Welcome to our happy little bathroom, friends! This turned out to be such a fun space and I’m thrilled to share it with you today. Though the major elements stayed the same (layout, flooring, vanity and fixtures), this refresh included several mini projects, so I thought it might be helpful to walk you through them one at a time. But first, let’s look back at where we started!
Since moving in, this upstairs bathroom was almost completely untouched, aside from hanging a shower curtain and occasionally changing lightbulbs :) This room doesn’t get heavy daily use, but eventually will be used mostly by our kids (as they get more independent), as well as guests. I wanted it to feel fun and youthful, but still polished! Here’s the design plan I eventually landed on:
And here’s where we ended up!!
Here are a few more photos, along with brief rundowns of the mini projects, the grades I’d assign them, and any tips I collected along the way!
Paint the bathroom walls Who did it: Our handyman Rating: A Thoughts: In this season of life, I have accepted that painting is something I can do, but is well worth trading my money in exchange for my time. (Don was here for two hours to complete the job, whereas it would have taken us a full weekend!) We also asked him to remove the builder-grade mirror (we were able to give it to someone in our neighborhood!), remove the towel bars (donated those to Habitat!), repair the drywall, and fill in a few places of caulk. The color is Benjamin Moore “Chantilly Lace,” which I think is the perfect white-white without any undertones.
Paint the vanity and change out hardware Who did it: I did! Rating: A+ Thoughts: I loved this project and I’d do it again in a heart beat! I don’t think I’d tackle a project as extensive as kitchen cabinets, but a small vanity like this was totally doable and very satisfying.
I splurged on the Benjamin Moore cabinet paint and it went on like a dream! (I did two layers of primer and two layers of paint.) The color is “Palatial Skies.” The only change I would make next time is to paint the backs of the cabinet doors as well as the fronts. It would have taken a few days longer, but the end result would have been a little more professional, I think! As recommended, we left the doors off to “cure” for about a week before reattaching them and adding hardware – I chose these chrome knobs.
Wallpaper accent wall Who did it: John and I, much to his chagrin Rating: C+ Thoughts: While I still love the pattern (Julia Rothman’s “Daydream” in Sunshine) and am mostly happy with the end result, the application was fairly atrocious. This was our first time with a project like this, so I’m totally willing to take responsibility for my part, but I’m just not sure how we went wrong. Basically, to get the pattern to line up, we had to offset the panels themselves, so there is a half centimeter gap across the middle of the wall on the two outside panels??? We patched it with extra strips of wallpaper, ha! Thankfully, because of the positioning (mostly behind the mirrors) and the fact that the wall is also white, it’s not too noticeable, but still annoying. Even without this snafu, the whole process was just sweaty and fumbly, and some tense words may have been exchanged.
Note: it seems like Hygge & West no longer carries the removable wallpaper we used?Just wanted to note that we used the removable tiles, not the permanent rolls!
Change out light fixtures Who did it: John and I, again to his chagrin Rating: B- Thoughts: This was fine, it just took a couple tries to get the wiring right, which is always frustrating. We used two of these polished nickel fixtures!
Hang new mirrors Who did it: John and I, mostly willingly Rating: B+ Thoughts: Sadly, my beloved round mirrors were too wide for this space, so we went with these narrow silver mirrors instead. They are HEAVY suckers but went up without much trouble!
Add decorative accessories Who did it: I did! Rating: A Thoughts: The fun and easy part! These bathmats were a miraculous Target find (how perfect?!). I added this white waffle weave shower curtain (with these rings), these floral towels and hand towels (on this towel ring), four hooks in the shower room, and June helped me pick out the cutest shark step stool at HomeGoods. While I still love the Serena & Lily beaut, this one was a steal at $16 and can easily be switched out as the kids grow! The tissue box is from Amanda Lindroth.
The last thing I would like to add is framed photos of our kiddos’ sweet faces in the bath, likely in the shower room. Still on the hunt for the right square frames!
So there you have it – our fun little bath refresh! Well under $1000 and it makes me smile every time I walk by. Y’all know it takes me ages to finish a home project (6 months and counting for this one…), so I’m thrilled to finally be able to share with you!
I’d love to hear: are you working on a home project right now? Or do you have one in mind you’d love to tackle next?
Is renovation the right word to use here? It’s probably a bit too strong. But since we’ve done literally NOTHING to this bathroom since moving in besides hanging a shower curtain and changing lightbulbs occasionally, it feels appropriate! This project is already underway (exciting!!), so I thought I’d share a bit about our plans today!
Here’s the before. (Yikes, bathrooms are so hard to photograph!)
This bathroom it is the only one upstairs in our home. Though our children’s bedrooms are upstairs, it’s mostly used by guests right now (our current routines mean our kids bathe and brush their teeth in the downstairs master bath 99% of the time – more on that here). I’m assuming at some point in the future, though, our kids will use it more, so as I thought about design options, I wanted something that felt appealing for both kids and adults, and for both boys and girls.
Almost immediately, I zeroed in on Julia Rothman’s Daydream wallpaper from Hygge & West. I have loved it since at least 2014, when Jenny Komenda used it on the ceiling of her playroom! John, however, was NOT excited about the idea of wallpaper, so I compromised by agreeing to use the removable version. If the future wallpaper catastrophe he’s imagining ever materializes (?), we will have options.
I ordered samples of the yellow and green colorways, and as I waited, I put together this little board:
The samples arrived, and interestingly the clouds are different shades of blue, which is hard to tell online: the clouds in the yellow colorway are French blue, and the clouds in the green colorway are almost gray. In addition to preferring the French blue, I thought the yellow would pick up some of the creamier tones in the floor tile (which we aren’t planning to change) and the countertop (also not changing), so we went with the sunshine colorway!
That decision made, I revised my board to the current plan:
It makes me so happy! Here’s where I am in the project and what’s left to do:
Paint the vanity. We went with Benjamin Moore Palatial Skies and so far I’ve done two coats of primer and the first coat of color! I feel like I am worse than the average person at choosing paint colors, so I have my fingers crossed. Waiting to see whether we need new hardware (probably something simple like this) until the paint is finished. The blue vanity above is from a room by LEB Interiors, but I’m not sure what color she used!
Remove the builder-grade mirror, repair the drywall underneath, and paint the walls. I was originally planning to remove the mirror myself but Youtube videos intimidated me, so I think I will hire this out along with the wall painting to our favorite handyman. We’ll use Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace for the walls.
Wallpaper the wall above the sink. It’s just a rectangle, so I’m going to tackle this myself! Probably with some begrudging help from John :)
Change out the light fixtures. Thinking these ones. (Is this the right order? Should I replace them before or after hanging the wallpaper?)
Switch out towel bars for hooks. I think hooks are better for guests and often easier for kids to use!
Hang a new shower curtain. I haven’t seen it in person yet, but to bring the blue color into the shower room, I’m hoping this one will be the right shade. The white waffle weave I considered earlier in the process is here.
Add rugs, art, step stools, and any other decorative accents. I’m so looking forward to adding a little personality to this space! The step stool in the board is so beautiful but also $$$, so I will probably hunt for one at Home Goods :)
So there you have it! While I’ve made good progress this week on the vanity, things will slow down a bit from here as we wait on our handyman – we are on his schedule for late September. I’ll be back to share the finished result once everything is in place!
Friends, I’d love to hear: have you ever used removable wallpaper? Will it get the best of me? Any tips to share?
My 2020 goal of streamlining meal planning is ticking along nicely. It’s satisfying to feel like I’m making real progress on something when so much feels out of my control – AND it’s something that’s making my daily life better right now! Progress has taken all different forms, but today I wanted to share one simple hack that’s been so helpful for us with meal planning.
June school photos!!!
Emphasis on simple. We hung a magnetic dry erase board on the side of our fridge and use it to track inventory of our freezer stash. Now, I can easily see what we have on hand without rifling through our cold storage. This is helpful for both deciding on our meals for the week – what’s in the freezer that we can base a meal on? – and for assembling a grocery list – what do we already have that we don’t need to buy?
You could certainly do this with a pad of paper, but the dry erase board is a neat solution. To note: we don’t include EVERYTHING in our freezer on the list – mostly just ingredients that are relevant for meal planning. For example, you won’t see frozen cookie dough on the list above, but rest assured we are always well-stocked :)
That’s it! A simple meal-planning hack that’s helped us plan more efficiently and waste less food.
I’d love to hear: what meal-planning hacks do you swear by? Also, a question: with my recipe binder pretty much complete, I’m curious if a video flip-through would be of interest? I could give you some commentary on my favorite recipes? I’m not really much of a video person, but thought this could be fun. Let me know what you think!
P.S. If our dry erase board is sold out, this one looks very similar! Ours is fine but nothing particularly special, so don’t worry about going with a different one :)
It seems like everyone’s growing something this year, doesn’t it? I love it! I’ve been comparing garden notes with friends just as often as I’ve been swapping recipes and kiddo activities lately, and it feels springy and hopeful. So, let’s dish the dirt today, friends! :)
Our primary growing spot is our 4×8 garden bed in our backyard, carefully positioned to take advantage of as much sun as possible. John installed it in this spot the month after we moved in, and a few years ago we replaced our original raised bed kit with one from this Etsy shop, which we LOVE – super high quality, lovely details, and easy to install. The boards are really thick and it feels like it will last a long time.
Though we’ve experimented with a bunch of different vegetables over the years, we’ve settled into a consistent rotation that reflects what we like to eat and prioritizes produce that is expensive and/or tastes noticeably better when grown at home. For us, that mostly means tomatoes and herbs.
This year, we’re growing eight tomato plants: three cherry varieties (Sun Gold, Husky Red, and Super Sweet 100) and two medium varieties (Patio and Better Boy). We’ve found we don’t get enough sun for the bigger guys, so we stick to our sweet spot! We’re also growing basil, rosemary, jalapeno, Lacinato kale (for our beloved chickpea pasta), blueberries, and a few different kinds of lettuces.
Elsewhere in our yard, we have jasmine, coneflowers, lantana, scabiosa, heliopsis, Knockout roses, daisies, azaleas, hydrangeas, gardenias, and our beautiful Golden Celebration garden rose, among a few other things.
If we were to have more room some day, I’d love to grow peas, more berries, more tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, and zucchini – as well as many more flowers (zinnias, cosmos, dahlias, peonies, clematis, sunflowers, more roses, lilacs!).
One tip: though we enjoy watering with the kids almost daily, John installed drip lines last year, and it made a HUGE difference in the productivity of our plants, especially with our summer travels. The lines are not that expensive and take a half hour or so to set up. Totally worth it, in our opinion! We bought this kit, which was plenty for our 4×8 bed, and this hose timer.
Now, friends, I’d love to hear: what are you growing this year? Or, if you haven’t had a chance to get plants in the ground yet, what do you dream of growing in the future?
