"Enjoy the LITTLE THINGS in life for one day you will look back and realize they were the big things."


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Come on in and sit awhile while I talk about the "Little Things" in life. I will share my journey of everyday life.... homeschooling, raising my children, homesteading, gardening, health and wellness, and real life.

Thursday, November 6, 2014

Making It Ours: Kid Bathroom

The house we moved to has only two bathrooms.  Our other house had two and half baths.  This is not a big deal for us because the half bath rarely got used anyway.  I think two bathrooms is plenty for a family of seven.  We stagger baths/showers anyway and it is rare that everyone has to go potty at once.  For those times they just have to learn to wait in line just like anywhere else you might be.  

When we bought this house the smaller bathroom had nothing but a tub in it.  The toilet and vanity had been removed and the linoleum floor was in good shape but was older and yellowed.  The walls are bead board and were white but in need of touch up, so I painted over it all to freshen it up. 

This is a before pic... The hole in the floor is where a toilet should be.  

This is where a vanity should have been with the toilet beside it .  You can see the yellowed linoleum floor that was still functional but not appealing.  

We have lived here three months now and I still have more to do, but I thought I would share the progress since I did some more work on this bathroom today.  

Of course, we started by adding new linoleum, a vanity, and a toilet.  I chose to use contrasting dark colors rather than have complete whiteness all around.  I had the mirror but it had a light oak frame so I gave it a quick brush over with a thick coat of dark stain.  I also decided on the bronze faucet even though the shower has silver.  I would love it to match, but I am not changing it out.  I can live with it.  Just today I added the toilet paper shelf.  I have been trying to figure out what to do with this shelf since we moved here.  I had no plan to use it in the bathroom but after pouring through pics on Pinterest today I decided to see if it would work.  I had thought the shelves would not be deep enough but it seems they will work after all.  

This is close-up and you can see the top to the little hot pink garbage can below.  

We had this picture from our other house.  I love this!  Look close and you can see the frogs on the lily pads are a prince and princess.  I love the castle far off in the distance and the weeping willow tree.  The frame is distressed making it a bit shabby chic.  This is a rare item I did not bargain shop for.  Years ago I actually spent about $50 on this little art piece.  If you know me, you know that is a big deal.  All the other accent pieces were bargains... and, things I keep repurposing for new uses.  

I hung these cute little scalloped square shelves today, but I still need to figure out what will set there.  The old school folding hat hanger makes a great towel hook for multiple towels.  I spray painted it white years ago and we used it as a necklace holder in our kid bathroom at the house.  

Years ago I made this patchwork froggy shower curtain making sure it could work for a unisex bathroom.  The little baskets in the window were probably a dollar and I bought the little wooden duck and frog cutouts already painted for cheap at the craft store and just glued them on.  The shower hooks and froggy accent pieces are items I had already.  If you could see it all there are ducks, frogs, and turtles that are so very cute.  

The next project on the agenda will go on this blank wall.  I am designing a large family toothbrush organizer to go here for all my children.  You can not see in these pics but we still have to solve a light fixture issue and I want to add shelves of sime sort (probably something unique and shabby chic) above the toilet for towel storage and such.  

So, this is just a glimpse at how we are making this smaller house work for our larger than average family.  My biggest tips for making small spaces work is to think practical in bathrooms.  Everything needs to function and not just be pretty.  The little buckets in the window hold washcloths... and I never even fold thosewashclothes.  We just stuff them in there and this saves time on laundry.  There is a small ceramic frog trash can in this room that is not pictured and it holds panties for my youngest that has accidents frequently.  Towel bars are a waste when only one or two towels can be hung on them.  Use pegs or hooks for multiple towels and robes.  Use the back of the door in a useful way... maybe for robe hooks or a hanging organizer.  In our other house I had a now and hair clip holder on the back of the door.  Skip the single toilet paper roll holder and go for a basket, shelf, etc. that can hold more.  I don't use a holder because my littles will unroll it all once they realize the magic of that.  Add shelves inside your vanity cabinet that will hold toothbrushes, hairbrushes, etc.. Having a well organized space can make even a small space work for larger families.  

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