Should have done this sooner!

Two years ago we were considering a huge addition to our house. The main reason, and the starting point of this exploration, was to get an additional bathroom upstairs. Oh it got a little control after that (why not extend the garage! let's have a downstairs office! let's move the laundry upstairs! let's move the existing kids bathroom! let's extend Reed's closet into Tod's existing closet which would have connected to what will later be Amy's bedroom! - cha-ching cha-ching cha-ching!) and we ultimately decided against it. Lately we've even toyed with the idea of moving so that we can upgrade (that idea is currently on hold until spring 2016). It was frustrating to not be able to access our own bathroom, or to always have to remind Amy to pick her stuff up from our bathroom, or not drip water all over the bathroom floor, etc.

The kids' bathroom was originally painted not long after we moved in in late December 2004. We went with a fish theme and it was very cute! But nearly ten years have been hard on the room and we found the border was beginning to fall down, so we needed a new paint job.

Well I couldn't find a good one of the kids' bathroom, but this
does the trick - fishy shower curtain, toothbrush holder and towel.
Plus adorable two year old brushing her teeth.

I have to mention that when we were talking about a remodel, Reed was 110% against ANY changes to his bedroom. He didn't want a bigger room, he didn't want his own bathroom (okay he essentially had one already since Amy wouldn't use their bathroom), he didn't want a single thing to change. He stuck to that throughout the process and was relieved when we decided against the whole project.

So we found ourselves needing to choose paint for the kids' bathroom. I took the kids to Home Depot to look at paint samples and Reed chose a handful of colors, and Amy chose to focus instead on looking for colors to paint her bedroom. In the end, Reed's recommendation for color choices were lime green and purple. He chose those because they are opposites on the color wheel and he thought they'd look good together. While it wasn't our first choice of colors, since it was so unusual for Reed to express any kind of interest in something like this, we figured, well why not...it's only paint! The kids chose a new shower curtain together and I bought new hand towels and a new rug. Tod got to work painting.

Wow did the lime green turn out bright! I mean BRIGHT!

But the amazing upside to this day-glo bathroom situation is that it caused Amy to give using their bathroom another try. She was reluctant at first but now it's kind of second nature, she doesn't seem to give it a thought. She's even take a bath in there. And miraculously, I was finally able to find a comb that's just like our favorite comb, and so Amy is all set to use that bathroom full-time. I think it's been probably 3 years or more since she stopped using her own bathroom. Of course we still have conflicts from time to time that force Reed to have to use our bathroom (because Amy's already gone to bed and their shower is right next to Amy's room and is so loud). So far, though, no instances of "Reed's hogging the bathroom!" or "Amy's taking too long!" though I'm guessing that probably won't last.

So maybe this house meets our needs after all, and we don't need to make any big moves after all! All it took was a fresh coat of (really bright) paint!

Sidenote...I know my memory is cruddy, but I don't really recall a lot of bathroom conflicts in my house growing up. Jennifer was an earlier riser than me, so she showered first and then finished getting ready for the day in her room, while I showered. I wish I could ask my Mom if there was a lot of drama...but instead I'll just go on thinking we got along delightfully. :)