How to Renovate a Small Bathroom for Home Improvement Project

Well-designed home improvement projects such as renovating a small bathroom can potentially add comfort, convenience and value to a home. The first step is to determine the size of the project and set a budget. When major fixtures are in good condition and just a bit of redecorating and updating the bathroom is needed, it should not be very expensive. The cost will depend largely on the materials selected and whether the homeowner can do some of the work without hiring professional help.


Walls and Ceiling
The most important factor in any project is to begin with a plan. Know exactly what will change and what will remain the same. Start by completely emptying the room of everything that can be moved. Give everything a good cleaning and then assess the condition of the room. If walls are tight and smooth, perhaps they will just need a coat of paint or textured wallpaper. A small bathroom is a good place to experiment with color. It would not be a disaster to repaint if the color does not look right after painting one wall. Many stores will exchange paint if the color is not as envisioned.

Also consider wallpapering one wall and painting the other three. Another idea is to panel the top half of the walls and install wainscoting on the lower half. Manufacturers are constantly improving materials and the newer ones resist color fade and moisture. Painting the walls and ceiling in a monochromatic color such as all white or light tones also works well in a really small bathroom and makes it appear larger. Splashes of color can be added with accessories and towels.


Flooring
Safety should also be a consideration when choosing flooring. A shiny floor can be appealing but some materials such as glossy tile and polished stone may be slippery and unsafe. These floors would be much more expensive as well. Carpeting is not the best choice for a bathroom floor since it may retain moisture and develop mold. An excellent material for the bathroom is linoleum flooring which is popular for its durability, ease of cleaning, and availability of styles and colors. It is easy to install and is always a good choice.


Lighting
When the lighting is updated in any room it can make a big difference in appearance, ambiance, and the way color displays. However, it is essential to have proper lighting in a bathroom for safety issues as well. Good ceiling lighting is important and there should be no dark areas in any bathroom, especially near the shower and bathtub. Wall sconces or light bars can be added or updated with new fixtures on either side or above the mirror over the sink. Many choices exist in lighting fixtures in various styles and finishes to match or complement any décor.

Only a licensed electrician should install new lighting or update wiring. In most areas wiring must be inspected when finished and pass local code requirements. This is a very important safety issue and cannot be stressed enough, especially in a bathroom or any area where water is involved.

Image by Bentley Smith

Holiday 2011: Craft Caddy Lamp for the Serious Crafter

The Craft Caddy Lamp by OttLite is a unique light for crafters. It keeps all your stuff organized in perfectly-sized compartments and helps light up your projects with amazing HD light. It easily folds up and stores away neatly so it doesn’t take up too much space and it travels extremely well. As an added bonus, it features an outlet on the back that powers your crafting devices such as electric scissors, iron, sewing machine, or whatever else. Plus its cord is very long, so you can extend it very far.

I had originally chosen this for myself for a desk lamp. I’m not terribly crafty myself, but needed some good light for my desk space and thought this would be perfect. Once it came, I felt like this was going to be misused at my house. I definitely underestimated its awesomeness. So, I asked my best friend, Alison, to try it out since she’s a very crafty person.

Alison is in love with this Craft Caddy lamp. It gives her the much needed extra light for detailed projects and she loves that it stores all the things she needs so they’re really handy. She really, really loves the extra plug on the back; it’s so handy for plugging in things when she’s not too close to an outlet. Because the cord is so long on the lamp, it really gives her more freedom to set up her crafting space wherever and not worry about the lack of power places nearby. Overall, she says this lamp is perfect for any crafty person, and I would agree.

You can purchase this and all OttLite’s lighting products on their website, www.ottlite.com. This lamp retails for $79.99.



Thank you to OttLite for providing a complimentary product sample for us to base this review upon.

Lighting Up the Night with Pottery Barn Kids Halloween Luminaries

Since we live in a townhouse community, we need to abide by some strict rules about decorating the outside of our home.  We are allowed to put up outdoor lights for the holidays, but aside from hanging or placing potted plants at our front and back steps, that is about all we are allowed to do.  That is why, in addition to hanging something on our doors, I have been focusing on window decorations the past few years, whether they be decorations to sit on our windowsills, to hang from the curtain rod, or to cling to the glass panes.  That way our home can look festive from the outside without breaking any of the community guidelines.

This year, we have one of the Pottery Barn Kids Halloween Luminaries in three of our first floor windows.  I chose the Pumpkin, because every home needs a Jack-o-Lantern on Halloween, and the Skeleton because I thought my children would think he was spooky, but in a fun way.  I have a thing for owls, so I also chose the Owl Luminary, which I found to be adorable.  If you can believe it, of the 3 luminaries, my children thought the was the creepiest.

(Click any photo to enlarge)

These luminaries are made of paper maché and then hand painted with touches of glitter added here and there.  They are said to be water-resistant, so you could place them outdoors for a few hours Halloween night.

Of the 3 luminaries, the Skeleton fit best on our windowsill.  The back of the Owl protruded a little bit, but the  back of the Pumpkin overhung the edge of the sill by a few inches.  Still, as long as they were not disturbed, all the luminaries stayed put just fine.

Since these luminaries were not meant to use with real candles, I tried using electronic tealights inside them.  The battery-operated tealights I had did not seem bright enough, so we ended up placing a mini flashlight in each luminary.  The flashlights did a great job illuminating the insides enough so that there was light showing through all the openings, even the ones on the front of the owl's body.  You could also try other types of flameless lights, such as glow sticks.

I am very pleased with how these PBK Luminaries look in our windows.  They are large enough so that they can still be seen even though our first floor windows are slightly high off the ground.  I also find them to be festive and fun for the children without giving the false impression that we run a daycare or a nursery school in our home, as some window decorations sometimes do.

To view the full line of Pottery Barn Kids Halloween Luminaries, visit PotteryBarnKids.com.  You can also look for them in your local Pottery Barn Kids store, but quantities and selection will vary by location.


Thank you to Pottery Barn Kids for providing complimentary product samples for us to base this review upon.

Review: Mr Beams Wireless LED Anywhere Ceiling Light

I just recently received and installed a Mr Beams Anywhere Ceiling Light. I decided to place the light above my home's main entry door which is located between by dining room and kitchen. This was the ideal location to test an automatic light like the Anywhere Ceiling Light.

The light was easy to install and is fairly inconspicuous. The Anywhere Ceiling Light looks nearly identical to a smoke detector so it does not stand out. It does require 4 "C" batteries, which are not included.

This light performs as well as I would have expected. The LED light is bright and provides plenty of light. I will say that the light itself is white and a little harsh. But as a night light or utility light it hardly matters, it does what it is supposed to and that’s to provide temporary light.

The sensor is very sensitive and the light comes on right away, no need to make any extra motions to engage the sensor. The light turns off after 30 seconds if no motion is detected. I consider the motion detection sensitivity a great feature, but I would warn you to keep this light out of a bedroom. It only takes a wave of the arm or a pet to turn it on and the light is easily bright enough to wake you from sleep.

All things considered, Mr Beams Anywhere Ceiling Light performed as advertised. The motion detection is very sensitive and the light is nice and bright. The only thing I would change is the harshness of the white light, maybe add a yellow filter to soften it up, but considering the ways a light like this will be used, that is not a really big deal. For people that need a little extra light, I recommend this product.

The Anywhere Ceiling Light retails for $39.99 . For a limited time, you can receive 20% off your Mr Beams purchase when you checkout with Code: MRBEAMS11. For more information about this wireless LED light, visit MrBeams.com, Mr Beams on Facebook, and Mr Beams on Twitter.

Thank you to Mr Beams for providing a complimentary product sample for us to base this review upon.

My Photos (W/E 8-14-10)

I have an odd mix of photos to share this week. I have posted so many photos already this past week from our trip to BlogHer 2010 in New York City. I actually still have some more photos to share from two more BlogHer events, so you can look for those over the next day or two.

"A Little Shugah!"

"Mood Lighting"

"My Kind of Dancing"

"Most Important Meal of the Day"

"Paws-ing for a Catnap"

"Like an Angel"

Thank you for taking the time to view my photos this week! If you'd like to play along or see more great photos, stop by to see Lotus a.k.a. Sarcastic Mom.

My Photos (W/E 6-12-10)

I had tons of photos from the fair we attended on Saturday to share, but I did not have enough time to sort through them in time for Weekly Winners. If you remember, come back and look for them. I should be able to get myself organized enough to sort through and ready them to share over the next day or two.

Meanwhile, these three photos are what I have to offer . . .

"Prismatic"

"Waiting"

"Open Wide"

Thank you for taking the time to view my photos this week! If you'd like to play along or see more great photos, stop by to see Lotus a.k.a. Sarcastic Mom.