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A Little Bathroom Refresh

OK, please don't throw things at me.  I swear I have a giant State of the Storage Rooms post coming up super soon.  And it will be a whopper.

That said, cleaning out our storage spaces continues to drive other random acts of organizing and even some minor projects.  I think it is the only way I can stay sane {and let's face it, have a little bit of blog content in-between my late night sorting sessions... yawn}.  Throughout this process, when I find an oldie item, I am forcing myself to "use it or lose it". 

Today's quick story is a perfect example of how being organized and knowing everything you have, gets you ahead of the game.  And not knowing the awesomeness being stored behind doors, causes you to lose {but eventually win?!}.

While cleaning out our utility room, I found a little white bathroom cabinet.  It lived in our old guest room/master bedroom waaaay back in the day {ten years ago}.  The second I saw the cabinet I got a stupid silly grin on my face and knew I just scored big!  It has been in our utility room from the day we decided we loved it but didn't have a good place for it, and had since been forgotten.  After a good scrubbing with a magic eraser, it was almost good as new!  Any guesses where I wanted to put it?


Some of you long time readers may remember that about two years ago, we were lacking in the bathroom storage department, so we used a tall Billy bookcase to do the job and act as an upper level linen closet.  It has worked really well since day one, however, as the boys have outgrown bath toys and baby lotions, I found we were using the cabinet less and less... Basically it had just become a really big towel and toothbrush holder. 


So when we needed the storage, Billy was there for me like the linen closet I never had.  But now that I don't require so much storage space, Billy is just big, visually heavy and waiting to be set free {on Craigslist}.  The new-old-new again little white cabinet was just too perfect.  It fit our storage needs and visually left the room feeling a bit brighter. 

Anyway.... this bathroom is our most used bathroom in our house and it is really beginning to show it's 12+ year old age.  The entire room needs a gut job; new floors, new vanity/sink, mirror, toilet, lighting, tub with tile.... However, as my very direct mom always said, "You can wish in one hand and..." well, you know the rest.  The bathroom is not happening anytime soon.  We have a kitchen to tackle first. 

But that doesn't mean that I have to hate it, does it?  That I can't invest a little time and inner home house shopping into the space?  So don't get your pinning fingers ready or expect a grand post about our beautiful bathroom with a spectacular reveal, because this is FAR from that.  It is fun to share some of those bite size updates we make around here.

As you can see above, the vanity is a creamy white {yellow-white}, and extremely dated.  But even worse, up close it is just plain gross.


Chipped paint, paint splatters {apparently I realized I dripped paint and only wiped it up just enough... oops} and unknown dings and scuff marks.


One more example that our house is getting old, used, loved, is falling apart and is not always pristine.  I have had a lot of those examples lately....

Once I moved that sweet little white cabinet into the bathroom, I knew I had to fix the vanity sitting across the way.  Feeling a bit too much bone color happening in the room, I went to my paint supply and picked out a deep blue color.  Because I was using a color I already had on hand, I used the process of elimination.  Light blue would have blended in with the walls, white would have been too matchy matchy with the white cabinet.  Green wasn't happening.... Dark blue it was {Behr's Restless Sea}.  Prior to slapping on a coat of paint, I used a sanding block to fix any imperfections in the existing cabinets and drawers.


Although the new color may not have been my very first color choice if we would have been completely renovating this room, I do prefer it much, much better than the yellowy white that had been living there an hour earlier.  But with the new blue vanity, blue walls and blue shower curtain, I decided to swap out the existing shower curtain with one that was taken down and tucked away {into shameful storage} during our recent guest bathroom update.  We also took down the yellow window box and additional random mirror and replaced them with some existing photo frames filled with a recent Etsy art purchase and chevron fabric swatch.  Simple as that, this itty bitty bathroom refresh was complete!


Sooooo much better right?


It feels so much cleaner now!  And a fresh coat of paint makes the whole bathroom feel fresh!



The little white cabinet now holds a toothbrush caddy for the boys, a pampering caddy for the pups and some extra towels.  Are my boys the only ones that require three different flavors of toothpaste?  Why can't they all just like the same thing?



It was topped with a plant {in a vase I already had}, a little candle votive {which I spray painted and now holds the boy's nail clippers and nail scrubber} and a small tub of lotion.



I shopped my home for a few other accessories, such as a few mums leftover from photos I took for last week's post and a trinket tray and candle votive which are great for holding my jewelry while I give the dogs a bath or clean the shower.



And that rounds out this super glamorous mini-bathroom refresh tour!  Cheers to using your stash and some paint to liven up a space!  I think I just condoned my home decor hoarding habits....


And who doesn't love to take a peek at a before and after?


Pretty sweet mini update right?  I have one more little project up my sleeve to bring in some natural wood tones into the room, and then I am going to leave the space alone until sledgehammer day arrives.

I guess this shows the benefits of tackling those daunting storage spaces!  I found an old piece of furniture that fits our current storage needs, used items I had on hand to give our bathroom a fresh update and even get to sell our previous storage solution to pocket back a little cash.  Did you count?  That totals three points for Jen!  But who's counting....

This post maybe wasn't the most convincing at explaining the importance of living with less and saying goodbye to things that you haven't used in 6 months.  Heck, I got a bathroom update out of the deal.  But if we would have been living more simplified two years ago when I dug into my pockets for a storage cabinet {instead of using the white cabinet back then}, I could have saved a few dolla bills along the way.  It is all about balance.

Anyone else been turning trash to treasure out of goodies found while organizing and sorting?  What is the best item you have found during an organizing project? {This could be good!}