Guest Bathroom

Several years ago, I gave up my part of the master bathroom to Austin, that way I could have the guest bathroom as my own. I've never had a bathroom all to myself while living with someone else, so to me this was a huge treat. To really "claim" the space, I repainted the bathroom a very dark pink, and I liked it. I change the bathroom decorations for each season, and it was a color that worked well with all seasons.

After Ashley & Chelsea moved out, Austin asked if he could move his bedroom upstairs, so he wasn't the only one in the finished basement. After some rearranging was completed, Jay's office was now downstairs, and Austin was upstairs.

A couple of months ago, I asked Austin if he would like to move his showering and shaving items to the guest bathroom because it would be so much handier, and he agreed it would. The bathroom is right next door to his room.

This shows the true love of a mother for her child - I gave up my bathroom, my only "girlie" space left in a house full of testosterone.

Then he asked if there was any way the bathroom could be repainted a color that wasn't so girlish. Again - true love prevails and I agreed.

I knew that with Jay being in the field, & Austin having school, cross country, and play practice, there was no way either of them would get it painted any time soon. I also knew that there was no way I could do it, so I went looking for hired help. Ashley was going to be coming home for a couple of days and I asked if she was interested, and she was. Yippee!

I selected a nice calm, light mint green and Ashley started to paint. Even though the paint had a primer in it, we knew it was still going to take a second coat to cover that dark color.

Slowly, but surely the pink started to go away. At first I was kind of sad, because I like bright/bold colors. However, as the first coat gave way to the second coat, I could see how much lighter & brighter it was in that bathroom, and I started to really love it.

The bathroom is completed, the protective tape has been removed and the decorations have been put back up.


Austin loves having it a different color and even referred to the new color as "cool".


The master bathroom had become the "guys" bathroom complete with a golf shower curtain, golf bath accessories, and golf pictures on the wall.

I'm thinking that if I had to change that bathroom, it's time for this bathroom to get a change as well. Not more girlie, but more neutral. hhhmmmm....I think it's time to visit some websites with bathroom design ideas. :)

Here's the before and after shots:

What do you think??

Winter Bathroom

Earlier this week we got a little snow...you might have heard about it. I'm sure you heard me complaining about it. I don't even try to hide my great dislike of snow.

Anyhow, since we were stuck in the house during a blizzard, I had to admit it was really Winter, so I had Jay bring the Winter decorations I have for the guest bathroom up from the storage room in the basement. The colorful Autumn leaves just seemed out of place in contrast to the whiteout we had going on outside. So, here it is:

The bathroom changed from Autumn
leaves and pumpkins to snowmen.

This guy hangs above the towel holders.

The cube boxes are home to several cute snowmen
I've obtained over the years.

I have a picture frame in front of this snowman that holds a picture of the kids that was taken back when I first started decorating.

I believe Austin was around 12, but look how little he looks. Keep in mind that the girls were 15 and around 5'2", which puts him probably not much over 4'. The poor kid was convinced he'd never grow...and now he's an inch or two taller than his dad. :)

I turn this snowman on for a nightlight. When I have to get up to use the restroom during the night, I prefer to have a dim nightlight on rather than turning on the overhead light. It's so bright I am quickly wide awake, which is not what I want to be at 3am.


There you have it...you're all invited to stop by any time and see this cute bathroom for yourself. :)

All The Leaves are Falling....

Ok, not really. We still have quite a bit of green left in our leaves and not many are falling yet.

Still, it's time for the quarterly re-decorating of the guest bathroom in our house, so as to keep coordinated with the current season.

Down went the flip-flops and pastel colors. They are now safely tucked away in a rubbermaid container until next Summer.

Out came the shower curtain that I'm not really feeling this year. I may have to be on the lookout for a good sale on show curtains soon. Not sure I can handle this one until Christmas time.

The brown bath mat/rug though...it can definitely stay. I love this rug. It is so soft and squishy and it feels great when you step out of the shower on to it.


Next we have the yummy cinnamon scented candle on the stool lid. The candle lid is vented, so you get a gentle whiff of cinnamon anytime you walk into the bathroom. Very B&B like. The cone on the sink is not one of those safety cones used in road construction that we stole from the roadside. It's actually a bunch of little tiny pumpkins all glued together to make a tower. I'm sorry, but how bad does your day have to be knowing when you go to work you will do nothing but build towers out of tiny pumpkins that you have glued together all day long. Perhaps even forced into doing some over-time because people like me keep the demand high. wow...I'm so sorry.

Moving on.....


Over here where you see the Happy Harvest sign, it is not hanging on an old wooden shutter door or anything like that. It's actually hanging on the corner of a mirror, which is reflecting the cupboard across the way. Tricky. Tricky. I do like the wreath...very colorful.














Last but not least, the block wall. I filled the blocks the same way I did last year, which was with silk leaves in autumn colors and artificial pumpkins.

I have leaves scattered around in the bathroom to keep the festive Oktoberfest mood alive....minus a keg of beer in the corner. Although Austin did try to talk me into having a keg of rootbeer in the corner. I was told that would "rock", but that idea got vetoed by the CEO of the house...me.










There you have it. Our Autumn bathroom. I hope you enjoyed the tour, and the next time your on our gravel road, the first thing you need to admit is that you're probably very very lost. The 2nd thing you need to do is to stop by and we'll give you the formal tour .

Tuesday 8/11 At The Fair

We woke up early this morning and sorted out the pigs, who seemed to be as thrilled to be up at 6am as we were. I'm still not sure who grunted more - me or the pigs.

We weighed them at home, to be sure we chose the right pigs, and then we trimmed up some of the long straggly hairs that were on the pigs (sort of like when we ladies have to tweeze those random chin hairs that show up). It helps the pigs look their best and what lady doesn't like that?

When that was finished we loaded them onto the trailer to make the trip to the state fairgrounds swine barn. We bought a wagon to haul our "stuff" (feed, bedding, pig grooming items, chairs, small fridge, table and decorations) because Murphy's law says that which ever entrance you are directed to pull up to, the pens assigned to you will be on the exact opposite end of the building. Loading up a wagon goes much faster than making 20 trips carrying everything by hand.

Today the pigs get weighed in. This is the time when everyone stands holding their breath and crossing their fingers, hoping their pigs have met the minimum weight limit allowed, or not exceeded the maximum weight limit allowed. We've had a few close calls in the past, and I'm told this is going to be another one of those years (so if you think about it, could you keep your fingers crossed for us please? Just until noon. We should be done by then).

After that, lots of fresh soft bedding is put in the pens for the pigs. They are given some food and lots of fresh water and then they are left alone to recover from the stress of the day. (AKA: nap)

The kids in our FFA chapter will decorate our area of the barn. There's a competition among chapters and we have a rivalry with one, where we seem to alternate years on who wins.

Usually you try to stick with the state fair theme, but years like this year make it hard. The theme this year is "It's State Fair Time" (Seriously? That's it? Okkkk) So we went with a luau style decorating plan because what do they serve at luaus? Pork of course. So our theme is "Its State Fair Time and That's A Great Time For A Luau" We even found a picture of a pig in a grass skirt, so we knew it was meant to be. Anyhow, that'll get all set up and then we can relax the rest of the day/evening.

Actually, I'll be up at the camper getting our campsite all set up. We will have to haul everything up "heart attack hill" again this year, which is way up past the clearing spot in between the trees up at the top of that picture. The wagon will definitely come in handy this year!

So anyhow, that's our Tuesday. Come back tomorrow and bring a long a stick. It'll come in handy when I give you the entire list of food items you can find on a stick - only at the Iowa State Fair.

Summer Bathroom

Since the seasons are changing, that means it's time for me to change out my bathroom (aka: guest bathroom). Down came all the Springtime flowers, and up went Flip-Flops!

I have hand towels with flip-flops that are coming, but they are backordered until next week, so I left the others up for now.

I bought the tie-dyed pair of flip-flops at Wallyworld and put them on the corners of the big mirror....a cheap way to decorate. LOL

I couldn't find a soap dispenser (unless I wanted to pay $25 - which is ridiculous!), so I bought a plain blue one and attached 3-D scrapbooking stickers.

At the same time I bought the other flip-flops, I bought these 6 tiny pairs of toddler flip-flops. Funny story with them - when I went through the checkout the lady said "Oh my gosh, do you have sextuplets?" I chuckled and said "Yep. Just call me Kate." She actually looked at me with a totally serious face and asked "Are you really?"

I found this cute little frame and added a picture of the kids that would have put them about the ages they would have been when wearing the flip-flops in the boxes.

I've had this frame with this picture in it for a few years in my office, so I just took it off the wall for now and put it on the bathroom counter.

I have 3 really cute funny little pink flamingos wearing flip-flops that are coming with the towels that are backordered, and those will go on top of a couple of the boxes....and then room will be done. Yeah! Ok, now that the bathroom is ready for Summer, can we PLEASE have summer type weather ?!?!?!