My bathrooms - from bottom to top

I just read MooMama's post about Spring Cleaning her bathrooms and I have been inspired to tackle mine this week (or, this week and next - we'll see what time I find this week!).

Bathrooms are no small feat in this house - we have FOUR. It seems obscene at times - having nearly as many bathrooms as people, but (aside from cleaning) it's a good thing.

My bathrooms could all use a good spring cleaning and decluttering. Most of them could also use some clever problem solving and decorating.

Let's meet Bathroom #1 - The Basement Half Bath


This poor bathroom almost didn't happen. When we were building this house, we opted to pay for the plumbing rough-in because we could envision kids having sleepovers down in the basement at some point. We thought a bathroom would help keep guests in the basement. Of course, the builder "forgot" to put the plumbing in and we almost just took the refund for the plumbing. It was a royal pain, but we finally did opt for them to come and install the plumbing (what a mess!) and we are so glad we did! This bathroom was a lifesaver many times (especially when Jacob was potty learning!).

Anyway, this is just a little ole powder room, but we also have some great built-in shelves (because there are a few clean-out-pipe-things in that corner that we needed to have some sort of access to). We store kids' games, cleaning supplies and Sam's Club bulk paper goods on these shelves.


The walls are painted a basic tan and we have a little outhouse border. It's cute - it's painted - and only kids or close family use this bathroom, so I don't really care much about how it looks. :) It certainly serves it's purpose!


Bathroom #2 - The First-Floor powder room


I've shared our little powder room before. It's the smallest room in the house, but we're glad to have it! It's right off the family room and laundry room and gets used heavily! It's painted the same tan as the basement powder room. I love how the pedestal sink looks, but miss having a vanity (and storage). The little cabinet over the toilet helps with some storage, but I keep all the cleaning supplies in the laundry room.


Bathroom #3 - The Kids' Bathroom - 2nd floor


This is our hall bathroom on the 2nd floor. It's probably the room that needs the most work. It's a basic bathroom - tub/shower combo, boring oak vanity, UGLY lighting fixture and rather small. We added the cabinet over the toilet for some extra storage, but I only keep washcloths and toiletries in this bathroom - all towels are in the linen closet in the hallway.


At this point, only the boys take baths in here. But I would love to find a better way to store shampoos, soaps etc. We have one of those racks you hang from the shower head, but it's too tall for any of the kids to reach.


We also need to do something about the towels - we still have the cheap and ugly towel bar the builder put in the house. It's really not big enough for all 3 kids' towels. I need a towel solution - badly! I also need a place for our tub mat - we usually just wind up tossing it over the shower curtain bar. Not the prettiest look!


This room also really needs some decorating. We bought the Pooh stuff when we were getting ready to move in here. At the time, Maddie was 2 and loved Pooh. We were so happy to be moving into a house with more than one bathroom, so we embraced having a "kid" bathroom. I am kind of over the Pooh stuff now, yet I still want this bathroom to feel comfy for the kids. But no more animation in the bathroom.

Bathroom #4 - The Master Bedroom Bath


This is "my" bathroom. It's small, but we have gotten very used to having a bath right off our bedroom. There is no tub - just an extra-wide shower. I like our shower curtain, but that's about all I like in the bathroom. All of the stuff on the walls are leftovers from our bathroom at the old house, and I need a change! We need a solution for our tub mat in this room too. And we are over-run with bottles of shampoo and shower gel in the shower, so we really need some sort of shelving in the shower itself.

We've done almost no decorating here. The walls are still buidlers primer. UGLY medicine cabinet - UGLY light fixure. I love the function of this room - there is just about no form though.


So - any ideas for my storage/decorating needs? I am going to start from the bottom up with my cleaning and decluttering, and i'll post my progress as it's made. Just think - once I have the bathrooms under control, I'll have 1/4 of my house clean!