Well, it’s not really a NEW bathroom, as in, we didn’t put on an addition or anything. We just updated an existing bathroom. But the difference is pretty remarkable, and it certainly does seem new!

Iron Man went to Germany earlier this week, and I may have mentioned in earlier posts that when he travels, I pour myself into projects. This week there were two. The first is the children’s bathroom, which I’ll share today, and the second is in the kitchen, for another day.

The children have an awesome bathroom with Jack and Jill doors connecting from the boys’ room and the hallway. It’s a rather large bathroom that’s had great potential for a decorator, but since I hardly ever go in that room, it’s been rather neglected. Here are some pictures from a few months ago, my official “BEFORE” shots.

Walking in from the hallway. As you see, it’s on the plain and boring side, but not bad.

The sink and mirror as they were. From this view, once again seems uninspired but “okay.”

But take a closer look at the sink, and you can see it’s pretty well worn and dated.

I’ve had ideas for this bathroom for about a year, but procrastinated on doing them because as they say, out of sight, out of mind. Iron Man’s travels this week, however, gave me just the push I needed. It all started something like this:

“Hey Boys! How would you like to earn a little extra money by helping me paint the bathroom cabinet?” 

I don’t think I even had time to blink. Paint AND money???? In the minds of young boys, this was too good to be true! They are cheap labor, by the way, but Happy’s had his eye on some Lego sets, and Handyman’s been itching to go to the baseball card shop.

So we began by painting the cabinet the color it was made to be. Black. And we replaced the knobs and handles.

So pretty! Not only the cabinet, but it made the countertop seem more beautiful too. The brown cabinet made it appear more of a dingy yellow, but the black contrast makes it look clean and creamy. Like the ebony and ivory of a piano.

Stop singing that song! It’s been in the back of my head ever since I made the same comment to my daughter two days ago. I warn you, it will get stuck in yours too if you don’t stop right now!

Anyhow, we loved our cabinet! But say… the white mirror doesn’t exactly do much for it.

So we taped construction paper all over the surrounding wall and mirror, and I took a can of black spray paint to it.

Wait… no picture quite yet.

The mirror was looking better, but too severe. It needed something more. I got out some antique gold acrylic craft paint and a cheapo art sponge, and lightly dabbed it over the accents and creases to bring out the ornate design of the mirror.

Now you can see a picture!

A closeup.

Oh, this was getting fun! But it needed a splash of red. I love red! This $10 print from Walmart did the job perfectly.

Ready for more fun?

I mentioned earlier that I’ve had ideas for this bathroom for quite some time. This next idea was to line up some of our favorite bath photos of our children to display on the long bare wall above the towel hooks. The idea stretched to include not just bath pics, but other water and snuggly newborn photos as well. While we were updating the other areas of this bathroom, this seemed like a good time to get started! A little photo browsing and editing to black and white, and then I ordered the pictures and picked up some inexpensive frames from Walmart.

Here’s what we ended up with.

Isn’t it cute? These are some of my favorite pictures of my children, ever. It might be begging for a verse or phrase on the wall above the pictures, but I haven’t decided on that one yet.

Here are those pictures close up.

From left to right:  Conductor in the toilet, Sonshine in the kitchen sink, Strawberry on my bed, Handsome on a baby scale….

(Ahem)  Handyman in the tub, Handsome’s feet (hospital), and Conductor in the baby pool.

Oh! And a new shower curtain! The previous one was pretty, but it was old and torn. I love the colors of this new one from TJ Maxx.

And finally, while I realize that the order of this photo is unconventional (last instead of first), here’s the view walking into the room.

The kids LOVE their “new” bathroom! I go in every time I pass the room just to peek at it again. For one day’s work and very little money, we’re quite pleased!

Pictures of our kitchen project to come soon. :-)