It’s a true story that every bathroom in my house is currently in a bit of a meh state of affairs. We have lived here for a year and half now and I am only now able to begin decorating to my current tastes… unless I want to dress this nest in the same styles and colors I have had for the last 10 years mixed in with quite a few hand me downs that have lived even longer in my presence. Frankly I am tired of my surroundings and seeking major inspiration for the direction my own home design should take. I am still unclear as to the path I will choose. Being surrounded by beautiful images and design everyday gives me a bit of the old analysis paralysis…too many options, and I love them all!
One new tactic I have decided to embrace is a bit of a come what may haphazard approach to choosing those things I like, and hoping to find that they will naturally take on an eclectic sentiment. Of course there are things that should never exist in the same design plane, but for the most part I have found a pattern in the images I am drawn as having a high contrast, mixed bag, collected over time feel. This is the only common thread so far, and not a lot to go on if I attempt to plan something out.
I decided that I needed to dive in head first and tackle the kids bath upstairs, since it didn’t have a window covering and had become a holding cell for all of the bath related decor and linens that I have amassed over the years. It was spiraling out of control and it was time to get down to business.
So I bought myself a new shower curtain from West Elm, and a faux wooden blind from Lowe’s and decided to give the installation a good old DIY try!
I just adore this shower curtain! Bold stripes but a neutral gray color, so I should be able to mold my design plans as I wish along the way without restraint from color. While I like the bath in the image above, it is a tad too modern and not eclectic enough for what I think I am looking for…but then again, that is just a bit of a guess since I don’t actually know what I’m looking for!
Below you can see the before picture and just how awkward this bath is without a window covering! You can actually see right into the neighbors bath 2 houses over…eek!
It was easier than I thought it would be to install the blinds, but I did require help from the hubs when it came time to bang that sucker in there… it was a bit of a tight fit. So tight in fact that I am fairly certain we could have skipped the hardware all together and it would have stayed quite nicely on it’s own! It does however look like the blinds in the rest of the house, which were of course more custom in size and so I’m a happy camper!
The price of the blind was also a bit fabulous at only $16 and some change! I was just plain lucky in fact since I wanted to match the blinds in the rest of the house and that didn’t exactly give me much wiggle room if it turned out to be one zillion dollars instead! I will say that because this blind is ‘faux wood’ which I think actually means vinyl that there is a strong off gassing and smell that has lingered for a couple of weeks now. It’s not pleasant, but the price and the matching sort of trump that a tad.
Still, even with the fabulous blinds installed and a shower curtain and rug in place, this room has a serious case of the blahs.. I need to figure things out quickly or it might sit in this blank state for another year and half!
I wasn’t planning on switching out the rug right away but figured the new curtain should still work along side it until I decide on a more definitive direction in here.
I happen to have a ‘thing’ about that noise that shower curtain rings make, so I tend to use jute for my shower curtain ties. Jute being a natural element, it has no problem withstanding moisture or wetness and it also happens to look super cool! I use just enough to tie twice and leave loose so the curtain will still slide properly.
Clearly I still have quite a ways to go…but it’s still such an improvement from where we were a few weeks ago with no blinds, and a blah smear of not so decorative decor!
