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hey there! I'm monica 

I pride myself on making amazing style and design accessible for everyone, regardless of location, budget, or ability! My design philosophy is rooted in authenticity + attainability - If I can do it, you can too! My work has been featured in countless publications, but I take the most pride in homeowners that have been personally inspired by my DIY ideas and have tried something in their own homes!

learn more about ME + MY BIZ

Bathroom Inspiration

Two more sleeps until Christmas!!!  Obviously, I’m not tackling any major DIY projects this week… I’m busy consuming about 5000 calories a day, wrapping presents, and putting together last minute ugly sweaters for stupid Kindergarten spirit days (if you missed our ugly sweater and my rant, you should check it out on Instagram).  Having project down time, gives me time to actually dream and plan my next DIYs and makeovers.  My kids’ bathroom is towards the top of the list, so I thought I’d share a bit of inspiration and well, since it’s the season of giving, a final giveaway for 2014 from Personal Creations .

My kids’ bathroom hasn’t had much facetime on the blog (that’s because it’s a hideous mess and nothing to look at) but one project from it is near and dear to my heart. Almost 3 years ago, I made bathroom wall hooks for each of my kids and it was the first project any other blogger ever featured!  Beth from Home Stories from A to Z featured them and I was literally over the moon.  I remember calling Jess and both of us were literally screaming on the phone.  Yeah, we’re kind of idiots sometimes.

Clearly, this was long before the age of perfectly styled blog photos.  I kind of miss that sometimes.

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Since those wall hooks, I haven’t done a thing to the bathroom and it’s a tiny, yellow, dark mess.  I’ll share before pics, once I begin the reno.  For now, it’s all about the pretty…

It’s a really small space, without much natural light, so the idea of planking in white is an option.  I like how just one wall was done here.  Of course the sink and counter are to die for, but sorry kids, that’s not happening!

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I know hexagons were slightly overdone in 2014, but seriously can you get enough of this wall tile?  I can’t.  Fo’shizzle.  I know that my 4 kids would have toothpaste all over the walls, that inevitably Cal would want to see if permanent marker works on the tile, and it would just never look like this inspiration pic, but I love it and someday, when I am old and kid free and looking back on “the good old days with little kids” I will have an amazing bathroom like this!

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Back to the world of kid reality… I love how this family used inexpensive pieces of odd shaped remnant tile to save some money on their bathroom reno.  They came up with a pattern that looks intentional and makes the odd corner cuts look perfect!  This kind of approach is more up my alley at this stage in life, but it will still have toothpaste and sharpie on it I’m sure!  This is just one of the rooms Dwell featured of this Brooklyn brownstone- I’d check out the whole article here– the home is incredible!

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We definitely need to improve the lighting in the bathroom… can you say builder grade lighting?  Yup, one small light that doesn’t even know what style is.  I found these colored sconces and immediately fell in love.  This is the color scheme I’m obsessed with right now.  Look on the sidebar at the phones picture- see some similarities?  I’m trying to think of a creative way to use a bunch of these in the tiny bathroom without it being “too much.”

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I’ll need you to use your imaginations for this one… pretend Rainbow Bright didn’t leave her rug in there (am I dating myself?  I think even by asking that question it automatically means I’m getting old… what 20 something says “am I dating myself?”  None. That’s how many.  Dang 30s…)  Anyhow, I love the intense pop of color from the vanity contrasting with white tile- again installed in another unique way.

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 So, while the design is far from concrete in my mind at this point, I think it’s safe to say I want some kind of unique installation of white tile (I will regret that decision), a colorful, possibly floating vanity, amazing lighting, and no children to actually use it, so it always looks perfect.  Ha!

Since I do have 4 living, breathing, messy little monsters, I already bought something for the bathroom… personalized towels from Personal Creations .  I felt like having kid-friendly towels, would keep me grounded in reality and help me remember that functionality trumps pretty for this space.  I went with personalized towels that can do both.

Tell me this, if you have kids are they like mine in that if any one of their siblings touches their food, drink, spoon, fork etc. they won’t use it?  I’m like dude I will lick your cookie just so you don’t want it and then it’s mine!! Mwahah.  Anyhow, my kids are totally into this dumb germs thing and it’s spread into the bathroom too.  Every single bath or shower means brand new towels and if there is any chance one of the others even touched it, they won’t use it.  Enter genius mom… towels with their names on it. We have personalized beach towels, but now it was time to step it up to bath towels too!

Here’s what we got… I let the kids each pick their own towel, which was really fun

Cal picked the shark towel– it’s adorable.

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KJ went with the butterfly towel

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And both older kids wanted the personalized beach towels, because they like BIG towels all the time.

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The towels were just the first step in this makeover, so get ready to see a whole lot more in early 2015.  Now, excuse me while I go whip up 3 batches of cookie dough for our annual cookies & carols party this evening.  Cookie decorating and terrible singing at its finest!  It’s always a good time!

And as promised, our final giveaway of 2014!  We’re giving away a $250 Gift Card as part of Personal Creation’s New Year- New Home campaign! A huge thanks to Personal Creations for being so generous to EC2 Readers this year!!  Good luck guys and Early Merry Christmas!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Personal Creations 

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The comments +

  1. Hillary says:

    I really like those children’s ruffled long johns. So cute!

  2. colette says:

    would love that shark towel for my shark-obsessed nephew!

  3. jen keough says:

    would loveto win this!

  4. jennifer says:

    you can buy odd sized tile scraps??? having a *duh* moment. love all the inspiration pics!

  5. Melissa C. says:

    I like the kids bean bag chairs personalized with the kids names. My kids would love having their own little seat with their name on it.

  6. elizabeth williams says:

    I love the secret message collar stays

  7. marly z. says:

    What a great giveaway! I love the towels!

  8. Julia D. says:

    I just recently started reading your blog after seeing the show (sad it’s over!) and I love your humor! I love Personal Creations and would totally get the personal history book and give it to my mother. Thank you for the chance to win such a great prize!

  9. Karen G. says:

    I really like the travel destination map. So cool!

  10. Kristal Susko says:

    Need to win this! I have 4 kids and they are starting to out grow the frog bathroom they had since they were little. They need something able to grow with them.

  11. Sarah D says:

    Towels, definitely. We just moved into a new home and I’m looking to update my kids bathroom as well.

  12. Beth Marie says:

    In my best Oprah voice, I’d say “you get a personalized gift, you, and you….” They have great stuff! My two young nieces — can’t go wrong with a baby doll. For my three sons- older two def the laundry basket in hopes it would inspire them. Then for the youngest we’d go all out: personalized chair, stool with removable letters…I can go on!

  13. Patti says:

    I love the Family Tree of Hearts!

  14. jen says:

    My daughter has a sweet little newlywed apartment bathroom decorated like a cabin. My son has an apartment with friends and I have no desire to see what their bathroom looks like. But, I would still like to win!

  15. jennyf says:

    i’m thinking door mat, beverage bucket, mixing bowls! I can find something on every page 🙂

  16. Valerie says:

    What a *fabulous* array of goodies…thank you for the stellar giveaway….*Merry Christmas* everyone! 🙂

  17. Julia McIntosh says:

    Personalized Doormats

  18. Chris says:

    I would get personalized mugs or glasses so we can use the same one over and over again.

  19. Monique says:

    Lunchtime family soup and sppn set

  20. Debbie says:

    Those lights are darling! I bet you can figure a way to get that look for less

  21. Sandra Smith says:

    I love to use personal creations for Christmas ornaments and holiday decorations.

  22. Ashley says:

    A personalized beach towel for my son!

  23. Michelle P. says:

    My boys would love the personalized beach towels! That’s what I’d get!

  24. Erin says:

    I love their mixing bowls. That would be one thing I would get.

  25. Rachel H says:

    Monica, great ideas. I can’t wait to see what else you have to bring to the table come the new year 🙂

  26. Lowanda J says:

    There are so many things I would like to create from Personal Creations. I just recently signed up to host a Wine Tasting Party so I would love to personalize the 8 piece wine serving set. This would definitely come in handy!

  27. Kathy Worth says:

    I actually saw your bathroom hangers awhile ago! I got a super deal on hangers from Pottery Barn on Clearance that have picture frames. ( I am not a big PB shopper. I was there to get the only shelving that could hold tons of antique cars.)
    When I saw the hangers I thought of your post. I could not find it at the time to explain to my husband who was convinced one towel is better. I sketched him your idea! 🙂
    That worked! I was less nice. I let the kids pick the paint color, rug, and shower curtain. I gave them several choices from the rug…. They each have blue but a different shade of blue. (My son is fairly color blind to many other colors but yellow.). What is really cool is that instead of pictures, my daughter has Zentangled everyone’s initial! We even have a 4th hook for guests. It is green. In hopes they don’t use the others! Thanks for the idea long before I knew it was you! Mighty awesome!

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