Molding «Bodacious on a Budget Bodacious on a Budget

The finished look...for Easter at least

No really. I don’t like Medicine Cabinets. While I realize that they are sometimes a necessary evil…I still dislike them very much and I like to remove them from my bathrooms whenever I can. Especially in a guest bath. They only tempt your guests to peek inside. You know who you are! Don’t believe me? Try putting marbles inside and when they open it, the marbles will come rolling out all over the floor and They’ll never do it again. BUSTED! So to keep my guests honest and out of trouble…I just remove them and take something so “beige” and boring to Bodacious. I’ll be posting some before and after photos along with some “Do it yourself” instructions.

But what do you do with the large hole in the wall? Glad you asked. Let me share.

My wife hates the cabinets as much as I do, so in a recent discussion about “beefing up” the guest bath she suggested that we make it into a display nook. Of course I just can’t do bland and “beige” so I took her initial idea and made it…wait for it…wait for it…yep you guessed it Budget Bodacious.

Now I could have just patched the hole and painted, but it’s not that simple. See, we have skip-trawl texture on our drywall and I simply don’t know how to do it without it looking like my 4-year-old did it. That meant I would need to hire someone to complete the task. That could have cost me at least $100 because who’s gonna come out to patch a hole in the wall for less than that…It would cost them more in fuel to drive to my house. I didn’t want it to look “patched” I need it to look INTENTIONAL and not an after-thought. Remember…It’s all about the details.

Since Christa and I are currently in enrolled in Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University, I knew I need to keep this in BUDGET. I wanted to make Mr. Ramsey proud of his star student. So I went to work. I removed the medicine cabinet and took some measurements. I started by building a box the same depth, height and width of the medicine cabinet. Thank GOD for Home Depot and Lowes who are gracious enough to rip wood to my desired depth/width. Don’t forget that home improvement stores will cut wood for you. This will save you time and money. You only need to buy what you will use on a project.

After building the box, I added a shelf and some great molding. Remember it’s all in the details, so make sure the molding is wide enough to give it the WOW factor. I added an arched shelf on the bottom that is wide enough to put a seasonal “something” on it. Since it’s close Easter, my wife has a topiary egg tree displayed on it now. I’m sure she is already shopping around for the next item that will be on display. To finish it off, it has an arched top with a keystone applique. Never forget the details! Total cost of this medicine cabinet make-over? Under $50 bucks…and it doesn’t look like an after-thought. Bodacious on a Budget! Photos to be posted later.

Check back as I will be adding additional architectural features with molding to this bathroom that takes it a step beyond just a BLAH BEIGE chair rail. Also I’ll be sharing photos of a paint technique in my daughters bedroom that looks like a million bucks.