Decorating a Bathroom: Pink and Black

More than a year ago, I shut the door to a room in our house. Sick of looking at it, wishing it would magically transform into a place of serenity and peaceful luxury, I simply shut the door on it’s dark ugliness, because it was easier than dealing with it.

Now, if you think I’m going to get all deep here, you’re wrong. I’m not talking about denying all the things in my life that seem insurmountable. I’m not talking about how I put things on hold and try to ignore them until they pop up again and bite me in the butt.

I’m talking about my bathroom. The “kids” bathroom, which we began fixing up 8 years ago, and never completed, because things got in the way. For years, I would reach the top of the stairs and look to my right and there it was, glaring at me, that dark throne as if it belonged to Hades himself. 

You see, our castle was built in 1979. The bathroom of which I speak is black. Toilet, sink, tiles, and tub. All black. The walls were adorned with silver wallpaper, the lighting, like a Hollywood dressing room. It was dizzying.

Lucky for us, we have been using the other bathroom exclusively for years, until a leak in the shower forced me to face the great fear of the seond floor.

“I don’t want to take a shower in the black!” Screamed my three-year-old daughter. “It’s too scary!”

Indeed it is, but we have no choice. Okay, we do, but dueling the spiders in the basement bathroom (door also shut there) is too much for me.

So I’m giving it a minor makeover. Until we can gut the bathroom of doom, I’m going to dress it up and make it sparkle. It may be as tacky as a middle aged vegas stripper, but it’s going to dazzle.

Decorating is a hobby of mine that I rarely have the opportunity to indulge in. I love to make things prettier, clean and more efficient. If I didn’t follow my dream of becoming a writer, I would have been an interior decorator, horse trainer or the queen of a small European nation, so I have some clue how to make things lovely.

I decided to go with a pink and black girlie-girl fashion theme. Generally, I despise themed bathrooms, but I think this will work. If nothing else, my kids will like it and it will add a little humor to our home.

Since I can't get rid of the black just yet, I'm adding a pink and black fashionista shower curtain, pink throw rugs and matching pink, black and white towels. Does it sound like a bit much? It absolutely is.

To update the lighting (which is no longer in working condition), I'm going to swap out the disco style light fixture for a small sparkling chandelier.

It is still likely that I will feel a sense of "ewww" rather than awe when I reach the top of the stairs and look down the hall, but at least this time I can take responsibility for the darkest place in my home. Sometimes you just can't hide the tackiness that lurks in the strangest places of your life, so we may as well embrace it.