Mum Creates Stunning Dinosaur Bathroom For £264 Using £12.49 Bargains
- Dawn, 42, wanted to encourage her young son to begin using the toilet
- The whole family loves dinosaurs so she used this theme to transform the bathroom
- She picked up bargains from B&Q and Facebook Marketplace for the project
Every parent looks forward to the day they can say goodbye to dealing with dirty nappies, so one thrifty mum decided to help her little one bypass potty training and go straight for the toilet by creating his very own dinosaur themed bathroom on a budget.
Dawn Sheppard, 42 from Oxford with three children aged 5 months, 3 and 7, told money-saving community LatestDeals.co.uk: ‘We moved to our forever home in July 2020 and it required a lot of work. At that point I was pregnant with our third child and realised I didn't want to be changing nappies on two little people. So I decided to decorate our downstairs toilet with a dinosaur theme to help our little boy potty train. We are a dinosaur loving family so I knew exactly what the theme would be!’
The first step was to source supplies, and Dawn, who works as a registered NHS nurse, managed to do so cheaply with bargains from online stores, B&Q and Facebook Marketplace. At B&Q, she picked up green metal and wood paint for £15, followed by some emerald green metro tiles for £30.
She then benefited from a 20% off sale in the hardware store, picking up a toilet for £47 and a vanity unit with a basin sink for £67. Next up was some Portuguese tile effect vinyl flooring for £50 from Best 4 Flooring, and then it was time for the main attraction - the dinosaur wallpaper.
Dawn picked up two rolls for £12.49 each from World of Wallpaper, before heading to Facebook Marketplace and getting her best bargain - a brand new radiator cover originally priced at £95 for £30. ‘In total, the supplies were £264,’ she said.
Once Dawn had everything she needed, it was time to begin. ‘The toilet and sink in that room were disgusting, so I went into overdrive to get them out of the house as soon as we got it.’ She essentially had a blank slate, so got to work with the paint.
Dawn applied her green paint from B&Q to the pipes to begin creating the jungle theme, and painted the door frame in the same shade. The wallpaper was applied along the top half of the bathroom walls, neatly placed around the window above the toilet. ‘I’ve done both wallpapering and painting many times over the last 20 years, so this part was easy,’ she said.
A wooden shelf was fitted on the back wall, which would also hold the toilet and act as a solid base for the tiling. Then the vinyl flooring was applied and cut down to size. Once this job was done, the tiles were ready to go up on the walls.
‘I watched YouTube for the tiling and grouting techniques,’ Dawn said. She applied the tiles along the back wall behind the toilet, underneath a small wooden shelf, and on the wall opposite the radiator. A few rows of tiles were also placed above the sink. ‘It was literally a labour of love, as I was heavily pregnant having to squeeze into the small space!
‘My husband installed the sink and toilet, as he learned these skills from watching his dad over the years and asking family members for advice.’ At this point, it was time to add the radiator cover. ‘It was a bit of a pain to get it to fit as it required cutting down, but it really finished the room off to hide the hideous radiator and pipes!’
To complete the transformation, Dawn turned the light switch pull into a fake ivy vine and made use of dinosaur ornaments she purchased from TK Maxx previously. ‘They have pot pourri inside, so the bathroom is the perfect place for them.’
A lime green dinosaur sits on the windowsill, while a mint green one sits on top of the radiator cover. There is also a cream dinosaur on the wooden ledge above the toilet, and a dinosaur frame sits next to it. Extra touches include a matching green liquid soap dispenser, a green towel and little bunches of fake ivy scattered around. The two cupboards even have green handles!
Once the project was finished, Dawn’s middle child was obsessed. ‘He loved it. He saw it as his toilet and we needed to get his permission to use it! With gentle encouragement, getting him to use the toilet worked a treat. He went straight from nappies to the toilet aged two and a half!’
Tom Church, Co-Founder of LatestDeals.co.uk, said: ‘This transformation is rawwsome! No wonder Dawn’s son is reluctant to let people in there - it’s a room to be proud of.
‘The temptation to ‘play it safe’ with home decor can lead to us having neutral colours we get bored with, so it’s great that this family has stuck to what they love and ensured their house reflects their tastes.’
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