My First One Room Challenge: Modern Boho Bathroom

I can’t believe I’m writing about my first One Room Challenge. I’m so excited right now I can barely type as fast as I think. Over the next six weeks, I’ll completely transform our teeny main bath into a modern bohemian oasis.

What the heck is the One Room Challenge? It’s a lovely biannual, six-week social media extravaganza where designers, bloggers, and influencers alike commit themselves to transforming a space. So rad. So, what did this brand new blogger do? She signed up to be a guest participant with hundreds of others, going full bore on our boring, windowless bathroom. Let’s do this!!

It’s small. We’re talking 8.5’ x 5.3’ small. With the tub, it’s 6.4’ x 5.3’. Not terrible sounding, huh? No, not terrible, but we’ve got a lot of rough craftsmanship to clean up, people.

Our Craftsman Bungalow was built in 1934. The developer of the area craftsman homes lived in ours (cool, right?!). We love and often visit our neighbors, which has enabled us to piece together the original architectural history. And this girl likes that, because she believes in upholding the era’s true form.

This felt so much more intimidating once I uploaded the pictures 😳😳😳, but here we go, fraaands:

Let’s discuss the windowless part. Originally, it had one. At some point, our basement was converted into an in-law adding a second major entryway. This is how the window was lost. I weep. 😩

Now, the fixtures. The previous owners did okay here. The bathtub is large and lovely; the subway tile is classic white with a few strips of kelly green (doable); the sink and toilet are just fine; and our secret medicine cabinets are pretty great, too. They look like picture frames, but alas, they are more!! Huzzaaah.

Everything else … leaves something to be desired.

Discount white tile; oxidizing shitty sink faucet; light fixtures; kelly green paint – your time has come.

Since this baby is on a budget, I’ll be working my magic. I’ll be salvaging the cracking and dying 6 x 6-inch white tile with paint. Yes! I’m painting my bath floor. We’ll see who becomes the victor: tile or me. Bring it, betch.

The faucet, she’s getting replaced. The useless vent fan, gone. Crappy waffle curtain, see ya lata. Kelly green walls, buh-bye. Plus an amalgam of creative additions in the works.

C’mon guys, errybody needs a little mystery.

Note: this self-reliant “fixer upper” game show came up rather quickly, so I’m cutting two small, later-to-be-unturned, corners.

Ultimately, I’ll be replacing the craptastic Home Depot discount trim/moulding with an indistinguishable lookalike, much like I did in The Indigo Room. In the interim design, she should blend just fine. We plan to install wood flooring in the near future, so I said to myself, “Girrrrl, don’t be cray. Hold it back.”

Secondarily, I crave natural light. I’ll be looking into installing a skylight or bringing a window back in (possibly which would be adjacent to the backdoor foyer addition, but hey, light’s light).

So there you have it, folks. The prequel to the sequel. (Is it weird I always think of Looney Tunes when I hear or say the word “folks” 😑) I’ll be updating my modern boho bathroom progress every Thursday on Instagram, save for this coming Thursday ‘cause we’ll be in Cheeeecago. Otherwise, stay tuned, because here goes nothin’!! 🐰🥕