Showing posts with label Rachel Ashwell. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rachel Ashwell. Show all posts

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Mini makeover for the smallest bathroom ever...

I kid you not!


small... small... small.... Ready for the grand tour?


Look to the left... (no need to even turn your head, just move your eyes)...


Now look to the right... Okay, tour's over!

I know some of you probably thought it couldn't get any worse than my windowless kitchen blogpost, but here it is... the windowless bathroom blogpost - and it's the one and only bathroom we have in our house (with the exception of one down in the basement off the room that Court is using as her bedroom).


The inspiration for this mini facelift was this scrumptious Simply Shabby Chic shower curtain that I picked up this past January at Target - on sale! (Recognize it, Claudia? Claudia had one just like it at Mockingbird Hill Cottage west! She's so clever - she repurposed it at MHC east into a table skirt!)


The reason it has taken me since January to redo the bathroom is because I didn't actually hate the old bathroom decor... in fact, I quite liked it! But, as someone pointed out when I posted this original canvas painting in a blogpost once, it wasn't wise to perhaps have it in the bathroom with all the steam from the shower, etc. Good advice! I decided I liked the painting too much to risk it getting ruined... And although I absolutely LOVE my white battenburg lace shower curtain, as you can see, I have all white walls, I painted my sink vanity white, and the over-the-toilet storage unit is white... It was just too much white, white, white... The room definitely needed a little OOMPH!


So yesterday I got busy and finally tackled the mini makeover. First I scoured the bathroom, top to bottom, inside and outside the tub, every crevice in and around the toilet, every nook and cranny I could find (isn't that always fun? Actually, I guess some people do enjoy cleaning bathrooms... I'm just not one of them.) And then I hung the shower curtain. I'll save my white battenburg for someday if I ever have another bathroom.. or if I ever decide to paint the walls with a color other than white!

The canvas painted ocean scene has been replaced by early photos of my girls wearing their "no tears" shampoo visors. (If these get ruined from the steam, I can just reprint them from my computer!)

Look at the dainty little ruffle all along the bottom edge... That's what I love about Rachel Ashwell... It's all about the details, and she makes the most of them!


As a matter of fact, this is an old chenille bath mat I've had for years, and if I remember correctly, it's also from the Simply Shabby Chic line. I think it's the perfect match for the shower curtain!


These are the shower curtains hooks I've had for years and I absolutely love them!


They started out as a dark purplish-pink with dark green foliage, but as soon as I got them home from Wal-Mart I painted the roses white and the leaves & stems light green.


Some embellished towels add a little bit to the cottage feel...


I've had them for about 15 years... They're pale pink with a blue, green, & pink floral border, so even though the patterns don't match the pattern on the shower curtain, I think they look good together... (Did I ever tell you I have a great fear of mixing and matching patterns? I love the look when other people do it, but it scares me to try it myself...)


I have a couple of these (very) inexpensive french buckets from The Christmas Tree Shop and this one happens to be the perfect size for holding 2 rolls of TP... If there's one thing I hate running out of, it's toilet paper!

And last, but not least, hanging up next to the vanity is this little vintage-styled FAIRY SOAP plaque that my sister gave me several years ago... I just love it in our little cottage bathroom. So that concludes the tour of our one and only little bathroom (which, although small, sure beats the outhouses of days gone by) !! Hope you all have a lovely week!..... Donna

Saturday, January 31, 2009

Craving spring... faux tulips...a thrifted vase... and why I love Rachel Ashwell...


(click any photos to enlarge)
Okay, I'm really craving a big dose of spring right about now!
Ignore that pink poinsettia that screams Christmas and winter! Instead, focus on the tulips that are beckoning, "Come on spring! We're ready for you!"


Okay, so they're fake tulips, but I don't care... They remind me of spring, and since I'm at the tail end of a cold & snowy New England January, anything that makes me think of warm sunshine and spending time outside is okay in my book...

In addition to the tulips, I got out my Rachel Ashwell 'Simply Shabby Chic' Rosalie tablecloth (it also reminds me of all things spring-like!)... This tablecloth was one of my earliest purchases when I started getting into the shabby-cottage look...


Not only do I love Rachel Ashwell's home decor items (I just splurged on a shower curtain that I'll show you in an upcoming post), I also love her philosophy regarding decorating and life in general... She says, "Perfection is too daunting." Four such powerful words!! She also embraces the "rumpled style," as she calls it, and as you can tell from the tablecloth in the photos, I have no problem enbracing that style either!


Another early "cottage" purchase was this junktique vase. The bottom is marked E.O. Brody Co. M5000 Cleveland, O. U.S.A. It's very similar to this one that I just found on-line while researching the E.O. Brody Co.


So here's to... the anticipation of spring... the acceptance of faux flowers... the fun of thrifting... and the love of Rachel Ashwell's 'rumpled' style and 'perfection' philosophy!


Donna