I should be bringing you another dining room post this week, but I got distracted by the kids’ bathroom instead.

Wait, did I say distracted? I meant inspired.

Uh huh.

The kids’ bathroom has never been blogged about, because we haven’t done a thing with it since pre-blogging days. Right after we moved in, we painted it and hung mirrors (house was a foreclosure, and some mysterious things were missing….like most of the bathroom mirrors). And it’s stayed exactly the same, with the exception of the occasional new bathmat and shower curtain, ever since. It’s overdue for some love.

It looks like this (as you can see, I did not clean up or even close the toilet lid for these pictures. REALISM! Four boys share this bathroom, and I don’t see any puddles of pee around the toilet, so I’m calling that a win):

(we’re going to fix that hole in the wall. For one thing).

As is the theme this year (and, who am I kidding? every year), this will be a budget makeover in which we re-use what we can and keep costs as low as possible with other things. So here’s a rundown on what goes and stays and initial thoughts on what we’ll be doing in here.

Good things:

*I love our 80’s builder hex tile, and have no desire to change it out. Which is great, because I also have no desire to do any tiling again. Like ever.

*the light fixtures that came with the house (not 80’s builder….at some point an upgrade happened. But it only extended as far as the lights. Too bad they weren’t inspired to put in new counters at the same time) are surprisingly appealing to me. My only issue with them is that they’re kind of darker and moodier than I would probably go with in here if I were starting from scratch. But I’m going to work with them. EVENTUALLY I’d like to switch them out for something brassier and more modern.

*the faucets are fine! They might almost go in the next category, because they’re not my favorite style, but they’re….someone’s favorite style, still, unlike many things in our 80’s house.

Not my favorite things, but I’m going to make them work:

*the cabinets are the same ones we have in our downstairs bath, and I’m planning to paint these like I did those (and add hardware). They’re solid wood and in pretty good shape; my only issue with them is how they have that saloon door look going on. But I’ll deal.

*and the countertop. Yellowish-beige cultured marble. New one just isn’t happening right now, though. At least the sinks aren’t shaped like seashells!

New things:

The new things category is mostly going to revolve around shower curtains and paint. I’ve actually had this shower curtain for a very long time. I bought it from Urban Outfitters (no longer sold there, but here it is on Amazon) a few years ago, anticipating using it in our master bathroom. But by the time the master bathroom was finished, it didn’t fit in anymore. It did a stint in our travel trailer’s bathroom, but mostly it’s been hanging out in the linen closet, waiting for a chance to shine again.

Here’s a not very good picture of it, back when it was still in our completely un-redone master bathroom:

Inspiration piece! The print is called “Odyssey” which is perfect because the kids and I all read The Odyssey in the fall, and the kids, I’m sure, want to be reminded about how dangerous water can be every time they take a shower.

Once I decided this bathroom was to be the shower curtain’s new home, I settled on painting the walls Benjamin Moore’s Newburg Green pretty quickly. This is the same color as our bedroom:

…and our basement:

…and I still love it AND I probably have enough sitting around somewhere to paint the bathroom without getting more paint. I hope. When in doubt, paint it blue is what I always say.

Then I need to pick a paint color for the cabinets, and I’m giving some thought to aqua. But then it might be a little too matchy matchy with the shower curtain. Hmm. Thoughts? White is pretty much out because of the cream colored counter.

I grabbed the mirrors at Home Goods right after we moved in, because I had to have something in there. I’d like to change them out for some circles of some sort. I was thinking in a darker wood, but we’ll see.

There’s not a lot of wall space in here to fill, but for what there is I’m thinking of some photos from our Atlantic Canada trip last summer. Because vaguely nautical! (not this picture; it’s just flat out nautical. There’s a ship in it. It’s the Bluenose II in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia):

And that’s pretty much the plan…plus some accessories and a feeble attempt not to let the vaguely nautical theme run amok too much. I do love a theme.