I recently undertook a small renovation of a small shared bathroom.. I didn’t do anything major, just some updating. I’d hated the wall color since the day I painted it (too yellow-y). Anyway, during my project, I had someone tell me they just have no idea how to decorate and wouldn’t know where to start. Well, I’m here to tell you … yes you can!

OK, I do understand that some people aren’t as creatively minded or get as excited about colors and patterns as I do. But, I DO think, whoever you are, you do know what you like, and what you don’t. And THAT my friends, is all you need to know. (Well, there are a few other things that are helpful … like how high to hang pictures, how long your curtains should be, what size shelves should be, etc. … but the answers for every question are online! The internet knows everything, so when in doubt, Google it!)

It’s also important to let go of any and all perceived rules of decorating. Make a room work for YOU and your family. Use colors and things that YOU like. Pottery Barn is not the standard, it is simply one style (one I happen to think a little fussy and boring, if you ask me).

Is your favorite color blue? Start with that! Do you love eagles or legos or dogs or movies or exercise or the beach … start there! Have you seen something in a magazine that you love, or hate … a great place to start!

For me, I had no intention of redoing the bathroom, but I found this GREAT shower curtain on ModCloth:

It’s a beluga whale in a birch forest with pink leaves on the ground! I loved it. And I knew my kids would love it. It suits my style that I like to call “sophisticated whimsy.” So I bought it. And from there I began my bathroom remodel. So, when you don’t know what to do with a particular room or space, find something you love … a pillow, a curtain, a flower, a vase, a couch, a headboard, a piece of artwork … and let that be your guide as you decorate the rest of the room.

Then I started to think about what really needed to change in the room, besides the paint color. (A bathroom should always be white-ish, in my opinion. Any other color can throw you off when you’re doing your make up or making sure what you’re wearing matches. And anything too dark makes a room appear smaller, and makes it hard to see properly, even with lots of lighting.)

First, we had a towel bar under the window that was NEVER used. So I decided we should just get rid of it, and I replaced it with kid-level hooks for towels. (Hooks from World Market.)

Now they can reach their own towels! And more importantly, they can put their own towels away! Even Wynnie!

The thing I hated most about our bathroom, though, was the mirror. It was tiny and oval and meant as a medicine cabinet … but there had never been a hole in the wall to put it in. So it stuck out several inches and looked ridiculous. It HAD to be dealt with. So we removed it, and I found a great mirror at Home Goods for just $40. Now several people can see into the mirror at once, and it’s pretty! And a good size mirror is also good for making a room feel brighter and bigger.

Also, take a look at the light fixture. It was brass and ugly, but I couldn’t afford to replace it. So I painted it with spray paint I already had. I didn’t even have to take it fully off the wall! It’s still too small for the room, but painting it black made a huge difference.

Because the medicine cabinet was so small, and with three small children I never took the time to put much away anyway, the counter in this small shared bathroom was constantly covered in mess. We have space under it, but that was usually too much work too. So my solution was a couple of wire baskets I found at Cost Plus World Market in the office section. I faced the reality that there would always be mess, but found a way to contain it neatly. Now putting things away takes literally no time (I don’t even have to open a cupboard door), and there’s no mess on the counter! So remember that sometimes things made for one part of the house will work brilliantly elsewhere. Remember … buck the rules!

(My cute yellow mug is an $8 number from Anthropologie. It has a crack, so I can’t use it for drinking. BUt it works great for makeup brushes! So many things for the house can be found at stores that don’t have anything to do with decor!)

The cute little blue house was also one of the first things I bought for the bathroom. It’s a tissue box cover that makes the tissue look like smoke coming out of a chimney. GENIUS. ModCloth.com.

I’d always hated the shelf unit above the toilet, but used it because it was already there, and free. When it came to my remodel, I didn’t feel like finding something new, or making something, so I found a way to work with the disliked piece. Oh, the powers of spray paint! For less than $4 I feel like I got a completely new cabinet!

And I removed the little drawers at the bottom and turned them into cubby spaces. I’m not completely in love with the finished arrangement of all my tsatskes (Yiddish for “collectibles,”), but I’ll get there.

I also found another wire basket for magazines and potty training books. I put it behind the toilet so the kids wouldn’t use it as an anchor to climb up on the toilet.

You’ll notice that wall behind the toilet is teal. I love teal! One of my favorite colors. So I matched it to the shower curtain and painted the one wall. It gives the room a little interest, but doesn’t throw off the needed white of the bathroom.

My last great piece is the rug. I found a runner at World Market (half price!), normally used in a hallway or at the foot of a bed or hearth, and put it in the bathroom! I loved the color, and the size (I hate the linoleum currently in the bathroom and needed to cover as much as possible!).

The only thing I have left to do is the cabinets. I’m going to paint them the same color as the white walls and then add fun colorful knobs (also a great World Market find). But the cabinet doors have been painted so many times the hinges were painted right into the doors. It took Caleb and hour just to remove them! So I need to strip the paint currently on there, do a good sanding, then repaint, then find new hinges. But frankly, I ran out of steam. So right now we’re working with an open-cabinet concept. I also bought some contact paper to put down in the drawers and on the shelves. The previous owner painted them and little flecks of ugly green paint come off on EVERYTHING. Hopefully the contact paper will help contain that. I’ll post more pics when I finally get that done.

One last thing I did … I found a few great new little pieces to help my room feel more like me … all found at ModCloth.com (my absolute FAVORITE place to shop online). (Click on the pics if you’re interested in shopping!)

It’s a deer … and a vase. Found synthetic flowers on sale at JoAnn’s. LOVE IT.

This little squirrel is a night light! And she guards a picture of Josie and Ella when they were so much smaller. How times flies.

It’s a hedgehog that holds q-tips. Genius!

The little white bird is a night light. The little gold bird was my grandma’s. Don’t they look cute together?

This little owl holds little cotton rounds.

Who doesn’t want to wash their hands from a cat soap dispenser! These little things help complete my “sophisticated whimsy” look, and make me happy. You probably wouldn’t find any of those animals together in the woods, but I think they’re lovely together in my bathroom. Honestly, I think I spent more money on the tsatskes than I did on the rest of the bathroom.

I’ve had these on my bathroom walls for a long time. I love them. Bought from GraceforGrace on Etsy. I know the owner. She’s amazing.

So, bottom line … find things you like, and use them. Shop at the stores you already frequent. Use colors you already love. Follow a few simple rules about space and height and size. Decorating: done!

(And if you’re still stumped, write me. I’d love to help. Though you might end up with whales swimming through forests on your wall.)

Heidi

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