Another Guest Bathroom: Guest Amenities

I hope you all enjoyed the reveal of E's guest bathroom earlier in the week!  It's just in the nick of time, too, because UGA football season (starting today!!) brings all sorts of guests to E's house.  She pretty much has a revolving door every fall (we also run our own bed and breakfast during football season).  :-)  With that in mind, we worked some guest amenities into E's guest bathroom.

Psst... in case you're curious, the font I used is "Channel" on PicMonkey.

Since this bathroom will really get some use, E wanted to make sure her guests felt at home.  So she came up with the idea to have baskets of travel-size bathroom items ready just in case they forgot something.  The baskets were a few bucks each from Hobby Lobby.

What's in the baskets?

Women's:  shampoo, razors, floss, toothpaste, deodorant, hairspray, toothbrush

 Men's:  shampoo, styling gel, shaving gel, razors, toothbrush, Gold Bond powder, toothbrush

E basically just pilfered through her stock of bathroom goodies and then bought a few she was lacking.  If you'd like to do something similar, think about all the ways you typically collect (and eventually toss) travel-size goodies.  Does your dentist give you a free toothbrush every time you visit him?  Stick that in the basket!  Going on a work conference?  You know you're going to grab the travel-size shampoo and conditioner from the hotel bathroom, so why not give it to your guests?  Of course we also consulted the oracle Pinterest to see what other people had put together for their guest baskets.  Many of the links were for wedding planning, but they're just as handy.  Here are a few ideas:

Clockwise from top left:  twotwenty-one.com pinned here; weddingbee.com pinned here; aprilfosterevents.com pinned here; squirrelpearl.com pinned here

So with the baskets all together, it was time to do something with E's bathroom cabinet.  It's in good shape, but I wanted to give it a little facelift and bring it into the color scheme.

Hobby Lobby came to the rescue again.  They have a full aisle of cheap scrapbook paper, so I grabbed up a few sheets of this teal wood paper for 59 cents a sheet.  I thought it would mesh perfectly with the teal/blue/yellow/gray color combo we had going on.  This one is called "Wood Fence -- Turquoise" if you're looking for it in your store.  I loved how it would look with the mason jar soap dispenser.

Four sheets later, I had covered the back of the cabinet, taking care to line up the wood slats on the paper vertically.  To attach the paper to the cabinet, I just used a few pieces of regular office tape looped around itself.  There was a tricky spot in the top corners where I had to notch the paper, but a little careful marking and cutting solved that pretty fast.

In addition to the baskets, E also grabbed a few glass jars with screw tops for cotton balls and Q-tips.  Don't you love the color of those Q-tips?  It's the little things, I guess.

This is a really easy fix for renters, since you can just pluck the paper out of the organizer afterward.  Just take care to separate the tape from the cabinet backing, just in case.

The only thing I'm concerned about is that the paper might warp over time with humidity in the bathroom.  If that happens, E has a few extra sheets that she'll have laminated and cut again to fit in the back.

Baskets, Hobby Lobby $6
Glass jars* $4
Paper*  $2
Total:  $12
*We grabbed these items from Hobby Lobby, too, but unfortunately I can't find any links to source them.

And I already mentioned the framed poem E incorporated, which tells her guests where to find everything they need.

What makes you feel at home when you're visiting a friend?  Turn down service and a chocolate on your pillow?  Fresh towels and a fluffy mattress?  I'm used to having a fan on at home when I sleep, so I love when we sleep in a guest bedroom that has a fan.

Check out our Pinterest board for the room for more ideas, plus see what the room was like before and after, and get a tutorial for making your own $5 DIY vintage sign.