A "Boston" Girl After My Own Heart

My 5-year-old daughter has been asking for a "girl bathroom" for a couple of years now.  When we moved into our home almost 5 years ago, we used her bathroom (in her suite bedroom) as the kids' bathroom until big brother was big enough to shower on his own in his bathroom.  Well, that day came and went way back and Mommy had put it off this request long enough!  It was finally time for our first Mommy-Daughter DIY project: E's Bathroom Makeover.

When the idea came around, she originally wanted the typical girl's "pink" bathroom.  She thought of adding butterflies.  The next idea was rainbows, and since the rainbow request included rainbow walls, I had to nip that idea in the bud quickly.  This room was way too tiny for that - and Mommy's not much on extra bold rooms. ;)  As time passed, something else came to mind.

My daughter is a lot like her mommy when it comes to dogs.  She LOVES dogs.  She has more stuffed dogs (and a puppy vet station), than she has babies, cribs and Barbie's.  More than anything, she loves her REAL dog Lucy. :)

I also love this precious dog, and all the other Bostons I have helped love and raise since I was a child in a Boston Terrier-loving family.  My family goes way back with Bostons and I might have been the biggest lover of them all....that is, until E was born. :)  With ideas bouncing around in my mind, I posed this question to her:

"E, what do you think about a Boston Terrier bathroom?"

With a smile ear-to-ear, my girl preceded to jump up and down yelling "YES! YES! YES!  I want a PINK Boston Terrier bathroom!!"  I also grinned ear-to-ear as well, thinking of all the possibilities. It was uber-exciting to take on a DIY project that I was just as excited about as she was! Or more! LOL

Since I didn't take pics of the previous decor, here some from the bathroom in our former home, so you can get why this girl was ready for some PINK! :)

Here are pics of the bathroom before we began painting.  It's tiny...and I knew pink wasn't going to work.

INSPIRATION:

Since bright pink walls seemed a bit much for this tiny room, I told E that if we did a lighter color on the walls, I would get her a pink shower curtain and towels.  Surprisingly, she was good with that!  I already had a color palette in mind that I've been wanting to try somewhere.  It's very fitting for a girl, and since it includes pink, she was good with that too.  Yes!  It was meant to be, I tell ya! :)  My inspiration was a combo of these two pics from Pinterest, adding in the coral to pink, blue and grey. I still smile looking at these two pictures.  These colors are so happy!

E chose the light blue over a light grey. I could've predicted that one. ;)

 We went to Home Depot and chose Behr's Sea Ice. Like?

PAINTING:

Let the painting begin!  E got to do two walls as high as she could reach.  She was quite thorough and did great for her first paint job!  I was a little worried the color was too light when we were painting, but by morning it was the perfect shade of blue!  (These phone shots barely give a blue tint, plus it's wet.... )

The next day...Perfection!!

WALL DECOR:
I really wanted E to create her own Boston Terrier artwork to go on the wall, but I knew she'd need a little help.  I found a few different Boston graphic images online and let her choose one to use.  When she chose her favorite one, I created a stencil of it using my Silhouette.  We went to Michael's and got four 6" sqaure canvases and craft paint in the 4 inspiration colors.  I cut out 4 stencils on adhesive vinyl via Silhouette and stuck them to the canvases.  I covered the edges with painter's tape (my vinyl is 4").  E then painted in each stencil in each inspiration color.

Once dry, she got to peel them off for the reveal of her fabulous artwork!  This was her favorite part.

These make me absolutely giddy!  I also loved that she chose this super adorable graphic out of the ones I chose for her. :)

UPDATE:  These adorable pup stencils are now available for purchase (cheap!) in digital cutting format (.svg) via the ClearlyCandace Shop on Etsy! Tell your Boston-loving friends with Cricuts and Silhouettes! :) 

For the wall opposite the toilet, I initially considered some cute Boston Etsy prints, but then I found a graphic surfing Google images that I tweaked and re-created in Silhouette Studio.  Framing this on cardstock was a much more inexpensive idea than Etsy! As all Boston owners know, this is a true depiction of one of the cutest aspects of the breed. :)

As a final wall touch, I had a cute, white wooden "E" on hand from Hobby Lobby that I thought would look nice next to her wall cabinet.  I added this scrapbook paper with ModPodge for a feminine touch of pink.

SHOWER CURTAIN:
The focal point of this tiny room is obviously the shower curtain.  Finding one was a painstaking process that pushed things back another week.  I wanted one that didn't cost an arm and a leg, in the right shade of pink, with a feminine touch. NOT. EASY.  No local stores had anything but an occasional hot pink, much too bold for the room.  I wanted a more subtle pink and some kind of flare.  I ordered THREE curtains online before finding it.  Sending the other three back wasn't a piece of cake either.  Tip: Read detailed descriptions AND return policies well!  Here were my returns...

Polka-dot Vinyl. Too see-through, cheap quality...

Pink Ruffle.  Too bright and overbearing...

Solid Pink w/Grommets.  Better shade of pink, but boring...

When the 4th curtain came, it was like the angels were singing when I opened it.  ABSOLUTELY PERFECT.  I don't want to show it just yet.  You'll see it in a few scrolls. :) 

Another reason I passed on the grommet one was because I'd decided that she needed fun shower curtain hooks.  I'd seen cute felt Boston gifts and crafts while surfing Etsy that inspired me to make felt Boston heads for the hooks...with E's help, of course!  Unfortunately, I read the Silhouette doesn't cut felt well, so I opted to hand trace and cut.  Cutting parts for 12 boston heads was the 2nd longest phase of the project.  As a Silhouette girl, cutting by hand has definitely become a pet peeve. ;) Some of you may recall this recent Instagram mystery photo (also via Facebook).  I loved seeing all the guesses of what these were! :)

While I had the "fun" job of tracing and cutting parts, E got the better job of gluing googly eyes and noses.  Why does she always get to do the fun stuff?  :(

 I found these simple metal hooks at Ross - cheap!  Once cut, I hot glued the heads to them.

{SQUEAL!}

BONUS ITEMS:

Since we had no accessories for her counter, I had to get creative.  I happened to have a box of Boston collectibles in my attic.  It was fun going through it after years in storage!  The collectibles were the perfect finishing touch to the room.  As shown, there were antique ceramics to cheesy bobble heads! 

THE UNVEILING!

It's FINALLY time to show you the finished product!  

E and I are proud to unveil to you her newly updated Boston Terrier bathroom!

And here are the extra "Boston Pops of Fun," including her new towels!

And how about that shower curtain? 

Nailed it! (as JD on Scrubs would say)

We both totally love it.  We hope you like it and we thank you for allowing us to share our first Mommy-daughter DIY fun with you. :)  My girl is overly-excited about her new bathroom and has been showing it to all her friends.  

We both love how bright and cheery it is when you walk in.  It's funny how a blue room can be brighter than a white one!  The bright pink helps. ;)  And I leave you with a "bright" verse from Proverbs...

"The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day"  Proverbs 4:18

Thanks for visiting!

Keeping Him in Mind,