It may be the smallest room in your house, but it is by far the best. All of your most cherished time is spent in your bathroom (no details needed), so why not put a little bling bling into your shower and sink? Below are a few tips and transformations to get you singin’ every morning. Use your own creative taste to apply these hints to the room that needs them most.
Shower Power: If your shower curtain resembles a beach ball or your grandma’s bingo outfit – take this tip. Replace it with a classy piece of fabric, or a vintage tapestry. All you need to do with your cool new threads is hem the edges (sewing machine not necessary – sit down to your favorite prime time show with a needle and thread and get stitchin’) and pick up some clip rings – little clips with rings attached, perfect for a homemade curtain. Try Wal-Mart, Target, K-Mart or Bed Bath ‘ Beyond. Make sure you pick up a clear plastic curtain to attach behind the fabric one, as fabric is not waterproof.
Mirror Mirror, on the Wall: Wanna feel like royalty when you pop the question ‘Who’s the fairest of them all?’ We get it. Here’s the first step to a life like Snow White’s. Go to a local antique shop, retail store, garage sale or vintage boutique and pick up a wooden frame, which are coolest when they are ornamental (carved) and are abundant in thrift shops. Make sure you measure the dimensions of your mirror before you go, so you get one that fits. (You wouldn’t leave for the airport without your ticket would you?) Then take the frame into your backyard on a piece of newspaper and spray paint it gold – to give it that touch of nobility. Prop it up onto the wall with an appropriate hanging device and the next thing you know, seven small men will be knockin’ on your door.
Border Beats: If your landlord thought it would be cool to make your walls look like a daisy barfed on them, I beg you to evict the Fanny Farmer borders. Even if your walls are just a bit too bare, and you want to pour a shot of style onto them, take this tip. Start saving and collecting cool postcards – there are tons of clubs, restaurants and bars that stash them by their bathrooms for publicity. These freebees can be turned into your own homemade wallpaper border. Whether you choose to trim your ceiling boards, your floorboards, or the middle of your walls is up to you. Post a caravan of postcards around your entire room – but choose to use only vertical or only horizontal to keep the margins straight.
Brought to you by the Letter B: More Cheap Tricks for Your Bathroom
Replace your bath mat with a cut piece of Astroturf for a funky feeling foot mat (attainable at most hardware stores, and if not they will steer you in the right direction.)
To save floor space for the sake of organization, mount a shelf on the wall for your life-saving products – which you can make if you are handy, or purchase at the thrift store.
Use a tin juice can (opened with a can opener) to keep tooth brushes in – shop around in an international food store or aisle for a good lookin’ one
Try to keep fresh flowers in your bathroom to welcome good smells.
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f fresh flowers are too demanding, and you are on a floral fix, pick up some fake ones at a craft store, snip off the heads and hot glue them all over the top slate of your terlet (when you move out just pluck them off – hot glue will not bond with porcelain).
Unless you want the guys and gals next door to see you doin’ your dirty work, try to cover your window. A curtain can be easily made and hung – my favorite style are the cafe curtains; support the local diner if you are clueless as to what I mean..
Sunday is Always Clean-Up Day: How to Get Your Bathroom Mr. Clean Clean…ahem…boys!
Rule number one: whoever puked last night gets stuck with cleaning the bathroom, right? Well, buddy, here’s how to get the job done and still have time for fun. For your house, establish a bucket with all of the products you will need to use. (Soft Scrub, Comet, Toilet Bowl Cleaner, Mildew Remover, Drain Cleaner, All-Purpose Liquid Soap, sponge, rags, toilet brush, rubber gloves, mop.) Now for how to clean what with what:
Clean all porcelain (outside of toilet, sink, shower) with the soft scrub on a sponge.
Mop the floors with a cap full of liquid soap per bucket of water (this sounds extravagant, but only takes a minute and makes a world of difference – you’d be surprised how much hair and muck are on your bathroom floors).
Pour some toilet bowl cleaner or Comet into the toilet and scrub with the toilet brush – try to get the ring-around-the-bowl out – it’s wretched, and inevitable without a good clean.
If your drain doesn’t drain properly it could cause major shower woes (you don’t want to be standing in an inch of water while you shower) so follow the directions on the back of the cleaner and make sure it’s clean as a whistle – then purchase a hair-catcher to prevent it from clogging again.
Your shower should be as mildew free as possible – an easy spritz of mildew remover (Tilex for example) and a wipe down will do your shower some good.
Clean your mirrors and windows too, since mildew and muck can build up on these as well – glass cleaner and a paper towel will do just fine
If you are anal like I am dust all of your shelves, too, but always spray the product on the rag, not the surface.
**** Start saving these columns to put in your style file – that way when you get the urge to do something creative, or to fix up your pad, you have ideas waiting for you. If you have any questions, comments, ideas or suggestions – email me at [email protected] (I welcome your thoughts!)
Maggie Lyons is a Collegian columnist.
