It’s been just about two months since we’ve moved into our apartment here in Arizona. And I am so ready to be settled. But it just takes time; especially when you have moved about 2,000 miles cross country only a few short months prior.
It takes time to find a place for everything.
It takes time to figure out what everything was packed into.
And frankly, it takes time to gather the motivation to get it all done.
So, my plan is to just work at it a little at a time; and this week’s goal, Little Bear’s bathroom. My decision to start with this room was partly because it is the smallest space to finish off and largely because I was given some “in your face” inspiration. And by that I mean I didn’t have to think about it too much. Cause Lord knows, I am not a fan of trying to decorate a bathroom.
I bought this cute little picture – actually it’s not that little but it is cute – to add some life to Little’s bathroom back in Kentucky while we were showing the house. Truth is, since I bought it, I have never been able to find anything else to go with it just the way I want. But I just couldn’t get rid of. It’s too cute. (I know I’ve said that already, but I really do like it. Plus, it cost a pretty $40 which I wish I hadn’t really spent on a picture I just bought on a whim. But it’s cute, so it’s okay.)
See 🙂
Anyway, last week Mr. O came home with a treasure of a find from a local Goodwill. I was absolutely astounded. It was a little cabinet/shelf thing about 24″ x 24″ and it was only $5.99. And I didn’t even need to paint it. (Score!) It was already gloss white (which is what I would have ended up painting it if need be.) A complete steal of a deal.
Then, I came across an adorbs shower curtain at Home Goods. It just screamed “GIRL”. And Little Bear, she’s all girl.
Pinks, flowers, and ruffles; all girl.
And it just so happened, this curtain had the same color scheme as the picture that I had been holding on to. It was fate. With only 3 left on the shelf, I snatched it up and prayed I could find something else to tie everything into a coherent looking bathroom.
Enter cabinet…
Now, I didn’t just want to shove things in the little cubby holes that were the same colors as the picture or the curtain just to decorate.
1.) because all that stuff has to be dusted on the regular.
2.) I don’t like dusting.
3.) The chances of me finding 9 smallish things that didn’t jumble everything up and make me look like a hoarder was slim.
As a result, I decided to backdrop each cubby with some type or something. That way it didn’t need an object on the ledge to look decorated. Solution: cardstock. Why paper and not paint? Well, I didn’t want to fool with all the hassle that painting 9 small holes would entail. And, I have a silly amount of cardstock for someone who stopped scrapbooking about 10 years ago.
I decided on two different patterned stocks. This suede gray with circles and this limeade green dots.
Using a paper cutter, I cut nine squares that corresponded to the measurements of the holes. I ended up only needing three sheets of 12×12 paper: two of the gray and one green. This cardstock was pretty substantial in weight so I didn’t feel the need to adhere them onto any additional surface before fixing them to the back of each cubby. To do this I just used tape. (Don’t judge. I was afraid that after a year in the apartment, we’d find a house and therefore a different room where I wanted to put the cabinet. Read, I wanted something temporary. But I still feel it will hold up nicely to the atmosphere of a bathroom.)
Look how it turned out. It doesn’t look cheap; (I know you thought it would when I said paper and tape.) And above all, Little Bear loves it. I’ll take my time finding the “just right” trinkets to tuck into some of the holes. But in the mean time, I just hung it up.
There was an awkward space above the toilet that needed to be filled so I used it there. I think it turned out rather nice. I’m pretty proud of myself actually because, generally speaking, I find it difficult to dress-up a bathroom to make cute and not just functional.
How do you like to dress-up your functional bathroom spaces?
