Magnolia Manor: Too Too Purple and TuTu Cute

Work on the guest bath is ongoing. Perpetual. The eternal project. How could two square feet of space possibly require so much planning and effort?? Color has been a difficult issue in this space for a number of reasons. The guest bath is off of the hallway, which is connected to the laundry room (light blue) and the homeschool room (blue/green). It would be impossible to find a shade of blue or green that would match, so both those colors were out. I tried red, but the bathroom is teeny tiny and RED(!) seemed to SHOUT a little loudly in such a small space. So, I tried an eggplant color and I loooooved it. It was cozy and divine. Yet a tad dark. So I began to question myself. I have a hard time trusting my gut instinct because my gut says to go bold! Be brave! But before I have time to swing into action, the voice of reason always seems to tame my thoughts. Such was the case with my delicious shade of eggplant. I worried it was too crazy, so I compromised on a gray/purple shade called Winter Calm, which is essentially basic beige paint with two specs of eggplant mixed in to give it just a tiny hint of purple. It's not dark, or cozy, or even divine. It's a safe color, if you can consider any shade of purple to be safe. It's the color that wimpy decorators buy when they are too shy to order eggplant.

Here's the thing....there are so many, many layers of paint on those walls that the room is literally starting to close in on us. Buzzard finally drew the line and said no more. Apparently, a man's affection for his wife really can be measured, if you consider the number of times he is willing to repaint a bathroom in a 30 day timespan to be any kind of measure at all. He slapped that Winter Calm on the walls and announced that it was staying, at least in the short term.

Well....once it was on the walls it seemed much more purple and much less calm than it did when it was sitting in the can. My kids now call this my Barney bathroom. I thought they were just over reacting and tried to convince myself that muted eggplant is all the decorating rage.

But......then I met my friend and her son at the roller rink for homeschool skate day. This is the same roller rink that Buzz used to go to when he was a boy, and the interior has not changed one bit in all these years. Black carpet with neon patterned shapes, the disco ball dangling from the ceiling, and red vinyl benches lining the walls. My friend and I went to the ladies room and found the whole thing covered in purple paint. Purple paint with glitter sprinkled into it. Now when I sit in my guest bath I am overcome with the need to do arm motions to "YMCA" while rolling backwards. My bathroom looks like it was painted in 1974.

Anyhoo...the sink that Papa built is absolutely stunning. (Don't you wish I'd just get on with it and post a picture of it already? I will. I promise.) It is very old fashioned, just like I wanted. I had a hard time finding light fixtures to match the style of the sink. I wanted something old and lantern-ish. All the indoor lighting I saw was brass or brushed nickel and way too contemporary. So, I decided to look in the outdoor lighting section. I found these great lights that are the exact style and feel I wanted. I wasn't sure about hanging outdoor lights indoors, so I paged an electrical expert to come meet me in the lighting isle so I could inquire about the safety of hanging outdoor lights in my bathroom, where they will be subject to much humidity and dampness. As opposed to hanging them outside where it rains!!! Then, I piled those lights in my cart all by my blond self and brought them home for a Buzzard to install.

The good news is that the purple paint now bothers me only half as much as it used to. The black top on the lights prevents the light from shining upwards, so now when you sit on the potty you have a spotlight shining down on you and a mass of dark shadows hanging above you. You can only see the bottom 1/3 of the room! And please, will you just do your best to ignore Buzz's energy efficient light bulbs? I swear that man makes sport out of throwing me decorating curve balls.

My goal for next week is to put the wraps on this project. Repainting is rather a sensitive subject around here, so I'm treading lightly here in the land where I love you and you love me and we're a happy family. But I am on the search for some new lights, and with any luck, some new bulbs too. I do have my new towel rack hung, and some cute little light plate covers that match my bead board. (Awwww.)

And....just wait until you get a load of my new shower curtain. It has enough ruffles to make Oscar de la Renta blush with envy.

A final point about purple. A certain someone happens to own a brand new purple tutu that is too too cute. It came with a pair of pajamas, and we wear it proudly every single day. We love how it hangs just below our belly. Sometimes we even tuck a watergun or a light saber into the waist of it. Purple tutus are very functional that way. We wear it every minute.