any fake plant look real – not just fiddle leaf figs!) 

This post contains affiliate links.  To read my full disclosure policy, please click here.

After searching for realistic but fake fiddle leaf fig trees online one day, an ad popped up for this faux fiddle leaf fig from a surprising place, and the price could not be beat!  I promptly ordered it and was ecstatic when it arrived on my doorstep.  After unboxing it, I loved how the plant itself looked, with its varying shades of green and intentional imperfections, but immediately knew that it would take a little bit of work to get it looking real. 

For one thing, the tag had to be removed (lol), and for another, that tiny black pot in which the fiddle leaf fig rests was not doing it any favors.

So, I ran up to Dollar Tree and picked up everything I needed to make my fake fiddle leaf fig tree look real!

First, I put the small black pot inside a larger plastic pot. 

Next, I placed the pot and the fiddle leaf fig inside this gorgeous, embroidered basket. 

Everything looked okay from this angle (minus the tag still hanging from the tree), but I knew that anytime you’d look in the basket, you’d see those ugly plastic pots.  Not very realistic at all!  So, the next step was to cut a piece of black foam core board from Dollar Tree into a circle that fits inside the basket, with a slice cut out for the fiddle leaf fig tree trunk to rest in. 

Once that was cut, I laid the foam core board circle into the basket, resting it on top of the larger plastic pot, and shoved the fig tree trunk into the cutout. 

Finally, I pressed Dollar Tree craft moss into the basket, allowing it to cover up the foam core board.  I used two bags of craft moss to cover this piece of foam board. 

Now the fake fiddle leaf fig tree looks real!  But thank goodness I don’t have to water it or try to keep it alive. 

I moved it into the spot where my grandma’s painted green table was.  (Don’t worry – I kept that table!  I moved it to our basement family roombasement family room for a pop of color and to replace the junky table we had down there.) 

It adds a nice touch to the room and looks great with my new brass sconces, too!  (Those were also a bargain!)

I just love how easy and inexpensive it was to make my fake fiddle leaf fig look natural.  Can you believe it basically takes some dollar store supplies to do it?  Do you have any fake plants on which you could use this technique?

-Bre

My little girl is growing up!  It’s hard to believe how fast it happens, and I know any parent out there can relate!  My daughter moved into her “big girl room” shortly before she turned two (to make room for her new brother in the nursery), and we hadn’t updated her bedroom since then.  Because of that, we all agreed it was time to give her bedroom a little refresh.  Her tween girls bedroom makeover turned out pretty darn cute on a small budget, and I’m excited to show you the space and share some tips for decorating a bedroom that grows with your child!  

This post contains affiliate links.  To read my full disclosure policy, please click here.

Before we gave it a new look fit for a tween, my daughter’s bedroom was very juvenile.  You can see pictures of the old look in this post where I painted a piece of furniture for her room.  One great thing we did all those years ago was pick a neutral paint color for the walls.  Because of that, and because the paint was still in good shape, we didn’t need to repaint for this makeover!  So come on in and let me show you around!

You’ll notice that the furniture is the same in the room, too.  We were smart enough to purchase furniture that we knew would grow with her as she got older.  This means she’ll get maximum use out of her bedroom set and we weren’t stuck trying to offload toddler size furniture for this makeover.  The only difference in the furniture is that I gave the butterfly bench a paint job (“butterflies are babyish, mom”).

She’s a real Harry Potter fanatic, so little dashes of Harry Potter fun are sprinkled throughout the room.  They’re all in inexpensive objects that easily moved or replaced if/when she outgrows her Harry Potter phase.  For example, the flippy sequin pillow on the bed, and the changeable letterboard above the bed.  You’ll also notice the Mirror of Erised on her dresser and some printable art from Etsy on a shelf.  Instead of investing in expensive themed items like a comforter or wall art, inexpensive items like this give her the sense of a “theme” in her room, and when she changes her mind I won’t be upset about swapping out those items!  

She chose the black and white comforter herself, and that was a compromise on my part!  I really didn’t want black and white for her, but since it’s her room, I gave in.  I made sure to soften it with other colors in the room, like varying shades of pinks and purples.  

The new lavender overdyed rugs were a steal, and I love the beautiful jewel tones they bring to the space!  

The funniest part about the room is the little reading nook area.  She really wanted a reading nook and she begged me for a beanbag chair.  I couldn’t believe how expensive those beanbag chairs are, so I found a dog bed at HomeGoods for half the price of a beanbag, and I told her it was a book pouf for the floor.  She loved it until she found a tag I forgot to remove that says something about dogs.  Ooops.  Well, I eventually convinced her that nobody will know it’s for dogs, and she seems to be okay with it now. 

Other little changes to the room include things like new curtains (I LOVE the ones we put up because they filter the light and have such nice drape and flow), and a new mirror over the dresser, which I found at HomeGoods for $24.  Score!

Pom pom trim added a fun touch to a plain lampshade, and I’m trying to convince my daughter to let me add it to the edge of her reading pouf, too!  

So there you have it!  With some simple swaps, we created a tween bedroom that my daughter and I both love.  Thanks for checking it out! 

-Bre

You May Also Enjoy This DIY Ribbon Chandelier Post  

Now that the holidays have come and gone, you’ve probably packed away your seasonal decorations (or are just about to), and are left staring at a home that looks and feels somewhat bare.  Well, bare compared to how it looked when the halls were decked just a short while ago!  But don’t despair – with some tweaks you can create a cozy and inviting atmosphere that will have you embracing winter.  Simple winter decor will help bridge the gap between the holiday season and springtime, and let you enjoy a fresh new look in your home!  

Over the years you’ve seen me share winter mantel decorating ideas (such as my “Let’s Snuggle Mantel” of 2017 and my “Cozy Sweater Mantel” of 2018), because the mantel is a focal point in my home, and is in the room where my family spends most of our time.  This year, I used decor pieces from both of those mantels to create a similar, but new, winter mantel look that makes us feel right at home!  

Notice how many of the items used to create a winter look are non-seasonal?  Candles, books, and planters in complimentary colors all work together to create a cohesive theme, without being screaming WINTER! Look for items in your home that can work the same way for you!  

Other wintry items, such as the faux sled with snowflake stickers and the faux ice skates, add a definite seasonal touch.  These are inexpensive items that I updated with stickers and purchased in Bullseye’s Playground at Target!  For just a few dollars I was able to inject some winter personality into my decor.

Similarly, I updated everyday items with faux snowflakes of varying shapes and sizes.  These are all foam snowflake ornaments that I’ve collected over the years from places like Dollar Tree, Dollar General, and Big Lots.  

At this time of year, you can find similar items on clearance in just about any store!  Snag some and pop them into a bowl or lantern for instant winter decor.  

And before your toss your winter greenery, see if you can use it elsewhere.  I cut up my evergreen garland and used it in a display on my front porch (along with faux winter greenery found in the clearance section at Michaels).  The rest of the evergreen garland went into my window box to lend some green to the front of the house during the winter season.  

Notice the snowflake ornaments making an appearance on my front porch, too?  They make it so easy to “winterize” my decor!

Finally, don’t forget about cozy throw blankets and pillows.  Those can instantly update your decor for winter!  Look for pillows (or pillow covers – my favorite thrifty trick!), in fabrics like velvet, faux fur, and chunky knit, to add warmth and texture to your space.  Thick, fleecy blankets are perfect, too!

See how easy it is to make your home feel less sparse after the holidays have passed?  It really doesn’t take much at all to add some personality and warmth!

-Bre

You Might Like to Make This Cozy Sweater Embroidery Hoop Decor!