Week 6 - Main Bathroom

The Main Bathroom is probably the busiest room in the house! Not to mention the filthiest room in the house! We had seven Princes using ours all day, every day and that requires more than regular cleaning. We are currently down to six! Haha!

This is most often the bathroom used by guests too! Having accidents around the toilet seat or floor, being out of toilet paper and dirty hand towels are definitely not a castle experience. Yikes! Our little Princes and Princesses should be helping by cleaning up after themselves each day. Then it is easier when a guest comes to visit to touch it up!

Making the main bathroom a pleasant place to visit is a great idea! Before a visitor comes make sure to pick up all trash, wipe the sink and toilet seat, and set out a clean hand towel or even paper towels for them to use. Every visitor will feel as though they have been treated as special!

Week 6 - Main Bathroom Cleaning List

Our DAILY cleaning in the bathroom should just be picking up after ourselves everyday.

Our WEEKLY cleaning should consist of cleaning the sink, tub and toilet each week, empty trash, sweep and mop the floor, and washing linens (not rugs or curtains).

But DEEP CLEANING is when we take an area and go deeper! So, if you swish the bowl of your toilet each week, then deep cleaning would consist of wiping down the whole toilet top to bottom. Deep cleaning the sink would be moving everything off of it and wiping down the soap container and things that live there. And it would also be washing rugs, curtains, windows, shelves, cabinets, etc.

So, here is a list for you! Pick only four big jobs or as many small jobs as will fill 15 minutes each day. You might be surprised how many you can get done!

~ Clean counters, faucets, sinks.

~ Sort cabinet under sink.

~ Clean and sort shelves.

~ Refill toilet paper, soaps, shampoo, conditioner. Combine bottles. Throw away empty bottles.

~ Scrub shower walls and bathtub.

~ Clean toilet inside and out.

~ Wash all linens, rugs, curtains.

~ Sort through any other cabinet.

~ Sweep floors.

~ Mop floors and corners.

~ Use baking soda and peroxide around toilet base.

~ Clean fan.

~ Clean light fixtures.

~ Clean windows

~ Clean doorknobs and switches.

~ Clean the trash can.

Part of deep cleaning also is looking carefully as you clean for anything that may need to be fixed! Put these on a list for the weekend to get done.

Loose drawer handles, loose faucet, leaks from plumbing or roof, replace lightbulbs, clogged drains, electrical shorts, fan noise, etc.

Well, here we go! We can do this together!

Cleaning Tip #1!

Scrubbing porcelain and/or plastic fixtures with abrasive scrubbers can ruin the finish!

My Favorite way to remove soap scum is to make a paste with 1/2 cup of baking soda and 2 tsp of vinegar. Then I can scrub the sink or tub with that to break up the soap. If needed use a small amount of degreaser to break up any grease that might be contributing to the problem. Rinse with warm water!

Cleaning Tip #2

Use baking soda and peroxide to clean around the base of the toilet and it will kill the smell of urine!

Bathroom Remodel

I am so excited for this reveal! Here you will see the main bathroom in its entirety go from Blah...to...Amazing!! Product links are at the bottom of the page for your convenience.

First things first! We removed the single cabinet in the middle of the wall.

We took everything else out of the bathroom and cleaned it from top to bottom!

Then we painted the walls!

Half in a dark chocolate brown to hide messes and the other half in a light brown to keep the room from feeling as though it was caving in on us!

We added new hardware to the room by adding this rounded shower curtain, 3 towel bars that look like pipes and new pipe shelving with plain pine boards to hold towels and toilet paper.

Now for the fun part! The decor!

A sign on the door for our guests.

And a sign on the toilet to remind the boys to put the seat and lid down! We don't want anyone falling in or the dogs drinking here!

Extremely practical storage solutions and simple decor create a manly and rustic look in the bathroom, perfect for teen boys of all ages.

I added a galvanized "G" on the shelf for the "Gross Boys", a Bless this mess sign, and a lantern with a candle in case the lights go out, for practicality, on the shelf. A working pipe clock added on the wall for timely showers and bathroom use. (There is afterall 5 boys still in the house!)

Some metal and wood bottomed baskets to hold toilet paper on the bottom shelf, washcloths and hand towels on the middle shelf, and bath towels for guests at the top! A metal basket on the floor for used towels and a "boys only" sign for ALL the boys in the house! HaHa!

I found these pipe towel bars at Hobby Lobby and hung three across the length of the wall. Then topped them off with these super cool patent prints and frames off of Amazon. Boys are usually fascinated with how things work and the patent posters feed into their interests.

For the personalization on the towels, I simply added the first letter of each person's name onto their own towel by zigzag stitch over the edges and hung them from oldest to youngest. This helps them remember to use their own towel and to hang them up after use. Because the feel in here is now very mature, they like keeping it picked up!

The shower curtain is a fantastic waffle weave fabric that really gives a luxurious look to the tub! I used black metal rings for sophistication and added a clear plastic shower curtain behind the fabric one.

Before...

After...

What do you think? I am just thrilled with the execution of it all, and the boys? Well, they all said how they liked the grown up feel to it!

SUCCESS! I am happy to say, this bathroom update has stayed fairly clean for the most part and the boys are doing a great job doing so. I am so glad we decided to do this!