nathan's manly rock-n-roll bathroom

For Valentine's Day this year, I decided to surprise Nathan by making over "his" bathroom -- the half bath in our master -- while he was out of town Saturday night. It is a tiny little room, with just a sink and commode. Before I took it over, there was literally nothing special going on in there. The walls were long-ago painted a light yellow, the wall cabinet was gross unpainted wood, the light fixture was a dirty old globe, and there was a huge ugly patch where a mirrored medicine cabinet used to be. We also had never hung any blinds, and there were no accessories whatsoever -- not even a trashcan. The only new thing in there was a plugin air freshener.



I decided to paint the walls a medium gray, and play off of the painted white tile with black, white and red accessories. I took the cabinet off of the wall, removed the doors, took off the old door hinges and knobs, taped off the mirror and spray painted the whole thing a glossy red. Then, I installed new silver hinges and knobs. I also taped off and spraypainted a great oval framed mirror that I got way on sale at Hobby Lobby due to a crack in the frame (that you really don't notice much now at all).



The other major fix I did was have my dad install a new track light fixure (it's the 3-light version of this fixture). It is SO much brighter now, and of course the updated factor is great. (I swear, I will fix up or replace every light fixture in this house before we leave. I'm about halfway there already!)



For art, I rummaged in Nathan's man room for some fitting pieces to frame. One publicity print I decided to frame was a black and white of Nirvana (one of Nathan's most favorite bands) in a bathroom that I bought for him a couple Christmases ago - I thought it was kind of funny to put a bathroom photograph in the bathroom, har har. I also framed a red, black and white autographed flyer/poster for Queens of the Stone Age (Nathan's favorite band ever). Last but not least, I bought a square frame that I spraypainted the same glossy red and used it to frame a logo off of a paper bag from Third Man Records, which Nathan visits all the time and where he spends a lot of money. I think it turned out pretty cool!



For accessories, I bought some new red bathmats and a hand towel from Target, and bought a new black magazine rack from Target and a black plastic trashcan. I also set out a small glass pitcher filled with white ceramic balls with an "M" on each of them, and used the cabinet shelf to display four glass IKEA vases that my sister-in-law gave me for Christmas. Last but not least, I installed a new set of blinds on the window -- something Nathan has wanted in there for a long while.

I'm pretty proud of how it turned out, and Nathan loves it! He was so surprised. Thanks to my parents for heading over to my end of town not once, but twice, to help me out - especially to my Dad, who intalled the light, hung the blind braces and helped me hang the cabinet back up on the wall.

Tonight I'm making our Valentine's supper that we were too tired to do last night. And I have to tell you, Nathan wasn't the only recipient of a surprise --- he gave me tickets for us to go see Harry Connick, Jr. when he plays Huntsville in a few weeks! I was super surprised too, and am so excited...I have been a huge Harry Connick fan since I was a little girl. I can't wait!