the little bathroom that could: revamp

Oh, my bathroom. The little, narrow, poorly designed place I absolutely hate but secretly love all at the same time. Word from the wise: light pink + sage green = absolutely hideous.

At first I thought the best plan of attack was to temper the horrendous color palette with white. The more white the better. White rug, white shower curtain, white, white, white.

Then I came to the realization that I had a dog, with black hair, that liked to shed, shed, shed. Paired with the fact that the space ended up looking more washed out than crispy clean, out went that idea and I was on to something else.

To work with the colors, I ended up pretending the choices were good ones by focusing on the hue vs. the actual shade. I added brighter, saturated, more modern versions of the pink and green, making the space feel warm, cozy and almost fresh. Slowly but surely, the tile started to look more like a plan and less like an eye sore. And with the final additions of busy pattern and lumpy fabric, I think I might just like being in there.

Except when my stomach hurts.

Then it's always bad.

Here are some beautifully photographed afters (thank you, Centsational Girl) to feast your eyes on. Yes, it's definitely not my dream bathroom, but I think it came together as best it could in the end. Highlights include:

[DIY silhouette of Ruby taking a dump]

[wine crate shelf used to balance out the giant vanity]

[pattern and texture]

[basket of reading material AKA my dad's favorite part of the space]

[refocusing the attention to brighter, prettier accessories]

shopping list:*
$21 shower curtain from Target
$5 wine crate from The Wine Merchant
$2 plant from Meijer
$3 pot from Goodwill
$13 rug from Ikea
$2 basket from Ikea

*everything else was found and collected from my own personal stash of junk treasure.

Wine crate shelf, complete.

Remember a couple days ago when I mentioned wanting to make a wine crate shelf for my bathroom (full post here)? Well, it's finished! And it's cute! And I can't wait to figure out what's actually going to go in it!

Can you tell how excited I am about it by my excessive use of exclamation marks?!?!


To recap for everyone, my rental has a very ugly bathroom with a very ugly vanity. It's large. It's boring. It's absolutely fugly.

First things first, I needed to balance out that bulk. And what better way to balance bulk than by enclosed shelving? Enter the $5 wine crate from The Wine Merchant.

NOTE: Excuse the crappy side angle photo - I remembered to photograph the progress only after I started to stain. D'oh!

I stained the crate with some $2 Ace-brand wood stain in Early American. It was my first time using the stain and I have to say I was rather pleased with it. The color went on really smoothly and the smell wasn't too too bad. I finished it off with some high-gloss polyurethane I had left over from another project and the up on the wall it went.

Here it is styled a bit from random chotchkies I had lying around my house. I'm not completely sold on the accessories but am definitely digging the all-white mix of modern and vintage pieces to really make a statement. Emily Henderson made a comment on her blog the other day about choosing to go eclectic by color or by style so as not to overdo it. I am definitely taking the direction to heart and plan to attempt eclectic by style in this here display.

TIP: Drill holes in the wine crate before attempting to mount it to the wall. I did this and completed the very technical exercise of balancing a level on top of the wine crate, pencilling in the holes to the wall and then looking through the little hole to match everything up. Soooo helpful.

Knowing me, I may add just a splash of color (something bright) based on what I find at the thrift stores but I want to keep it simple enough so it doesn't look like just a bunch of crap shoved up above the john. Right now I'm on the hunt for more white washcloths, a textured, ornate candy dish to use as a pot and a larger fern to go inside. I might add a metal basket to hang right underneath the shelf to hold some reading material for.. you know... when you need reading material.

As far as the rest of the bathroom? I have some ideas but none that seem to be tying everything together just yet. I'm thinking I need to keep down the textured-yet-simplistic look to balance out the green and pink tile.


UPDATED WITH ACCESSORIES: