What is the first thing that you check before guests come over? If you’re like me, you check the guest bathroom and do a quick clean-up (and pray that no one ever sees how it *usually* is!).
I have a seven year old son. Little boys tend to be MESSY in bathrooms, and my guest bath is right next to the front door. The bathroom’s easy access means that the kids dash into the house when they’ve been playing outside and barely make it to the toilet. Plus, they use that same bathroom to clean mud off their hands and feet, clean their paint brushes, and every other dirty thing you can imagine.
Have I painted a good picture? Mud splatters on the wall, paint rings on the sink, and stinky yellow puddles around the base of the toilet. Not exactly the first impression I want to give guests when they come over to visit.
So getting a guest bathroom ready for GUESTS is a two-step process – clean it up and then make it look nice.
5 steps to a guest bathroom make-over
- Fresh paint + new towels – When you’re ready to give the bathroom a new look, something as simple as a fresh coat of paint and some new towels is affordable and makes a big difference fast.
- De-clutter – My kids love to fill the bathroom counter with hair brushes and tooth brushes. A cluttered bathroom looks messy to me, no matter how “clean” it may be. Hiding the unnecessary clutter helps ANY room look nicer.
- Add accents of color and character – coordinating colors and design go a long way. Something as simple as adding a hand soap that matches the hand towels says that you’ve put some thought into how the room looks.
- Make it easy to keep clean – When kids make a mess, the best practice is to have them clean it up right away. If there is a simple cleaner (wipes or spray) and Kleenex hand towels available, then the mess doesn’t get out of hand.
- Air freshener – Smell is a huge thing for me. If a bathroom smells bad, it doesn’t matter how good (or bad) it looks. Add a special touch with some pleasantly-scented air fresheners.
Now that you’ve got your guest bathroom ready for company, an extra personal touch or two can be fun. I made this disposable hand towel holder with just 3 supplies: Kleenex hand towels, a wire hanger, and wire cutters.
How to make a DIY disposable hand towel holder
- Assemble supplies: a box of Kleenex hand towels, a wire hanger, and wire cutters
- Cut hanger – middle, bottom. It’s harder than it looks. I had to have my 11 year old help me…
- Straighten out the bends in the hanger – and get ready to make some new bends!
- Make 2 new bends – measure the width of the box of Kleenex hand towels and make 2 90 degree bends in the hanger so that it “fits” the box.
- Make 2 holes in the side of the box of hand towels – I made my holes near the bottom half of the box, as pictured, with a pin (both sides).
- Make 2 more bends in the hanger – bend the hanger where the hanger will meet the two holes you just made. You should now have a rectangular-shaped hanger. Make sure that the two open ends are shorter than the rectangle, as pictured above.
- Finish off! Gently push the open ends of the hanger through the holes in the box. You may need to “guide” the ends through the towels in the box. Hang anywhere – bathroom, kitchen, etc.
Just FYI – Kleenex hand towels also sit nicely on top of a towel rack. Not only are the convenient, but they are so much more sanitary than hand towels that get wiped by questionable sources. Join me in trashing the germs in the bathroom! And just FYI – there are coupons for Kleenex Hand Towels if you follow the link…
Disclosure: I was selected for participation in this campaign as a member of Clever Girls Collective. All thoughts, projects, and photos are my own.
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I have the same problem with the messy kids and their friends… and the down stairs bathroom is always in use!!!