Home Decorating 101: "Guest Bath"

Saturday, February 6, 2010


Just head down the hall, first door to the left and don't forget to put the lid down when you're finished; yep.....you've arrived at the Guest Bath.

BEFORE:  This was the previous owners of the house

AFTER: This was after we purchased the house








Since its the weekend, I thought I'd make it simple and and take you on a quick tour of the Guest Bath.....I found a "before" picture of this room so you could see the difference a little color on the walls can make (paying attention, Tom??)....Like I told my long time friend, Tom, when he informed me his entire house was the shade of white, it costs no more to add a little color to that shade of white when having it mixed up.....but what it does add is "warmth".  Maybe its just me, but have you ever walked into a room that you've never been in before and had a sense of "comfort"?  Most likely, it was due to the color on the wall.  I've always leaned toward Ralph Lauren colors which are "earthy", "casual" and "warm".  I love the Ralph Lauren colors,  but I don't like the price of the Ralph Lauren paint, so I just take the paint chip sample and have them mix the RL color with the paint I can afford.  That simple!

Another thing I have found that makes a big statement in the bathroom is to take a decorative curtain all the way to the ceiling.  You can make this easily yourself by purchasing some fabric (don't forget my best friend, Mr. Glue Gun!), measure how far from the ceiling to the floor, add an extra 24 inches to that measurement, cut your fabric, hem it with a 1 inch hem; hang a shower tension rod at the ceiling and whalla.......major statement that says "wow"!  Now, I know you're asking, "But what about the vinyl shower curtain??"....Here's what you do.......Buy 2 vinyl shower curtains at Wal-Mart for $6 a piece and cut one so that it makes up the difference in length from ceiling to floor; either hot glue or sew them together; put a 2nd tension rod "behind" the decorative curtain rod at the ceiling and hang your vinyl shower curtain behind the decorative curtain.  It's very very easy and inexpensive.  You can seriously do this whole thing for around $25.  But what a huge difference it makes!  Don't forget you can always use sheets for fabric if you have a theme you're staying with......

Add a few pieces for the wall from TJ Maxx or Marshalls, and you have a new bathroom.  Everything in this bathroom came from discount stores, including the towels that have an "E" for Etheridge emblem on them....they were made for Embassy Suites and were seconds at a discount outlet store.

I'm also including a picture of my father-in-law's Guest Bath that I redid when we were having to sell his home after he passed away a few years ago.  I think  these before and after pictures really show what a difference the curtains we spoke about above make.

Since tomorrow is still the weekend, I'll give you a tour of the Hallway.  I think you're going to like this.....