bathroom decor | Operation Home

Alright guys, you ready for a quick, inexpensive makeover that we did to the teeniest, tiniest space in our home?? It’s one of those “why didn’t I do this sooner?” tweaks that, seriously, I should’ve done many, many moons ago. I became especially antsy about wanting to get this done while I was nesting during my pregnancy, but alas… I feared that my belly was too big to actually fit in the space to reach all the nooks and crannies. Haha. Better late than never, though.

The space in question? The toilet room. (applause! applause!)

If you’ve followed me for a while, you know that this is a space that lives up to its name….

It’s a toilet.

In a room.

And that’s it.

Literally.

When we moved in, it was a purple blank slate. Observe….

See what I mean?? No baby bump could safely fit next to that toilet. 😉

Back when we took possession of the house, this space had nothing, and I mean, NOTHING in it but a toilet. And copious amounts of purple paint. We.mustn’t.discount.the.purple.paint. It looks greyish here, but no… it was purple. And it made me cranky. Not joking. I know that color can affect mood, and I’ve never heard of purple inducing anger, but seriously guys… It made me ornery. It needed to be gone. Big time.

In addition to the color, there was no function, no storage, etc. It had nothing but a *well loved* over-the-tank TP dispenser left by the previous owners. #no

So, a while back, I painted the room a bright color, built a pipe shelf and industrial toilet paper dispenser, and hung some art, which brought us here…

To be honest, I’m not really sure what I was thinking with this space. I was going for “fun pool bath” and, I mean, it was cute-ish, but not really our style at all. Plus, every time I looked at it, I felt like there was something lacking. It was seriously falling flat in some way. This became blatantly obvious as the rest of our home started coming together in a way that DID feel like us. More neutral. More simple. A mix of old with new. Warmth and coziness is key in our home, and this space felt just… cold.

So, on a whim, during one of Henry’s naps, I busted out the paint roller and some leftover paint and toned down the space with my FAVORITE grey tone ever (Driftwood Grey by Glidden).

Oh look, here she is now…

Isn’t this color the Sophia Loren of greys?? Sophisticated and rich. For real.

This tone is also in the guest bath (stay tuned for that update) as well as the master bedroom and Lucas’s room. It looks slightly different in each space, but just as lovely. The power of paint, guys. It never ceases to amaze me how just changing the color of a space can actually make it look more expensive… that’s my impression of this color. It somehow makes the room look higher quality.

After painting the walls, I sanded and restained the shelf I built with Varathane’s Early American stain to match the wood tones throughout the rest of the house, and then I decorated it more simply with practicality in mind. TP = necessary. A simple faux rosemary (from Target) and white plate (to hold jewelry and such while swimming) completed the look.

As for art, I kept the New York print (from Urban Outfitters), and found this vintage painting at a thrift store a while ago. I love the mix of bold and modern with subtle and old-school. The entire space flows now, both in itself and with the rest of the house.

I still want to do something with the ceiling in this space, whether it be simply adding crown moulding, or possibly something more architectural. Plus, wainscoting or some sort of board and batten would be nice on the walls. We’ll get to it. I’m sure of it. In any case, I spent zero dollars on this as I already had everything on hand and it took a mere afternoon to complete. This little refresh really, REALLY goes a long way into making the space fit the vibe of our home so much better. No more random aqua room in this Casa. And I’m okay with that. 🙂

So, that’s our toilet room, and boy are we so much happier with it. Next up, I’ve taken pics of our living and dining spaces as they stand now, and lemme tell ya, I’m so, SO happy with how those rooms are coming together. I can’t wait to put those posts together for you guys, so stay tuned.

…for year-round Christmas decor.

Never. No way. No how.

It’s my favorite time of year, so why limit it to just one month??

That’s what I say.

Well, that’s the conclusion that I eventually came to, anyways.

Now don’t get me wrong…. I’ll never resort to leaving inflatable Santa sleighs in my yard. Or utilizing overly bedazzled wreaths of joy during summertime. Or even scattering brightly colored tinsel about. Well, maybe the tinsel. I’m not completely made of steel. 😉

Heehee! I kid, I kid…. What I’m actually referring to is this …..

This print that I originally spoke about in this post about free Christmas printables. If you’ll remember, I used it in the gallery wall in our old house’s living room….

And then never took it down.

Time after time, I apologized for having a Christmas print hung beyond the holiday season to visitors who gazed upon my gallery wall. I’d laugh and joke about my “forgetfulness”. About how “lazy” I was for having left it.. But really, deep down in the chasm of my brain, I knew that I’d left it up because I secretly loved it. I loved the simplicity of it. The subtle nod toward my favorite holiday. That little red dot after “Rudolph”. Just looking at it made me happy. Plus, I LOVED the contrast it added to the gallery wall. I felt like it really completed the composition of it.

And I knew….. Unless I found a replacement that I loved just as much as the reindeer print, it would continue to take up residence on our wall. No matter how long it took.

In all fairness, I did search for a non-holiday replacement. I checked out Pinterest, Etsy, and completed many a google search…. It went on for several months (well, over a year, actually). But, I never found anything that fit the bill. Nothing that I felt compelled to pull the trigger on. See, when it comes to art, I have to have a visceral response to it. I know immediately whether I’m drawn to it. If I don’t have that response, I don’t waste my time or money. Which is why it’s taking me so long to adorn the walls of our new house. I wanna do it right. Thus, at this point, after six months into living here, I consider very few walls in our home final or complete.

So anyways, my search for a reindeer replacement continued until we sold our house last September.

Then, we moved and I stopped searching in favor of dealing with more pressing issues having to do with our new/old 1975 house.

Which brings us to a few weeks ago. Remember where we left off with our pool bath??

I’d painted the room, built a pipe shelf, rustic towel hook and hung a neat New York print that I loved, but the room still didn’t feel right. More specifically, the blank space next to the New York print bothered me.

It doesn’t seem as profound in photos as it was in person since this microscopic room is kind of hard to photograph. But trust me, the wall felt… unfinished… for lack of a better word. I’ve known since hanging the NY print that I needed to hang something next to it. And every time I thought about it, my mind automatically drifted to the reindeer print. It was the right size, color, and composition. It would look mighty fine up in there in my opinion. But then, each and every time, convention would kick in and I’d find myself at war with myself…

“But, the reindeer print would be perfect there!”

“No, Christina, you will NOT be the crazy lady with Christmas decor up year round.” (Subconscious smacks wooden ruler against palm in consternation)

“But the typography! The colors!! The light, brightness of the piece!!!”

“NO. No,no,no. (Gasp!) …You can’t…. You mustn’t!” (Consternation becomes distress as subconscious dons bonnet and channels every Jane Austen character)

“But, I love it!”

“NEVER!! You will be shunned! Banished!” (Jane Austen behavior morphs into overly dramatic Shakespeare with back of hand to forehead)

“But… I… LOVE… IT.”

(Subconscious finally grasps this as a solid point and quietly stares with no response)

Because really, shouldn’t your home be a reflection of you and what you love… even if it defies modern convention?? Do we not learn from all the movies and books that love conquers all??

Answer: Yes. Sure we do.

So, I decided to take a page from the book of Nike and Just Do It.

Once I was at peace with this decision, I sprinted casually sauntered like a really cool person to my beloved print and hung it up on the wall.

Which left this….

Now, this very teeny room boasts nods to two of my very favorite things. New York (where I grew up) and Christmas.

Which when it comes down to it, only seems right… I mean a big factor in us choosing this house to begin with was that there were multiple places to put the Christmas tree. Well, maybe that was more of a concern of mine than Joey’s. 😉

So, anyways, now you know the long and arduous tale of a tiny project that made a big impact on a tiny room (and my very dramatic psyche). You may not agree with my decision to hang a Christmas print, but it makes me smile. And it’s quirky. And anyone who knows me can attest that “quirky” is definitely a mainstay of my personality (and those of my family as well) and I think that it’s only appropriate that our home reflects that.

So, what do y’all think? Christmas decor year round? Do what you love?