Updated master bathroom

We have a nice master bathroom--not huge or grand or terribly luxurious, but certainly not bad.  I'm grateful to have a master bath; it's wonderful to have a space that belongs just to Jack and me.  Yet this room had begun to look a bit tired.  Now, with two kids in college, "master bathroom remodel" is definitely not high on the list of expense priorities.  Anyone know what I mean?

I shopped the house and made a few changes for next to no money--and here's my new master bath!

Walking in the door:

My vanity:

Jack's side of the room, including the huge portrait of me (you can read about that here):

I made a number of small changes, most of them free.

The one purchase I made was a new rug to match the bath towels.  This is the only bathroom in which I don't use white towels, by the way.  I'm picky about bathroom rugs--I like a rubber backing so that the rug doesn't skid.  And I like for my bathroom rugs to be machine-washable and dryable.  I finally found a rug that fit my criteria at JCPenney.  $38 was all I spent on this room re-do.

Some time ago I rescued an ottoman from the thrift store and covered it in a blue and brown houndstooth to match my bedding.  Here's what it looked like before:

Not too beautiful, is it?  But a little work with my staple gun cured that.  Here's the bedding that matches this ottoman:

Now the ottoman serves as a handy seat beside the garden tub.  Beside it sits a basket holding some extra towels and a bamboo back scratcher.

I had this blue glass bottle which seemed to want to hang out with the ottoman, so I moved it onto the tub ledge.  I filled some vases with sand and added small pillar candles from my stash to complete that corner.

In the other corner, I already had a jar of sponges and soaps and a jar of bath salts.  I mixed a couple of drops of blue food coloring into the bath salts and voila!  Another touch of blue.

On my side of the bathroom, I added a lamp that used to be in my master bedroom.  It's just the right size for that slanted wall.  I like having a lamp in the bathroom--it feels so elegant!  Now I need to save my pennies for MirrorMates, don't you think?

The vanity chair is an old dining room chair that I spray-painted with Rustoleum's Heirloom White and re-covered in another fabric from my bedding.  I sit here to fix my hair.  

Here's a photo with the lamp turned off.   I already had the cute frames that look like perfume bottles.  They hold photos of my boys from when they were preschoolers.  Gosh, where did the time go?

I had an old soap dispenser that used to be brown--I spray painted it a light aqua color, flecked on some dark aqua spots, and then rubbed on some silver Rub 'n' Buff to accent the details.

Now to make some time to soak in that tub.  That may take more work than re-decorating the room!

Do you have a master bathroom?   If so, how do you keep it looking fresh and lovely?  Please share your ideas!

Note:  The wall color in this room is Sherwin Williams Craftsman Brown.  The master bedroom is painted with Sherwin Williams Mystery Green. 

I'm linking to these wonderful parties:

Tips and Tutorials at Home Stories A to Z

Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

Inspiration Friday, At the Picket Fence

Weekend Bloggy Reading at Serenity Now

Saturday Seven at Positively Splendid