Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Making the Most of a Small Bathroom

When we bought our house 3 years ago our only bathroom looked like this:

Since we were already doing some other remodeling we decided to gut the bathroom before we moved in. We literally took it down to the studs and when my husband removed the old bathtub he found this:


Yes, 6 mummified mice. AND he was nice enough to leave them by the front door so I could see them when I got home from work! We live on a raised foundation so I guess it's common for mice to climb up under the tub in the winter to stay warm.

I'm sure you're so glad I shared that picture with you = ). Here is the after:


To make the room seem as big as possible we used the same tile in the shower as we did on the floor. We didn't want too many different patterns and textures in the same tiny room.

We also had an alcove tiled in the shower and use a dispenser to keep our shampoo, conditioner, and face wash. This keeps the tub cleaner and frees up space since there aren't bottles trapping water on the ledge.



A suction hook works great to hold the squeegee and wash cloths.

We also installed a curtain tie back on the side of the vanity to hold back the shower curtain and liner when the shower isn't in use. It makes the room look better and opens the space a bit.



We have a medicine cabinet mirror to hold toothbrushes and face wash. Ours isn't anything fancy but I've seen some pretty nice framed mirror ones lately so we might be switching that out soon!


Instead of installing a towel bar, we bought a large brushed nickel command hook to hold the hand towel. The towel tucks nicely on the side of the white cabinet between the mirror. And there is no damage to the cabinet if we want to change it up later.


We have similar command hooks on the back of the door to hold our towels. Our doors fit pretty snug in the frames so an over the door hook wouldn't work and our doors are original to the house so we didn't want to drill holes into the wood.


We've been wanting to get the bath mat off the floor when we're not showering since it's this guy's favorite place to lay:


Which I wouldn't mind so much if it didn't mean it was covered in dog hair all the time. Not quite what you want to put your nice clean feet on when you get out of the shower!

So last night I asked my husband to install another towel bar on the lower portion of the door.


Just what we needed! It works perfectly behind the door and you would never even know it's there!


We're planning on adding a master suite to our house in the next few years so we won't need to cram so much in this little bathroom, but for now it works perfectly for us!

What have you done to maximize space in your home?



10 comments:

  1. This looks great! You guys have a very cute home.

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  2. Beautiful bathroom! I needed this my son and his wife just moved in and it made my bathroom seem much smaller. I ound you at the someday craft link party. I linked up about my son ctaching mosaic fever from me he is 33 and now makes mosaic house numbers.

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  3. I have you beat! My bathroom is even smaller than that! We recently remodeled and it is much nicer now but it is still so so small. You can barely get in the door... I'm not even kidding!

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  4. Inspiring!! Thanks for sharing.. we have lived in our house for 2.5 years. Maybe a makeover for our bathrooms is just around the corner!

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  5. Love the towel bar on the back of the door for the floor mat!
    Totally stealing that idea for our "world's ugliest bathroom," LOL

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  6. I like your new bathroom, but hopefully the mice do not :) So glad that you shared it at Things I've Done Thursday!!

    Melanie
    www.bearrabbitbear.com
    P.S. I launched a great CD giveaway today if you're interested!! http://www.bearrabbitbear.com/2012/03/ummcan-i-get-zumba-dvd-to-this-review.html :)

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  7. This is really cute!! Ewwww the mice picture is gross. But I do like the tile and the sink a lot! Great Job!

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  8. I think this is my exact bathroom. Thanks for the good ideas! - Dianna

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  9. HAHAHAHAHAH My husband would have done the same thing.. YUCK!!

    The bathroom looks really great!!! You must be so happy to have it re-done :)

    Please PLEASE come share it over at The DIY Dreamer!! PLEASE!!
    http://thediydreamer.blogspot.com/2012/02/from-dream-to-reality-linky-party-5.html

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