Dearest Daughters,
When we moved into our house about a year and a half ago we did a fair amount of work. We ripped out smelly old carpets. Tore down a wall and demolished the kitchen. We repainted the house a neutral grey and a robin's egg blue in your room. Much improved from the technicolor rainbow left for us by the former owners. Had the floors refinished and laid new floor in the kitchen. Then, we survived about four months with just a sink and our shiny new stand-alone appliances as we put in a new kitchen, finished shortly after Danjo was born. And by "we" I mean Unkinan and Lolopop and our Uncle Chuck. Mostly Lolopop.
I was six months pregnant when we moved into the house. Beadle was traveling a lot. And Lolopop was newly retired. At some point I should probably post photos of all his handiwork on this blog. For posterity's sake.
The bathroom, for whatever reason, we never touched.
Until, a few weeks ago, not pregnant, inspired by Pinterest, time and a gift card on my hands, and fed up, I did.
From meh and messy...
To poorly lit, but less meh and less messy!
Some more befores, taken from the doorway, clockwise around the small bathroom:
And afters!
I'm really happy with the taupe color, even though it doesn't really come across well in the photos. It and the red work well with the janky 1950's pink tile, compliments it and hides it at the same time! And I'm super happy with my clever shutters and IKEA condiment buckets turned storage. It's a small bathroom used by four people. Instead of trying to hide those facts--the towels, the products, the small electrics--I embraced them. It's just not a reality that we'd put everything neatly away in our scarce storage spaces in our scarce morning minutes every single day.
We don't live in a magazine.
I say, embrace reality.
Yay! For a bit of paint, upcycling and IKEA!
Yay me!
Love,
P.S. Some details for the People who want to know:
Wall paint: Behr Premium Plus Ultra in Classic Taupe 290E-3, semi-gloss $38.00
Ceiling and trim paint: Kelly Moore White 100 in semi-gloss and gloss (leftover from our original housepainting job)
Towel hooks: IKEA Lillhomen $9.99
Shower curtain: Ralph Lauren from TJMAXX $10.00
Window curtain: Target clearance curtain panel I hemmed $4.99
Art: Trees I painted in high school from a drawing by my Uncle, the faux-wood "Life is Good" and metal leaf cut out were on clearance at Kohl's $5.99 each (note: this is so not me, but I wanted the bathroom to look finished for Bel's 3rd birthday party; may or may not replace with "real" art)
Light fixture: Home Depot $39.00 (similar to this, same company)
Mirror: found plus black spray paint $3
Rail and buckets: IKEA Fintorp Rail $9.99, cutlery caddy $6.99 each, condiment stand $12.99, hooks $2.99, IKEA artificial grass $3.99
Vanity paint: Glidden Onyx Black $12
Shutters: The ReUse People $5, IKEA Grundtal s-hooks $2.99
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