My toddler daughter’s bathroom is suffering a bit of an identity crisis. She loves fish so my mom got her a bunch of fish themed bath accessories—toothbrush holder, soap dish, lotion dispenser, etc. However, she also loves ducks (or “quack quacks” as she calls them) so I let her pick out a fuzzy duck shower curtain, matching towels and the cutest fuzzy yellow bath mat in the shape of a chubby duckling. So we have fish and ducks hanging out in the same room. The color scheme semi-matches, but I am really trying to find a central theme that will help tie it all together.
But, I’m not pressuring myself into doing anything drastic. That’s the beauty of children’s bathrooms; you have the latitude to be whimsical (even if it means having dual themes). My friend is lucky enough to have a Jack and Jill bathroom for her son and daughter. (A Jack and Jill bathroom is a bathroom located between two bedrooms with an entry in each room. Often there is no entryway to the bathroom from a hallway or other room, which means that unless guests enter from either of the two adjoining rooms, they will never see the mess that lies within.) Since no one else has access to the bathroom, she decided to “experiment” with a bright color palette and groovy new hardware (knobs in the shape of toothpaste tubes) on the cabinets. They were simple additions that spruced up the room for very little money.
The paint she bought was affordable, bright and very practical. She found paint by Sherwin Williams, which allows you to wipe away stains with a wet towel with out leaving burnish marks. If you aren’t interested in painting you could tile the walls or you could consider a wainscoting wall treatment. You don’t have to spend a lot of money on wall treatments to transform your child’s bathroom. In fact, you may consider saving your money and using it on other bathroom features such as separate showers.
A shower that stands adjacent to a tub is a bathroom feature growing in popularity. Many of these types of showers come with a steam option or are equipped with multi-head faucets that mimic a car wash. Which is perfect if you have older and younger children sharing a bathroom. Your little ones can take a bath, while the older ones shower… and there is no fighting over who goes first.
The bottom line: there are a multitude of ways you can make your child’s bathroom functional and fun… and you don’t have to break the bank doing so.