July Challenge: Morning and Evening Routines

Hello July! The summer is in full swing and I am very excited for the next challenge for A Year of Details. We’re looking at how we start and finish our days. Our morning routines have the ability to start the day off right for us or, alternatively, set us off on the wrong foot. And our evening routines can help lead us into peaceful rest or leave us with a frazzled feeling at the end of the day. These two routines deserve to be considered once in a while.

There are many things to consider examining and revising in terms of morning and evening routines. Your kitchen and how you have breakfast is probably a big part of your morning routine and shutting the kitchen down is an important part of the evening routine. Your bedside table is a very big part of how you start and especially finish your day. And the bathroom is where a lot of head first thing in the morning and again just before bed. Which part of your morning and evening routine could you improve this month?

I start and end each day in my bathroom: brushing teeth, applying face creams, showering, etc., Because my bathroom is such a big part of my morning and evening routines I’ve decided to use this month’s challenge as an opportunity to declutter and redecorate the space where I spend the first and last moments of my days.

I am so happy with and got such wonderful feeback about the family bathroom I made-over in May (see post here). So I’m very excited to revive “my bathroom” up on the top floor. In addition to our family bathroom on the floor with all the bedrooms, we have another small bathroom on the top floor complete with shower. All of my stuff is in this space and it’s considered “mom’s bathroom” in our house.

My challenge for this month:

My bathroom is very similar to our family bathroom in that it is not attractive and I have therefore simply used it as a utilitarian space. Its ugly tile and blue hardware didn’t help matters at all. I’m challenging myself to transform this space into a room that I look forward to starting and finishing up my days with minimal changes.

The To-do List

1.Declutter all products in my bathroom. I will ask myself “When was the last time you used this?” and ruthlessly get rid of anything that I can’t answer with “Less than 6 months ago.” I have a lot of things that, although neatly organized in my bathroom, have been occupying space there for years UNUSED. I have a pore cleaner that I bought more than 10 years ago and used once, but I can’t seem to get rid of it. Maybe I’ll use it someday. Really? If I haven’t used it in 10 years why would I suddenly start now? It’s time to get serious about getting rid of “stuff.”

2. Reduce Visual Clutter. Once I have fewer things and presumably more storage space, I will work on storing as many products away as possible. The bathroom is one of those places (along with the kitchen) where so many things are stored out in the open. But do they really need to be? If drawers and cupboards are uncluttered, the everyday products can still be at your fingertips, simply inside a drawer or behind a cupboard door. My hairdryer has always been stored in a basket right next to my mirror and close to the electrical outlet – very easy to access yet visual clutter. My goal is to see if I can store it in a drawer.

3. Replace ugly blue hardware on sink and in shower.

4. Find a creative solution for the tile. There is a horrible 80s stripe in primary colors running its way around the whole bathroom. There are stickers you can buy to cover tiles, but this stripe is so narrow I don’t know if that’s an option. I’m going to explore painting it.

4. Follow the decorating process I laid out in my last bathroom makeover (see my Spa-like Bathroom Reveal here) : add plants, soft textiles, wood and a unifying color scheme to create a harmonious look.

Although my bathroom bears absolutely no resemblance to the photo above – as in I don’t have a bathtub, the shower certainly doesn’t look that good and my space is a fraction of the size- it is my inspiration. It will come as no surprise that I’m going for a monochrome look and I love the pattern play of black and white with the additions of gold and wood. There is feminine feeling to this room and that’s what I want to come across in my bathroom.

We will be away on holiday for half the month so I may or may not get this project finished by the end of July. I will be checking back in at the end of the month regardless to show my progress.

I hope you are enjoying your summer!

xx