Elvis has left the bathroom!

In an effort to FINISH WHAT I STARTed in the playroom, I decided to move the ELVIS tee's in there. That left a huge void in the bathroom. Way back when I painted the bathroom I noticed that these duck pictures looked great with the paint color, but the Elvis theme won out.

In the 90s I started to collect interesting-ly shaped antique shelves. My collection stopped at two:

Notice the candle scent is called "Antique Wood". 

My neighbor had given me this cool box of junk to make a mosiac. I never did.

Love it when you can incorporate stuff you made in shop class into daily life. And it's useful!

But what to do with the deer heads?

And Tom's bulleted practice target?

Now boys, do not aim for the target!

(paper deer has since been replaced with an ugly blue Costco Kleenex box)

I do admit, I miss the bright colors from before. I'm not really a neutral, antique-y person but it works. When you embrace the 80s builder parade home style (ie: fruitwood oak finish EVERYWHERE!), instead of fighting it, things can look good.

Click here and scroll down to see the previous bathroom saga.

Don't get a BIG HED!

The final concept for the bathroom is nothing like the original plans. It evolved over time. First the paint color decision, and then the knob & hardware decision, and then the artwork decision.

Invited to a friends for Chicago Style hotdogs & a Led Zeppelin imposter concert, I sorted through my drawers looking for an old concert t-shirt to wear. I didn't find one to wear, but in the mix I found 2 old shirts that I had bought in Vegas (1996) that I just couldn't part with. When I got to the party I noticed that chef Steve was wearing an old "Big Hed" t-shirt that he had got in New Orleans. It was the same brand as my Vegas shirts!

The orange/red towel's color drove the concept. So orange and red it is--mix that with my latest obsession for Elvis, the t-shirt brand BIG HED (no relation, funny enough, but these HEDs are) and concept was finalized.

I found shadow box frames at homegoods. Amazingly cheap at $7.99. The second frame was on clearance for $3 bucks, but I had to get glass cut at my local hardware store (two trips to the store were necessary for them to get the cut right).

I thought it was neat that when you look in the mirror, you actually see a tryptych (three pictures). And the cheaping slot machine completes the picture. So project finis and time to move on to the playroom.

My Own Personal Airblade

The best hand drying solution would have been the old-time cloth rotating towel machine. Or the new Dyson fast drying systems for home use. Dyson has been getting credit for these machines, but they have been around in Europe for a while. At $1400, it's not an option for home use.

I was thinking about sewing the leading edges of the towel together to make a loop. Maybe buttons would help with getting it on and off the towel bar. But I nixed that idea. I just folded Toftbo on the bar, showcasing the great IKEA colors.

And what do you hang above the towel bar? A neat old game I bought at the flea market years ago. Perfect!

Knob an Easy Decision

The new darker knobs blend into the woodwork and disappear:

Perfect Placement

The bathroom is painted "Apple Cider", which is more orangish than this swatch shows.

Now we need to determine where the TP holder should go. The previous placement made it hard to clean behind the toilet. So I put up this placeholder to test out the spot.

Of course my family had to have some input:

So of course, as ususal, we are paralyzed with indecision and progress grinds to a halt.

Bathroom Progress

The bathroom got painted over the holiday weekend. "Apple Cider" was the color Home Depot matched from an old Pittsburgh paint swatch. Now all we need is hardware.

Bathroom Project

It's time to paint the the downstairs bathroom. It took a week to remove the 80s dusty rose "parade of homes" wall paper. Shown here are some decorating directions that we could go.