Small bathrooms, BIG plans

Hi! I'm going to get right to it today: I want to update our teeny tiny bathrooms. We have 3 full bathrooms and 2 of the 3 are on the small side, (1 of those 2 is about the size of an airplane bathroom but with a shower stall). Our bathrooms were not even on my radar of things to do for our home. We've got a kitchen in serious need of revamping, (30yr old cabinets, mismatched appliances), and a basement that we've been just chipping away at but are excited to complete once and for all. Our list of home improvements excites me. Working and sweating together to make our home a reflection of us is something that both husband and I feel is completely worth our time. The bathrooms, I realized just the other day, would be a job I could easily do on my own. What have I been waiting for?! So, I've been researching some small bathroom design ideas and came across the following:

This one is covered in this geometric wallpaper which is just so fresh and clean looking! I love the idea of an allover print. Neither bathroom has a window so why not play around with something fun to look at?

 (Design Your Renovation)

Talk about fun to look at! This bathroom doesn't even try to pretend it's big. A large, bold allover print on the walls makes this room cozy, intimate, and most definitely fun!

 (Decor Pad)

...Or we could use a hit of color near the top of the walls to draw the eye up and give the illusion of a larger room. Dear Husband, if you are reading this, I want to use beadboard someday. In some way, shape, or form, we must! I love the texture of beadboard. I love the airy, beachy effect it has on a room especially when done in white and how pristine and clean it feels! Oh I just love it. I also love this sink with it's stainless steel legs and storage basket underneath. Ours are pedestal sinks so this would not work...but cool idea!

Holy stripes, Batman! (sorry, Colin's been over-wearing a batman t-shirt lately and I love it)...Anyways, I love the continuation of the stripes from the wall to the ceiling. This works so well with an elevated ceiling...which ours are not. But I think stripes could be really fun to work with on the walls!

Oh how lovely. This just whispers "I'm pretty and clean" :) An oval scalloped edge mirror might be a must. I wonder how hard it was to match the gray on the walls to the gray towels...

 (My Interior Design Info)

My stripes and gray all in one room! A perfect balance of whimsy, lovely and clean. I wonder though, for a small bathroom with no window, how much I'd really like the color gray. It would absolutely have to be the right gray, which is hard to find! Something with a bit of soft blue in it would be lovely.

Well, I certainly have plenty to think about now! Looking forward to picking out some paint in the very near future. I'll keep you posted!

 

*Special Note: I'd like to invite you to become a Garage Guest! It costs nothing to join my site, won't take long at all and you can choose to have my blogs automatically emailed to you so you don't miss one, (but you don't have to). Many have been emailing me comments regarding various posts and sharing your encouragement and ideas that way, (or on facebook), but if you would please join the site, then you can leave comments directly under each post. My goal for this blog is to be interactive with my readers and share ideas/thoughts with one another. I have readers from around the world now and would love to share inspiration with one another. Thank you for following Chelsea's Garage!

And to all you precious moms and moms-to-be out there, have a wonderful Mother's Day. If you're from a country that doesn't have a Mother's Day....celebrate yourself anyways!

 

*I am adding this long after I created this post. Check out what I did to our tiny basement bathroom here!

~Chelsea

Our place of peace, (if not quiet)

Hi dear friends! Today I want to invite you into our bedroom. I don't think I've shown it to you yet and it is really one of my favorite rooms in the house. Everyone needs a spot in their home, if not a whole room, where they can totally let go and feel themselves relax. Our bedroom is where my mind slows down from overdrive. Because I can retreat to this quiet serene place at the end of the day, I'm okay with my morning downstairs starting like this:

I actually love this. My kids play hard and I wouldn't have it any other way. It's the stage of life we're in right now so why not embrace it....right? (Trust me, some days I feel like I have to talk myself into believing this...) Anyways, a level 5 hurricane in our living room is fine and dandy with me as long as I have this to retire to every evening:

 I really love a transitional decor style of mixing old with new. The whole bedroom set, (bed and both chests of drawers), has been passed down through many generations in my family. I believe my great grandmother was born in the bed! With such 'grand' furniture, I wanted to keep the decor otherwise simple. No bold colors, just light and airy, letting the antique pieces take center stage. The leaning wall shelves were left uncluttered and simple.

 This was one I did a while ago. I replaced the rusty hardware for some strips of linen which I think soften and lighten this otherwise chunky piece.

You can make color on color work when you have a variety of layers and textures, as seen on the bed with white on white.

One of my favorite uses of our bedroom?

Saturday morning cartoons with my favorite people:)

Where is your peaceful spot? What does it look like? I would LOVE to hear!

~Chelsea

2 colors = twice the fun!

Hello, hello! I just wanted to pop in for a moment and show you this TV console that I just finished yesterday. Here is a before photo:

Beautiful, right?! Such a solid and gorgeous piece to work with! Per request from client K it was first given a coat of Duck Egg blue, (by Annie Sloan Chalk Paint), and then a top coat of Paris Gray, (also by ASCP). After the top coat went on, I took a sanding block and rubbed the whole thing down, not enough to distress it, but enough to remove some of the Paris Gray and allow the Duck Egg to peek through. The contrast, though subtle, is absolutely stunning! My camera is not high tech enough to capture such subtle contrasts so you'll have to take my word for it ;) Then, I just used the sanding block gently around some of the edges of the piece and gave it a light distressed look.

Finished product:

(click on photos to view larger)

The next few are some close ups where I tried to capture the Duck Egg underneath:

What a privilege it was to work on such a beautiful piece! Definitely one of my favorite transformations thus far. And, I learned how stunning a subtle contrast in color can be! You don't always have to have 2 very contrasting colors to make a statement. Wonderful choice, K!

Thank you for popping by and have a wonderful day!

~Chelsea