Earlier this year I entered a contest that Toscano Interiors was holding for a Grand Opening Event celebrating their new location…and I won! The prize was a consultation and home makeover, just one of the services Candance Toscano offers. This “makeover” was something I was very interested in since this particular makeover Candance does is using items you already own and moving things around, rearranging them and/or repurposing them. My husband and I have been married for almost 7 years and we’ve needed to do something to our home for almost 7 years when it comes to decorating certain rooms.
I first met Candance, owner of Toscano Interiors, last summer when she opened her shop in Manitou Springs and I wrote a story about it and her. The very first time I went in, with my friend Kelly, we not only fell in love with all the fabulous merchandise but with Candance herself. You could tell she had a passion for what she does, a huge heart and just one of those outgoing personalities, without being pushy or in your face. She did relocate her store this year due to all of the flooding issues Manitou faced last summer, and could possibly face again this year.
The makeover consisted of 3 rooms I wanted redone and I chose our guest bathroom, the dining room and our living room. Most of the rooms looked ok but they each lacked that “finished” look that said, “this is perfect and exactly what I want.” The first thing Candance did was look at each room and then ask me how often we used it, the feeling we wanted to convey, and then we walked around the entire house so she could see items we already owned that might look better in one of the rooms I wanted to redo. She was very low-key and wanted to make sure her suggestions fit in with our lifestyle, which includes 4 cats that have no boundaries.
First Redo…The Guest Bathroom
The guest bathroom is literally the smallest room in the house and was the most neglected. Our closets are bigger than this room but for some reason, it was very frustrating to try to decide anything, especially since we didn’t agree on where to take it. When I moved into our home, my husband had only owned it for about 6 months so he had first “dibs” on decorating it. I think he hung a roll of toilet paper up, a towel on the bar and called it good. The wallpaper was a bit sparkly and reminded me of the 70’s. I don’t have a picture of that paper but boy do I wish I did. Six years ago I took it down, slapped a coat of paint on the walls and from there, didn’t know what to do with it. I think because it is so small, I just didn’t want to overdo it. And so I did nothing until Candance came a-calling. I’m sure all our friends and family will appreciate the redo since they’ve all seen it looking the same for such a long time!
On the longest and widest wall of the room, we couldn’t agree on a picture, group of pictures or anything else decorative. Once I got the walls painted though, we pulled out a picture that my husband had owned before we met but I didn’t like because it felt a bit “angry.” I actually called it the angry blue picture until he finally took it off the living room wall and put it away. But with all the redo’s we did in the bathroom, it suddenly didn’t look angry and we could both agree on it.
It’s funny how even just a towel color can change-up a look. The gray looks just fine but the red actually adds more pop and plays off a few other red items we added to the room.
We owned the picture which was in a storage room and pulled out. I bought the rug at Ross for $8.99 and both towels were $3.99 from Ross. The paint is Ralph Lauren Suede, which I bought 6 years ago and still had enough to add a couple of coats and play around with for the faux finish. I think I paid about $25 for the gallon.
The wall above the toilet area we had left bare because again, we just had no clue or direction in where we wanted to go. Seems kind of silly now that it took so long but my husband and I have very different tastes and when we’d start to have a discussion, well, we didn’t get into a fight but we did think the other wasn’t “right.”
I bought this candle holder at Goodwill for $3.99 a couple of years ago but it didn’t go with anything we owned, I just liked it. I bought some model paint for $1.59 at Michael’s and painted silver over the gold, making it match the bathroom fixtures. And now use it for an extra toilet paper holder, which is fun and unique.
I think every bathroom should have a plunger in it, especially any bathroom company may be using…just in case. I had a plain wooden one with the red suction cup which I personally thought looked hideous but the more decorative ones I saw were kind of pricey. I found this at Ross for only $9.99, which was considerably less than I saw at other stores.
Candance had suggested we add a few shelves or something with some dimension that would add to the room without making it too busy for its size. We didn’t want to add clutter to the shelves but keep them simple. My husband actually pulled this vase from the living room and the shoe from the bar area and we both loved it…which was amazing that it was that simple. The vase is something we found in a thrift store on the island of Kauai and picked up for $5.99. Once we got it home and researched it, we found out it sells for about $60…AND my husband was the one who bought it so chalk one up for him.
The shelves were $16.98 each at Home Depot, the shoe is actually a wine bottle holder that my friends Brett and Kristin bought me for a birthday and as I said earlier, the vase was $5.99.
One of the first things Candance mentioned was that we needed a bigger mirror above the sink area.
One thing I mentioned to Candance was that I wished I had an area I could put disposable towels on for when we have guests over. It’s just “one of those things” I’m a bit anal about, not wanting everyone wiping their hands on the same towel. Candance suggested a small something to simply put the disposable towels in…I was actually thinking, “Well duh, why didn’t I think of that?” Seriously, I won’t even admit to how many hours of thought I’ve put in over the years, trying to figure that one out.
This is actually a red planter that was filled with a plant I picked up at Home Depot for $3.00 to put in the bathroom once we knew we wanted a few red accent pieces. But once I pulled the plant out, it was the perfect fit for the sink area and easily holds my disposable towels…making me a very happy woman.
I also wanted a soap dispenser but again, the ones I found that I liked, were over $20…for a soap dispenser? I found this at Ross, which was exactly what I wanted for $6.99.
Love the mirror that we found at Home Depot which was $56.99.
And even though the trash can we had was perfectly fine, I liked how this one went with the rest of the decor. (Ross $7.99)
Candance laughed when she came back to redo the rooms after we had talked about different ideas and this room was already complete. It took me over 6 years to do something but once I talked to her, it was so much clearer as to what direction we wanted to go in…something simple, with minimal clutter with more modern and flowing with the rest of the house. And anytime my husband and I started to disagree about something, we’d just say, “Check with Candance.” There were some evenings we might have said that over a dozen times.
The total cost of redecorating this room, including the paint, was $168.47. We could have used a few more items we already owned in it but the items we picked up were things we really liked and it all fit in our budget. Now we both really like this room. The only thing left to do is touch up the trim but I’m thinking that may not happen anytime soon now that we have warm weather and the garden is wanting some attention.
I can’t thank Candance enough for her input, creative eye, and especially for listening to us even when we didn’t exactly know what we wanted. She let me ramble a bit, made a few suggestions, and voila, it’s finally done. She didn’t try to push her taste onto ours and we are now both very happy. And now I don’t have to say yet again to anyone entering the bathroom, “It’s going to be finished one of these days.”
We’ll be featuring the living room redo soon….
For more information on Toscano Interiors and to get a peek at her store…(and if you mention 719Woman when you visit her store, Candance will give you a 10% discount off your purchase.)
https://www.719woman.com/featured-on-homepage-top/toscano-interiors-my-favorite-home-store-fun-fabulous-unique-everyone-even-local/