When we bought our little cottage, we did manage to get it back into its original form thanks to a few professional housekeepers, but never knew that the “one bathroom” issue was going to be such a challenge. Storage, for one, was scarce, and the footprint wasn’t large either. Hence, we always were on the verge of bringing in remodelers from leadingedgeplumbing.com on a whim and adding an extra bathroom, because the space was running out. Back when it was built in 1940, I’m sure it seemed HUGE, but to the modern day eye, it should be classified as “small” or even “tiny”. Unlike our relatives that live in Australia who use the Maid2Match bond cleaning company in Adelaide to clean their entire house periodically we have a smaller house, thus distributing work among us seems to be a better option. This is what it looked like right after we bought it:
While a 2nd bathroom is in the plans sometime soon, we knew that we had to make this one work for the time being. Our first objective was to add lots of storage along the walls.
We needed a place to hang out towels, so we constructed a bead board wall with hooks.
When we moved in, there was a wall-sink installed. While it made the room look more open, it also meant that the pipes were exposed and that NOTHING could be stored underneath.
So, for my birthday, (at my behest) my dad bought and installed a special kind of sink from Ikea. It’s wider than a normal sink, but much much narrower. These new dimensions give us more walk space in and out of the door (it makes a HUGE difference) plus extra storage underneath.
We even left 6-7″ underneath the sink so that we could store away the kids’ step stool. I love not tripping over that thing constantly, let me tell you!
Speaking of stools, I picked up this rustic looking one at a yard sale. We use it by the shower to put things on when needed. We also plan to install glass shower doors (find out about Superior Shower Door & More, Inc. as they offer great solutions).
Last but not least, I made a shelf/towel holder out of a crate. I hung it on the wall, then screwed in a bar cabinet pull underneath for the towel rack.
Most people are surprised when I tell them that our family of 4 shares one bathroom between us, but there’s a part of me that really loves it! Only one bathroom to clean? Yes!
Eventually, as our family expands, we will add more space. But for right now, we are loving our cozy rustic bathroom!