How does your bathroom measure up?

I have to start this by saying that I really am not obsessed with bathrooms, although looking back over my past posts you may think I am. Now that I've said that, here's another bath/restroom-related post!

I recently spent a great weekend in NYC—specifically in Brooklyn. (On a side note, if you've never been to Brooklyn make it part of your next trip to NYC—it's a wonderful Borough, full of great restaurants, shops, a farmer's market and a beautiful park.) While there we dined at many great restaurants. As you all know by now, I notice things like decor. All of the restaurants were beautiful and unique—until I made it to the ladies restroom.

I left a beautifully-decorated seating area and once in the ladies room (of one restaurant in particular) entered what looked like a roadside rest stop bathroom! Ewww. I'm talking below average. It was like night and day. The friends we were visiting live in NYC and shared in my observations. I couldn't understand why the restaurant had stopped decorating at the bathroom door!

In all fairness, most restaurants we visited had LOVELY bathrooms and this made me very happy. I feel that a bathroom should match the rest of the building. It should not be an afterthought, but a factor in the overall design plan.

This got me thinking about our homes and bathrooms—specifically do they "match" the rest of our home's decor? They are such small spaces (even when they are big, they are small compared to living spaces) they can be overlooked OR that can make them an easy choice for a makeover.

I recently worked with a client on her master bed and bathroom. Through paint and a few accessories I was able to transform her bathroom to match the bedroom (which also received a slight update). 

I've included some before and after pictures here. It's now a room they enjoy versus just a room they have to use first thing in the morning and last thing at night. Don't you deserve a room like that?

How does your bathroom measure up? Would a fresh coat of paint and new window treatments breath new life into it? Should you retire the mats on the floor? Add art, a new mirror and a colorful shower curtain. Who knows, it might just become your favorite room in the house! 

Does your art make you smile?

I love art. All things art—especially visual art. Whether it's because I'm creative or low on funds, I seem to have a lot of home-made art in my house. 

I have my eye on a wacky, colorful painting of a giraffe at a local art gallery, but can't seem to pull the money together to bring him home. Plus, my husband hasn't seen it and I'm not exactly sure he would love the giraffe as much as I do. It does sound strange—a wacky, colorful giraffe, but I assure you it's cool. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder...but I digress.

I want to share some ideas for creating art in your home. The possibilities are endless, so these examples are only a small sample of what you can create. The goal—to have art in your home that makes you smile.

First, I recommend you collect things when you travel. When on our honeymoon in Aruba we visited the post office. Strange, I know (husband thought so, too). I wanted to look at their stamp books. Yes, stamps. The ones I bought are so colorful and graphic. I didn't know what I'd do with them, but I knew I wanted to look at them often. When we came home I framed them, along with some coins from Aruba. It's a simple project and they are interesting, unique and make me smile. Those are three great traits to have in your art!

Another great idea is framing scrapbook paper. I don't scrapbook as a hobby, but some of the papers out there are fabulous. They often come double-sided, with different patterns on each side. And, they come in 12"x12" sheets—I love square papers, they are so versatile. I've included a picture of my trio of framed papers. I used the same paper three ways. (See the link at the end of this post for an online paper source.)

I also encourage you to look at things not for what they are, but for what they could be. I received a beautiful box of soap as a gift. It is a 4"x6" chocolate brown, paper-covered box with a beautiful sheet of paper framed in the lid of the box. Anyway, I stared at that box of soap for months and months. Always loving the paper framed on top. It has a great combination of blue, green, magenta and brown colors in a bold pattern. I knew I wanted to use those colors somewhere. 

I ended up decorating my daughter's room using that 3"x2" piece of paper as my inspiration! I used that paper for five pieces of framed art. (See one example included here.) I took that little piece of paper and blew it up on a color copier. I just randomly copied and moved and cropped and copied again. Right there at FedEx Kinkos I created these great works of art. I then framed to showcase the great shapes and colors and now they are center stage. They make me smile.

 

One final idea. Monograms and initial are popular now in decor. I created my own "letter art" with a random plastic letter I found in the attic (you can do the same with wooden letters at a craft store) and an old wooden frame that I bought at a yard sale for about $2. I painted them both and now they are art.

See, it's not that hard. It doesn't have to be expensive, and can be fun. Surely you have something around your house that you love. Something that is in a drawer or box, not being viewed. Take it out. Frame it. Hang it where you can see it often and SMILE.

(For great paper, visit www.jcarolinecreative.com)