How to make a TINY bathroom Work

Let's face it...not everyone has large bathrooms with natural light.  So what do you do when this is you?

You plan, calculate your moves and the budget you have to work with and most importantly you need to think about how you want everything to function.  I am all about things looking good but having lot's of practicality.

This is right after we hung the cabinet on the wall.  The doors in the corner hid the plunger and commode cleaner and the little cabinet to the left held the bath tissue.  

We have one closet that holds all of the towels, sheets and a clothes hamper.  I didn't have room to keep those things in there, so I had to get creative because I cannot stand to see things like that out in the open.

Can you believe we made this closet too?  It was totally wasted space!

Little by little we've added more storage but 

this bathroom still just wasn't right to me.

So this is what I did.

I found a little cabinet at Home Goods in the kids section.  It had ABC's as pulls on the drawers that I pulled off and painted over then added true drawer pulls.  Now it holds the bath tissue.

And the cute toilet brush was another find.  Now it's pretty enough to be out in the open!

I put the other cabinet over in the corner where the doors were and hid the plunger in it.  The magazine holder got lowered and the bath tissue holder found a new home on the bath vanity.

Also, I made a rug for in front of the commode.  it was a "Shabby Chic " rug that had some of the pretty scallop edging missing.  The half that was messed up got cut off.  It was perfect for the tight spot and cute too!

Adding another towel hook on the other side of the cabinet added symmetry and more convenience.    Just small little changes, but it made things work and look so much better.

Painting the walls a pale blue with a creamy beadboard wall paper on the lower half, sure did brighten this small space up.  

I have found white to be my friend!  It makes things look bigger than what they truly are and it keeps things nice and light.  

This tiny downstairs bathroom has had many looks and originally was built for an open garage/basement.  Can you believe this room used to be a deep red and gold?  I look back and think what was I thinking?  Those were the days when I loved French Country.  I don't think I will ever go back to dark colors again!

Well, that's it for now.  I think I will rest well knowing the bathroom is at it's best for now.

Hope you all have a blessed week!

Using Bedding in an Unconventional Way

I know you know that I use sheets and such for making my slipcovers, but did you know that I use bedding too?

The Bella Rose Blue fabric that I wanted to add more accents of to my kitchen was pricey at $30 a yard, I couldn't afford it until I found this bedding at Target.

Maybe you can tell that the color is a little more aqua on the original fabric compared to the bedding.  But at a distance, it looks great together!  This was the shade I had above our dining table that I had to move due to that fact.

I made another shade to match all that I added to the kitchen.  Here you can see that it's a little more of a true blue.

The chair back covers added what I was so desiring!  A little romance and color!

Yes, I said color....

Making them for the backs of the island chairs really helped too.  I absolutely love my kitchen now!  

Adding more ruffles to the plain white curtains really did the trick by making it all look cohesive.

With the pink and green accent colors, they tie nicely into everything else I have.   Like our shutters and the green picket planter on the island.

I have been toying with which way I want the island.

Facing the sink or the stove....which do you like?

I even made another slipcover for the lampshade on the counter.  Made it perfect!

The bedding sure has been fun to work with after I ripped it all apart.  Hard to believe someone would buy brand new bedding and do that, isn't it?!  

Now let's see...what else can I do with the other side of the comforter?

Spring Fresh

I don't know about you, but when I see a room, I tend to look at all of the little details.  I want my eye to flow over a room with ease...not stop and start and feel all frantic, like I am missing something.  Sometimes when I enter a store, I feel all jittery because of all of the clutter and jammed up togetherness of stuff.  That's when I feel like I am missing something important and cannot enjoy myself at all.

So for me, I enjoy cohesiveness.  When colors work with each other instead of against.  When groupings actually make sense.  

Like this grouping.  For years, it has almost stayed the same.  But recently, I found some darling bird nests with pink eggs at Home Goods.  Practically everything in this photo has come from that store.  Well, really everything but the chest now that I think about it!  

I love birds for some reason...but not in my ferns during the summer months!  So pairing birdhouses, nests, and birds just make sense, right?

See how cute the nest is?  I love going to Home Goods when they get their Spring shipments in.  

It seems that when the weather starts to improve after Winter, I seem to want to move and switch things around a bit.   Freshen things up...just like Spring does!

Adding texture  with the garden fencing around the candle, can really break up whites and make them stand out more.  

Touches of greenery are a must for me.  I have especially loved these plastic topiary balls that I found at Michael's.   Perfect for in these pink and white striped cups. They are easy to keep clean and do not fade in direct sunlight....making them perfect for window.

A lot of sunlight comes in this window, so curtains really fade when there is a design on them.  Even the lined panels.

I am all about being thrifty and creative.  I'm not big on lot's of pictures of things on my walls, but after seeing a floral print on Pinterest, I had to make myself a framed print!

See how beautifully it turned out after some cropping, color adjustments and a border.

I made two of them...one for my kitchen as well!

I am in love with this print!

Of course moving things around always leads to another room and then another....

This cabinet is a love of mine and it found a place in the girls bath.  Storing more junk is always a PLUS too!  It took the place of the bath tissue holder that used to sit in the corner.  The little stool found a new place by the shower.

The plates that hung here for many moons, found a resting spot somewhere else after finding these letters from Target.  Their the "Shabby Chic" line from Rachel Ashwell.  I fell in love and had to have them!  The headboard over them came from a bed that my oldest slept in along with it being my Mom's bed when she was a little girl.    The iron scrolly piece added the perfect touch after it got a few coats of pink paint.

The lamp that used to sit in the corner by the sink has a new home as well.  I just love having lamps in a bathroom!  Can't wait until Christmas now to use the new outlet!

Another nest sits under a cloche on a cute pink plate from Home Goods.  Simplicity at it's best!

See how each room leads to another?  This paper towel stand had been used as a bath tissue holder for years.  I had it painted blue to go with the master bath.  But after taking away the bath tissue cabinet from the girls bath and putting it in here, I came up with another way to use it.  As a towel rack!  A new paint job and voila!  

This bathroom is small...so I make every ounce of space count and work.  Storage is  crucial for it to function.  So when I came upon this cabinet, I knew where it would go.  It replaced a small cute cabinet that really didn't offer anything else besides being cute.

It holds all of the small stuff that took up much needed space in the closet.  Now I feel more organized!

This tall lingerie chest had me at hello!  Anything that doesn't take up too much space and goes high, well, it comes to live with me!

It took the place of the cabinet that is now in the girls bath which used to be in Sara's room.  Now she has more storage too and it goes perfect in this spot beside her closet.  After a paint job and new pulls, it has a new lease on life!

Spring freshness is something I think we all enjoy.  Whether it be with painting, cleaning, gardening...it feels so nice any way it comes.  Kinda puts a SPRING in your step!

 Now maybe I can finally pull out my sewing machine and do some sewing.  It relaxes me...I sure do need it!

I recently bought some "Shabby Chic" bedding from Target that is the Bella Rose Blue print I have in our kitchen and living room.  For the price and yardage I could get out of it, I couldn't pass it up.  I paid $30 a yard back when I bought the fabric.  This bedding is a little off in color compared to the original, but it will be perfect at a distance.   I adore this print!

So here are some spring flowers for you...I hope you are blessed and enjoying life.  It sure does have some ups and downs doesn't it?  But thankfully we have Jesus to calm the storm!  Thanks for visiting as always and hope you have a great rest of the week!

A Window Make Over

Years ago, we added a ledge to our bathroom window.  I loved it until we started to bump our heads on it when we sat on the stool.  Then I ended up hating the window after I had the bright idea on adding the shutters.  This bathroom gets dirty and hairy...yes, I said hairy!  With 3 ladies in the house, we all tend to lose hair.  Hairspray doesn't help matters either.  Another con is that it is adjoined to the laundry room.  So, I think you understand how  dirty this room can get.

Here is a before photo from my phone before we started on making the window over.

  Those topiary's needed to say bye bye too!  

Starting to add the trim...what a mess!

You can see what color the bathroom was before many many moons ago.  A dark green that looked almost black!

This window ended up costing about $45 to trim out.  I want to do the rest of our windows throughout, but I think I'll take it slow.  Doing one at a time.  It will add up fast if I'm not careful.

But it sure did make a huge difference, didn't it?  I still need to paint the walls and the beadboard, but a little touch up will have to do for now.  We all said the same thing...how it made the room look larger and the window definitely looks way bigger too.

I cleaned my butt off, washing down the walls, trim, shower curtains and window shade.  I even cleaned the ceiling fan and the ceiling.  Definitely a long over do list....but at least it's clean and pretty now.

Since we are in the bathroom, I'll show you the rest...

I love how big the room is...makes it so nice when there are 3 of us in here trying to get ready.  I put on my make up here because of the natural light.

People are always amazed at just how big it really is.  I'm so glad my mom planned it that way when she was building this house.  I grew up using a bathroom that was so tiny, your knees could almost touch the sink!  

I added the trim over the shower curtain awhile back.  It has grown on me...I didn't like it too much when I first did it.

Both ways were pretty, but the make over is more practical and cleaner!  No more hairspray build up on the shutters along with all that  hair.  My life as a mom just got easier!

Our 25th Wedding Anniversary

25 years ago, I married my high school sweetheart!

I want to share our story on how we met and fell in love.

The first time I saw him, I fell in love.  We didn't have any classes together until later in the school year.  I remember seeing him in the hall and he would say hi to me.  I can still remember how that made me feel...all bubbly inside!

Finally, we had art class together.  I had foods class  next door right before and would bring in my leftovers.  One day, he saw that I had some pizza and asked if he could have some.  Of course I said yes...but after that, I made sure I had "some food" for him every time I cooked in class. My classmates in foods class all knew that I was saving my food for someone special.

There were days in art class that he would come over to my table and lean down, put the side of his face to the side of mine and try to help me draw.  Oh, my heart still swoons when we shared those moments! 

He came up with a nick name for me which is our little secret to this day.  Whenever he would say it, it made my heart skip a beat.  Oh how he flirted, but I kept my cool because I thought he had a girlfriend.  Later, I found out that they had agree'd on seeing other people.  They were on the path to breaking up.  I would never let him know how I felt because  I didn't want to be the cause of a breakup.   So I waited patiently. 

He graduated and my life went on.  Dating, having crushes, but never like I had with him.  Then, a dear friend of mine was dating his best friend and we were going to go to a concert.  I asked if he were single and the answer was yes.  I jumped on that as fast as I could.  I made sure that word would get back to him on how much I had liked him in school.  He was shocked!  Somehow, he had no clue.  So he made arrangements through our friends to meet at this concert.  Let's just say "fireworks" went off that night.  I think we both were smitten with each other! We spent days together off and on, then weeks and then months.  My heart began to fall in love.  His hands were perfect, his eyes were such a beautiful shade of blue and his hair was long and silky.  Back then, long hair on boys was something girls loved.  The hairstyle was called a mullet.   I remember the first time he said he loved me...I had no response, lol.  It was when I was dropping him off at his house.  When I got home, I called him and said it back.  We've been together ever since.  

He is the person I love to spend my time with.  He is my very best friend whom I've shared my darkest secrets with and my biggest dreams to.  We've been through so much together.  I keep saying we should write a book because in our story, we've made farther than most other's  our age.

We're both heavier, grayer, older, stiffer, wrinklier...you get the idea.  But when I look at him now, he is more handsome than when we first began our love story.

When he puts his face against mine, I still remember how he did that in art class.  And I still feel the same way as I did then...I get butterflies!

He made my heart feel something I had never felt before and it's still going strong 25 years later in marriage.  We dated for 3 and a half years, so in total, we've been together for 28 and a half years. That's over half of our lifetime!  And do you want to know our secret?  It has been our love for God, keeping Him in our marriage and keeping Him in our hearts.  Without God, we wouldn't be together because our flesh would have gotten the best of us in anger, hurt, and selfishness.

  

I love my sweetie to the moon and back!  I am so very thankful that we've made it this far....and I'm praying we make it another 25!