2015 DIY Projects Continued . . .

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I spent so much time dreaming with you all about my dream kitchen in my last post that I ran out of room to tell you about my other big 2015 home renovation project–the upstairs boys’ bathroom.

Isn’t is just lovely?

More honey-oak cabinets, as well as some fantastic early 90’s floral wallpaper . . . goodness!

There is also this random doorway that separates the shower from the vanity area.

It seems like a really wasted wall to me, and the door opening takes up just about all of the existing wall space in the shower area.

There is one, sad little towel rack above the toilet–too far away for any of my kids to reach on their own–and a hand-me-down shower curtain that never seems to close far enough.

Not only is it ugly, but totally non-functional for three little boys.

My plan is to do some simple, low-cost projects to add a more mature style and ease-of-use for my kids.  I want it to be sophisticated enough that it will grow along with them, and functional enough that they can take care of their basic bathroom and showering needs on their own.

Here is basic my inspiration photo:

The vanity goes a dark blue, the upper walls painted a light green, and some type of wainscoting is added to the wall base. It’s a color scheme that is mature, but still boy-friendly.

I would love to go whole-hog and take out the random doorway and wall, but that’s a little more DIY than what I’m capable of.  So instead, my plan is to take the interior door off its hinges and store it up in our attic.  Once the door is gone, I can towel hooks for each of my little guys, much like this inspiration photo from 36th Avenue:

No more scaling the toilet to hang up towels (or more realistically just leaving them on the floor because they don’t want to scale the toilet)!

Two shower curtains (a functional one that goes inside the tub and a pretty one that stays outside) is too much detail for little boys to handle.  I like the idea of hanging a stationary outer curtain at the ceiling, and leaving just the plastic curtain to slide back and forth on the rod.

Maybe with just one shower curtain to deal with my kiddos can finally remember to pull it all the way shut so as to avoid flooding the bathroom every time they take a shower.

I really can’t sew worth a lick, but I think with help from a few friends I can manage sewing one or two long curtain panels.

Maybe just a simple textured linen,

or maybe something with a little more flair.

I can make do with the current vanity top, sink, and faucet hardware.  The only other main expenditure will be replacing the strip lighting with a more upscale fixture.

What do you think?

Step one of course is getting that old floral wallpaper off, and unfortunately I’ve tried to start working on a piece of it and it’s giving me plenty of trouble.  Maybe I will enlist the boys’ help and we can make a weekend project of it 🙂

Well, there you have it.  I’m sure other little DIY jobs will pop up here and there over the course of the year, but renovating the kitchen and this bathroom are my main two goals for 2015.

Now I just need to find the time to work on them and money to buy what I need . . . Hmm, it may be awhile 🙂

Linking up to:   Project Inspired