When we bought our home 17 years ago, the style was floral everything. I didn't mind it at the time but the floral wall papers got out dated and I don't like wall paper much for that reason as it takes so much time to remove it, repair the walls and then repaper and styles don't always last long so I prefer to decorate the main walls with paint. There are so many different textures and things you can do with paint and it is so easy to paint over if it turns out looking different than you wanted so my favorite wall covering is paint.
I didn't do any textures with the painting in this bathroom for two reasons. The first is, that after removing the floral paper, there was so much damage to the dry wall since they didn't paint or prep the drywall before applying the paper, that I had to hire out the texturing. (I could do it but have allergies) I also wanted to decorate the room simply to make it feel light and simple / natural like a beach would.
I told friends and family that I was going to decorate the bathroom with a beach theme asking if they had any beachy items they were getting rid of that I could use. I chose the beach theme for one reason. The flooring in the room. If you notice above, the linoleum they put in is an off white with lines and shaded areas on the edges that look like someone dumped a bit of sand on the floor. There are small flowers in the corners but when I looked into removing the flooring, I found that it is cemented to cement and would have been a NIGHTMARE to remove! I removed some in my upstairs bathroom and didn't want to EVER do that again.
With that knowledge, I thought of what I could do in the room to keep the flooring and make it look "not floral." I came up with the beach motif. From my asking around for "beachy" items, I received the black net in the top picture which I thought was cute for a window treatment. I found the star fish for cheap at a second hand store or yard sale. I just stuck them into the netting which held them in fine. I thought it was a fun look. I also got this great fisherman net from my mother with the sinkers and all. I just washed it a few times to get the "sea" smell out and then tacked it up in a drape manner on the wall above the Whirlpool tub.
I found this lighthouse picture at a second hand store and a few of these shells. Some of the shells I bought in the Caribbean when we visited. I took "fun tack" and put the little sea horse on the side of the frame and used it also to hold the shells on the wall after hanging them on tacks. Most items on my walls have "fun Tack" holding them to the wall in case of an earthquake or from falling off due to being bumped. We had an earthquake once and all our pictures ended up crooked. I figured I had better secure them to the wall a bit better after that.
Another neat item my mother gave me was this hand blown glass float buoy ball. They used to use these to mark their nets. I had a little water fountain which broke so I took the stand and used it to hold this Antique buoy ball.
The little glass topped jar next to the buoy has lots of little shells my girls collected from different beaches along with a shell "lei" I got from somewhere. I bought the little glass jar at a yard sale in a bulk offering buy.
When I used to yard sale often, I would gather up things and rather than asking how much for each thing, I would ask them if they would be willing to take $20 for the whole pile. Most of the time, they would jump at $20 for the pile. However, if they charged by item or what was on the sticker, I would have paid more. It isn't always $20 I offer but whatever I feel is fair. I learned that from my mother. Even when I am buying lots of one item on clearance or something, I ask the manager if I buy ALL the items of that kind, if they would be willing to sell them for less. Most of the time, just to clear the space, they are willing to give me the items at even more of a discount. Even if I don't always need all the items, I get all of them for what I would have paid for the amount I did need and then donate the rest to a woman shelter or use them to fill pinatas or as party favors etc. Try it next time you go to a yard sale or need a larger quantity of an item. The worst they can say is "no." I have to share that I can't recall one time I have asked that I have gotten a "no" as most people want to help you and get rid of the items at the same time. So, long story to explain why I can't tell you sometimes how much I paid for an individual item that was from a yard sale because I bought them as a group. 
I bought this sign at a inventory clearance sale along with the sign at the bottom and the little 2x4 boards in the top picture that say "shore" and "swim" on them. I painted the walls in the bathroom a sand tan. It is open and clean looking. I however wanted to pull in some other ocean and beach colors so I went with the blue and tan/brown combo. The net in the window was black so I left the stand for the buoy black and painted another frame in the room black as well rather than a darker brown which would introduce another color. I didn't want to make it tan or it would melt into the wall. White wouldn't give enough contrast so I did the black on the "footprints" poem below. I liked the sayings on the boards. "If you are lucky enough to live at the beach, then you are lucky enough." and, "For your ship to come in, build a dock."
When we have been to an ocean destination, I collected a few pieces of drift wood, floating small coconut, coral or shells so that I could decorate these built in shelves I have in that bathroom. I also found these cute little light houses at the dollar store in several sizes and shapes but in the colors of the room so I bought a few to decorate and you can see those in the top picture and in this little shelf. I also bought some cute candles with little pieces of shells, starfish and some different combos of colors of the room which matched.
My first stop when I am planning on decorating a new room is friends and family. Second, I go to the second hand stores in the area. Third, I contact the paper, radio or online venues for my area asking for something I am looking for to use in the decorating. I then try the dollar store or other discount stores. The last place I look is a full priced store or online. You can print out most sayings on your computer and put them over a picture and make your own. You can use Vinyl to make saying on glass and use an old frame you already have and just spray it the color you need. You can buy used frames very inexpensively and do the same. Friends and family often have old frames they aren't using and are happy to donate or sell cheaply for your cause. I have done all of the above and rarely pay over $3 for a frame. I have paid a bit more for very large or ornate frames but even those I have gotten from friends and family.
This cute little frame with the lighthouse saying was at a second hand store. I added a ribbon to hang it and a hook so I could use it as a hand towel holder between my two pedestal sinks in my large bathroom. I could have just put a hand towel holder in the wall but I didn't want to mark up the newly done wall and I also liked the little saying from someone I admire and the light house picture. The frame was already the color of the wall so I figured hanging it on a ribbon from a thumb tack leaves less of a mark and makes a cute towel holder.
Right around the time I was decorating the room, I found this awesome anchor clock. Seriously, where could I even have bought this other than a second hand store. I wouldn't even have thought of putting a clock into an anchor. It was a cream color but I didn't want another color in the mix so I just painted it the blue of most of the items in the room. I thought about making it the darker blue to match the above sign but liked the light and speckled it with a little black so it would look "worn" looking and distressed the edges. I like that there is a clock in the room as I take baths and sometimes need to know the time.
This large bathroom has a smaller bathroom in it so tomorrow, I will show you how I tied the two together and my creative bath mat solution and a few other things.
I would say that the room and the smaller bathroom cost less than $50 to decorate including the paint. I once again got the paint from the mis-tinted rack at our local Ace Hardware. They are never more than $10 (until the paint with the primer came out last year but even those are $12 a gallon) and they can always match very close to the color I am needing if I get the lightest mis-matched shade they have. Sometimes, if I am in the store, I will go and see if they have any light colors and just buy one or two and then when I need a gallon, I will take them in and have them tint it for me. The paint section workers all know me and are very helpful. If you read this blog often, you will have read this story but if you are visiting afters searching and are just reading this post, click here for more on how I get all my paint and have it tinted.
I hope I am not boring you. I have so many other things that have come up in the past two weeks that I keep thinking it would be easier to post about those but I had some requests for posts on my decorated rooms so I will finish these up or at least this week and see where to go from there. Theme rooms are VERY easy and I usually ask what the person's interests and likes are and go from there to decide how to decorate. What are your likes and interests? Try decorating a room around that.... What creative things can you make with items that support that interest?
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