uncertainty throughout the process than I’m used to experiencing. The challenges were straightforward: • Limited budget (isn’t it always?) • Lack of square footage (only 75 square feet) • Litany of original components not to be replaced—bathtub, sink, cabinet, floors, fixtures... (this was just a facelift, after all) And then there was my love of the pink wall tile. Though no one could say our house purchase hinged on the bathroom tile, I was ecstatic when we found a house we liked that just so happened to have a bathroom full of vintage, cotton-candy-colored tile. I’d long been a wannabe member of savethepinkbathroom.com; actually owning a pink bathroom felt like destiny. The tile had to stay.
T HE PERPETUA L YOU
“In diversity, there is beauty.” – Maya Angelou When I looked at the brave decision my sister had made—to leave her family and friends in sunny Florida and come to start a new life pursuing new passions in onlysunny-sometimes Connecticut—I felt that giving her a bathroom she could call her own was a gesture I needed to make. What woman wants to prepare to face the world every morning with another woman’s design style staring her back in the face? If you have ever lived in someone else’s house for an extended period of time, you have no doubt experienced “houseguest design discomfort.” Whether it be dainty towels when you prefer fluffy or the fact that your bedroom faces east when you are so not a morning person, discomfort can rear its ugly head any time you have little to no
control over the physical space you live in. Renters, too, can experience this feeling: you may want to love your space, but just not have the permission to make it beautiful in your eyes. I’m fairly certain that if this bathroom had truly belonged to my sister, rather than being hers while she lived with us for the next year, that pink tile would’ve been the first thing to go. Where I am nostalgic, she is romantic. Where I’m eclectic, she’s bohemian. And where I am loyal to vintage pink tile, she is...well, a modern woman with modern tastes! Focusing on the differences in our design styles didn’t really serve much purpose, just as feeling limited by budget or layout would have been pointless. The facts were the facts, and I still felt inspired to beautify the bathroom.