Barnaby’s bathroom needs a makeover

My highly impractical outhouse chic bathroom has finally found its calling!  Though it does function well as a powder room, it’s not pretty yet and powder rooms should be pretty.    But, the tiny vintage clawfoot tub it houses is perfectly Barnaby-sized and the sides are high enough that he can’t escape from our sudsy clutches.  Plus the hand-held shower head is very handy for dog baths.  Poor Barnaby.

A reader emailed me this yesterday: “I don’t mean to be rude, but what exactly is Barnaby?!”  Hah hah, thank you for asking Samantha.  A Flat Coated Retriever +  a Boykin Spaniel = a Barnaby.  He is the lovechild of two South Carolina hunting dogs and Dad adopted him after he was kicked off a South Carolina farm for chasing horses.   Bath time aside, Barnaby’s adjusting quite well to city life.

Enough about that squeaky clean dog, let’s get back to decor.  Even though I made a shower curtain for this room a while back out of grey and white Ikea fabric, I’m on the hunt for a more colorful fabric that will inform some paint colors for the walls and the tub exterior.  I saw this bathroom recently on HGTV’s Sarah’s House and it reminded me that I had initially intended for my powder room to have a similar graphite, yellow and white color scheme.

A happier outhouse chic bathroom from Sarah's House on HGTV

But, I had a minor nervous breakdown a few months back when the pale yellow I picked out from a chip was practically vibrating on the walls of our small room.  So, I immediately hoofed it to Lowe’s and repainted the walls a calming putty grey.  The putty did soothe my electric yellow nerves, but it was a boring overreaction to an irrationally exuberant paint choice.  Then, I doubled down on the boring with a neutral shower curtain.

So, alas, my outhouse bathroom needs another do-over.  This room was definitely the “problem child” of our renovation and six months later it still looks like a before picture- argh!  I’m on the hunt for some pretty fabric for the shower curtain and then I’ll paint the walls for the third time this year.  Stay tuned for Scott’s nervous breakdown.  The poor man just wants a bathroom he can actually use.  Barnaby, on the other hand, is hoping that his bathroom will be out of commission for a long while….

p.s.  Thank you all for your incredibly kind and supportive responses to my last post.  Revisiting each and every one of your delightful blogs has inspired me to keep going with my own silly projects.  xxxxxADD