I have a confession to make:
I am terrible about decorating my house. As a matter of fact, we moved into our house 4 years ago and I still hadn’t gotten around to decorating the kid’s bathroom. It is painted a generic, neutral color (the advertised “designer paint in neutral tones” in the original house listing) and I kind of just…left it like that. No theme, no color, nothing except a few mismatched towels and some handsoap.
It stayed this way for 4 years. FOUR. Not exactly the happy and smily kids bathroom you’d picture, right?
A few weeks ago Walmart gave the moms the opportunity to do a more open-ended project in the “home” category – and as I was mulling it over my husband gently suggested “how about the kid’s bathroom”?
You guys, it was like the clouds parted and the angels were singing.
I hopped in my car and headed to Walmart. My mission? Paint, frames, a few bathroom accents, and some matching towels – all in a unisex theme that is suitable for kids but not too baby-like (they are 9 and 10, afterall). No big deal, right?
After some analysis paralysis, I settled on a grey and yellow color scheme. I realized that I didn’t have to go overboard with the accents and things – just a few small things would make a big difference.
Here are the before photos of the bathroom:
I mean, it’s not terribl…y exciting. Is it.?
First things first, I started by ripping the towel bar off of this wall. Ok, I started it but I had to call in the big guns for extra manpower (boy was that sucker on there good).
The easiest part was placing these cute little accent pieces – soap dispenser and toothbrush holder – on the sides of each of the two sinks.
Mission accomplished, right?
Nope. I can never let things be that easy. I had plans for the back wall.
First I taped off an area to create 3 horizontal stripes in 2 different sizes – one big thick one and two smaller ones above and below.
This sounded easier to me than it actually was. Getting the tape to be perfectly level was quite the job – and got even worse when I discovered that the wall was not perfectly flat or even – so it looked like my straight and level line was actually curved! Once I got it figured out though, we were in business.
I used Waverly Inspirations Chalk Paint in ‘Elephant” from the craft section of Walmart to create the stripes. It was super easy to use and dried in like 10 minutes. Seriously. Also, it’s a steal at under $6 for an 8 oz bottle – perfect for little projects like this!
I also purchased 4 8×10 Mainstays frames for the walls – for around $4 each. I filled them with pictures of the kids and their friends – and one pony.
Finally, I purchased a pack of these satin nickel double robe hooks (under $2 each!) and centered them for easy towel hanging. Much cuter than that old towel rack, right?
I loved the grey and yellow chevron towels that I purchased from Walmart, too. They have just enough color to give the room a kick! The matching accessories really tied everything together for a polished look!
All together I was able to refresh the kid’s bathroom with things from Walmart for under $75 – that’s a total steal! Best of all, my son walked in and exclaimed “WOAH! This is AWESOME!”
Now the only question is – what room is next?!