Making Bath Bombs is a Fun Craft to Make with Kids

We have been making slime for years and it’s so fun – check out our Safe Puffy Slime tutorial! If you are looking for another fun idea to make with your kids over Spring Break – consider making bath bombs!! My kids of all ages love taking baths and adding a fragrant bath bomb to a bath smells great!!

Bath Bombs Make Great Gift Ideas

Bath bombs are SO fun to make! They also are a fabulous gift for anyone. Kids love using them, teens love using them, grandparents and neighbors would love receiving them too!

Bath Bombs are a Great Spring Break Craft Idea

So this Spring Break – try making bath bombs one day. It’s a fun craft and one that your kids will use!!

15 DIY Bath Bomb Ideas!

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Geode Bath Bombs @ The Makeup Dummy

Aren’t these Geode Bath Bombs SO pretty? They look just like geodes and would be so fun to make!

Homemade Bath Bombs @ Lou Lou Girls

You can customize bath bombs to be whatever color you want. These pink and blue ones are pretty!

Coffee Bath Bombs @ Beauty Crafter

Coffee Bath Bombs are so pretty and it’s the perfect gift idea for the coffee lover in your life!

Winter Wonderland Bath Bombs @ Humblebee and Me

Lemon Vanilla Bath Bombs @ Mom Always Finds Out

Lemon Vanilla Bath Bombs would be super fragrant and would make a beautiful Mother’s Day gift!

Iridescent Pearl Bath Bombs @ Soap Queen

I love the shimmer and shine in these Iridescent bath bombs. SO pretty!

Lavender and Peppermint Bath Bombs @ Crayons & Cravings

Peppermint is a great scent for bath bombs and would feel so invigorating in the bath!

Green Apple Bath Bombs @ Sugar & Charm

How cute and clever are these bath bombs that look like apples. I love this!

Eucalyptus Bath Bombs @ My Frugal Adventures

Eucalyptus is another scent that would feel invigorating and smell wonderful in the bath!

Cloud 9 Bath Bombs @ Once Upon a Bath

You can get really creative making bath bombs. I love the way these are layered to look like clouds!

Tropical Mani Bombs @ Savvy Naturalista

Another fun fact is that you can make bath bombs in any shape or size that you want! You just buy the size mold that you want to make. This one was made in a square mold.

Lavender Oatmeal Bath Bombs @ Beauty Crafter

Adding oatmeal to bath bombs is a great idea. The oatmeal acts as a natural exfoliant and the scent of lavender has been proven lessen anxiety.

Lush Inspired Bubblegum Bath Bomb @ Creative Green Living

These bubble gum bath bombs are so bright and colorful. They would be a fun craft to make at a birthday party!

Unicorn Poop Bath Bombs @ Rosanna Pansino

So colorful and funny! The perfect tween gift idea.

Orange Bath Bombs @ Beauty Crafter

Orange is one of my favorite scents. I would love to take a bubble bath with these orange bath bombs!

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I hope these DIY Bath Bomb Ideas have inspired you to make some gift ideas. Make them with your kids this Spring and Summer!

Here are some other fun DIY crafts to make with your kids over Spring Break:

17 Kids Summer Crafts

17 Kids Summer Crafts 

The Best Fun-Filled Kids Activities

Have a great day!!

xoxo

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1905 Cottage Addition: Girls’ Shared Bathroom Reveal and $100 Walmart Giveaway.

I’ve had so much fun working on the 1905 Cottage addition. We love living in our “new” old home. And this year I’ll be talking all about the addition and sharing all the details – including the good and bad of turning a vintage home into a modern home on a budget.

Today I am sharing my girls’ shared bathroom.

When I decided I wanted to build onto the original home, I knew that there was only a certain amount of room to build out and remain within building codes. So I knew all of the rooms would be small, which was great because it makes the addition cohesive with the original 1905 home. I also knew that I wanted to get as much functionality into each of the rooms as possible and still have the rooms remain visually pleasing.

There was only room for one bathroom on the main floor of the addition. I knew my girls would need to share the space so I made the bathroom into a Jack-and-Jill room. What that means is that each of the bedrooms has a door onto the bathroom, with the bathroom in the middle. And since the bedrooms are also small rooms, I decided to put in barn doors so that I wouldn’t need to worry about the space of having door swinging out into the bedrooms. This actually turned out to be a great idea and I also built the barn doors last summer. The tutorial for those is coming up soon!

The bathroom space was narrow. So instead of going with a standard cabinet, I decided to put in a free-standing vanity with dual sinks, so each of the girls would have their own sink and plenty of counter space. I know how girls need their counter space!

Under the vanity is a little shelf. I added baskets and I keep all of the extra towels and washcloths in those bins.

I also decided not to put in a bath in the bathroom, but a larger walk-in shower. Since my girls are not toddlers and don’t really take baths I thought a larger shower with a bench would make sense. And the master bedroom has a large freestanding bathtub so I didn’t think it would hurt me if I ever decide to sell the cottage.

For the two bathrooms I added in the addition I picked out the same materials to give the cottage a more seamless feel. Since it is small I think having everything flow together is really nice. I used slate-colored tile for the floors, offset in a subway tile pattern. I also used the same tile and size but in white on the walls of the shower. On the floors of the shower I used white penny tile and I love the whimsical look of the little circles! As i said, I also built a bench in the shower because I knew that girls need to shave their legs. I also had a little cubby built into the shower wall so the girls can keep their shampoo in that niche. I also decided to use clear glass with a french swinging door. I think the clear glass opens up the space.

On the wall behind the vanity I planked the wall and added scalloped mirrors which I think are very cottage-y. And above the mirrors I added simple school house-style lights, which echo the school house light above the sink in the cottages kitchen.

For the accessories I headed to Walmart and used their Better Homes and Gardens line to personalize the space. I used the same towels that I used in my master bathroom. I coordinated grey and matching teal towels. I also used these adorable bathroom accessories that have names stamped on them – pump, stuff, things. It’s an easy way for the girls to store some little items.

And I think Ella’s favorite part of the bathroom are these cushy mats that are also from the Better Homes and Gardens line at Walmart. They are the softest!!

On the wall next to the toilet is a rustic wood and metal organizer where we keep extra toilet paper and accessories. I have a tutorial for how to make this Rustic Wood and Metal Organizer.

Another favorite item in the room is the little elephant. It’s decorative, but it’s also a nightlight!! We keep it on at night so the girls can see in the dark if they need to get up in the middle of the night.

The girls love their bathroom. And that makes me happy!!

I am also giving away a $100 Walmart gift card so YOU can buy some fun Better Homes and Gardens things to spruce up YOUR space! All you need to do to win is leave a comment letting me know which room in YOUR house you would like to spruce up!

I can’t wait to see who wins!!

Have a BEAUTIFUL day!

xoxo

Disclosure – this post is sponsored by Better Homes and Gardens, however all ideas are mine. 

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When we moved into our home, there was no bathroom in our basement. A couple of years later we thought it might be a good idea to put a bathroom on that floor. And as our kids have grown, our oldest daughter has taken residence in the basement. As a 17-year-old it gives her a little more independence to play her music and have her own space. This September, our 14-year-old started high school and she begged us to move down to the basement with her BFF sister. It touches my heart how much the two girls have grown to love each other.

And the bathroom down there was SO dark! For some reason when we refinished it 10 years ago I thought it would be awesome to use a sandstone MAROON paint. What??? And there is no window, no natural light. So it really was so dark and so hard to see anything.

I started redoing the bathroom about 18 months ago, and then I got distracted with the #1905Cottage remodel, which has been SO fun! But now that the cottage is almost done, I am refocused on getting our main house up to date. With two teenage girls down there, we really needed to update the bathroom! This is an inexpensive way to update a room. We kept all of the basics intact – the ceramic tile floors, the vanity cabinet, the countertops, even the faucet!!

Here are 5 ways to create a organized space for YOUR tween/teens!! 

Step 1: Easy Towels. The first thing to know about teens is they are busy/lazy. They want the easiest way to have access to their things. So instead of hanging a towel rod or cabinet, just hang up some hooks and let them hang their towels up. It looks great and it’s no-fuss!! I also put a basket on the floor next to the toilet with extra toilet paper rolls. No excuses not to change the rolls.

Step 2: Makeup Station. I bought a ceramic tray and put a vase with makeup brushes that my daughter Hannah created with rice – she’s so smart!! Then I paired it with an inexpensive vanity mirror for makeup application.

And I found a really cute yellow and wood stool that the girls can use to sit on when they do their makeup.

Step 3: Keep Things Accessible. With teens and their busy schedules, I think it’s a great idea to keep things they use frequently close at hand. I took a triple ceramic plant holder and used it for some items that my girls use — razors, makeup remover pads and nail polish. It looks great and is very functional. I hung really modern shelves from the paneling and that is where I am storing these fun items and greenery to add a little color and softness to the room. And they can each store their makeup and toiletries in designated drawers.

Step 4:  Better Light. It makes no sense to create a makeup station without good light.  Both of my teens are girls and looking good is SUPER IMPORTANT. Before, the bathroom was so dark that doing makeup was difficult. The lights weren’t bright enough and the maroon (what was I thinking?) paint seemed to absorb what little light there was. We installed a new light fixture, and installed paneling which we hung horizontally for more visual interest. It gives the look of planked walls without the time or expense of planking. We did have to put in some inexpensive molding around the edges of the paneling to add a finished look (and we caulked the edges too). And then we painted it white to give the room more light.

Step 5: Painted Cabinets. The last thing we did was paint the cabinets in the bathroom to tie the colors together — the girls like everything to match (and so do I). When we finished the room 10 years ago we bought a cheap vanity. I think it was pine or maple. To make the room POP I wanted to paint the vanity in my favorite paint color – Gloss Gray Spray Paint from Rustoleum. And since the vanity was in the room, I knew that I couldn’t spray paint it. So I took my spray paint into Lowes and the super nice paint desk girl color matched it in gloss interior Valspar — a more paintable version. I love that color! I painted the whole thing with a smooth roller and it looks amazing!! TIP — if you are going to repaint wood, sand it with your mouse sander, then prime it and then paint it with your top coat. I did 3 coats of top coat. You will also want to use a small angled brush to get the corners.

I also added some pretty knobs to add a feminine, final touch.

I added a few accessories. And I am so thrilled with the way the room turned out. My girls love it and that really is the most important thing to me. 

PS — It’s also awesome to add a little motivational art too! I found this art from Cavalcade, an awesome local designer.

Thanks Lowe’s for the gift cards to transform this room into something my family loves!! 

Do YOU have a bathroom story? Let me know in the comments!!

I would love to hear about it!!

You can follow along with Lowe’s on Facebook for more great ideas and sign up for their FREE Creative Ideas Magazine with TONS of great DIY  ideas and instructions!!

Have a CREATIVE Day! 

xoxo

Thanks to Lowe’s for the gift cards for materials for this project. See my disclosures.

The post Tween/Tween Bathroom Redo – 5 Ways to Create a Space YOUR Teen Will Love! appeared first on Tatertots and Jello.

We knew it was going to be one of the biggest projects. A bathroom is a major project in any house, but in this nearly 110-year old house, it was extra exciting. We knew we’d have some unpleasant surprises, but we didn’t expect what we found …

So here’s what we did to renovate this bathroom from top to bottom, some of the surprises we encountered, and some of the unique pieces we did that might inspire your bathroom DIY renovation!

Here’s my short video tour … and then read more about it!

Here’s what the bathroom looked like when we bought the cottage:

Everything worked, but it was very dated (pink!). It had a drop ceiling and unfortunate carpet over a spongy floor. There was a strangely placed sewer vent through the  corner cabinet. And the door cleared toilet by about 1/4″, not to mention the toilet paper dispenser on the back of the door. And you couldn’t open the door all he way – it ran into a cabinet at the end of the room – whoops!!

Tearout and Unwelcome Surprises

Clearly, like the rest of the house, it was time to tear this bathroom down to the walls and see what we could find.

We ripped everything out of the bathroom — everything down to the brick on two walls and the drywall on two sides. The first thing to go was the dropped ceiling — it went from less than 7 feet tall to 10 feet! We learned that the bathroom had been carved out of a larger room in the house, and had a window covered over in the wall that opened into the small back bedroom. The small back bedroom was the original porch on the house, so this window must have overlooked the porch.

Here’s what it looked like after we stripped it to the walls:

Then, since the floor was spongy, we knew we needed to put in a new subfloor, so we took the floor out. We discovered more than we wanted to discover — we found out that the house’s sewer pipe was cracked, and had even collapsed in some places. It was kind of like an open Roman sewer! Yuck. Obviously we had to replace it. We have an excellent plumber who has done some great work for us over the years, and we had asked him to help with plumbing in the house. He took one look at that and said, “That has to go … and let’s run a scope down it to see if there are any other problems.”

Guess what: there were. The iron sewer pipe in the crawlspace underneath the house led outside to a larger clay pipe leading to the curb … and the beautiful, large pine tree in front of the house had insinuated its roots through the seams in the pipe … and there was barely a finger’s width of space left in that pipe. So, this was an expensive surprise we could have done without, but we had to replace all of the sewer line all the way to the street. Our plumber wisely suggested that we spend just a tiny bit more and run a full new water line to the house as long as we had to dig a big trench in the front yard, so we did!

To save some money, my husband, father-in-law and nephew dug out part of the foundation to let the new pipes in, and then took the old pipes out and filled the hole with concrete to keep out any curious critters. We also figured out that the foundation is made from the same granite that the Salt Lake City LDS Temple is built from — since the quarry is just up the canyon from us. I have more history on that I will share another time. They said that digging through a granite foundation from a crawlspace is inconvenient to say the least.

We even found some newspapers from 1919 and 1927 underneath the bathroom floor! (“Have you been neglecting your home to assemble your Easter costume?”)

So something you’ll never see in the house now is that it has all new water and sewer lines, just like it has all new electrical wiring (a subject for another post).

(As an example of the gift that keeps on giving, we still haven’t quite gotten the sprinkler lines figured out since we had to dig them up in the trench — even though we tried to be careful.)

Rebuilding

But once the water and sewer lines were all done, we could start building this bathroom the way we wanted. We moved the horrible giant sewer vent pipe from the corner of the room and hid it in the wall, venting out the roof. We moved the water lines to accommodate the sink moving closer to the door, the toilet moving between the sink and the shower, and for a walk-in shower.

We of course used all of the right waterproof/resistant boards and subfloor around the shower. We made sure the subfloor was extra sturdy, adding some supports underneath as well. Note that we did not keep the old window, since we couldn’t figure out a good way to make that architecture work. We filled the former window with insulation to help block noise.

I wanted to stick with a modern, white look to this small bathroom to help it look bigger, and I love subway tile, so we tiled the shower and the largest wall — the one you can see from the door — all the way to the ceiling. We put in a wall-mounted vanity and modern lights on each side.

I couldn’t find a vanity that I liked, so we ended up building one from an inexpensive kitchen island I found. We used a vessel sink and adapted the vanity to accommodate the plumbing, including adjusting the height and rebuilding the drawers. (I’ll do a separate post on how we did it.)

You may even notice that not only did we raise the ceiling, but we cut out the door to be a larger, standard-size door with a glass transom above it — both echoing period architecture and allowing more natural light into the bathroom.

I added some touches like the towel rack and the sunburst mirror, too.

And possibly one of our favorite features is the bath fan (the bath fan!). What makes it so cool? It has a Bluetooth speaker in it. The folks at Homewerks were kind enough to send me a fan to try — it’s a Homewerks Bluetooth® enabled ventilation bath fan. Not only is it a quiet, high-capacity bath fan, but it includes a Bluetooth speaker so you can enjoy your tunes in the shower! How awesome is that? And you can turn the speaker on without turning the fan on.

It’s easy to install as long as you have attic access, which we did. We replaced the smaller fan we had in the bathroom — and cut a larger hole through the drywall and the lath and plaster on the ceiling. We just measured it first, tried hand-cutting and gave up, pulling out the RotoZip (as you can see in these pictures):

Once you have the hole the right size, the rest is super simple to put in — it’s an easy DIY project. For us, the hole took about an hour (including cleaning up all of the dust) and the fan installation took about 15 minutes! Yours would go much faster if you weren’t sawing through so much stuff (see the top picture).

Then, once it’s in, it’s easy to pair with your phone:

You just find it in your Bluetooth settings, pair it, and then play your favorite songs!

The girls think it’s a perfect excuse for a bathroom dance party, even without taking a shower:

You can find out more about the Homewerks Bluetooth bathroom fan on the Homewerks web site — and it’s available at home improvement stores, too! (It retails for about $149.)

Plus, you can win your own Homewerks fan! 

Like Homewerks on Facebook for a chance to win a Bluetooth Bath Fan. Homewerks will be giving away one fan per week through October 15, 2013.

So, what’s next for the bathroom? Well, we want to put a light tunnel in to add more natural light. And we think we have figured out how we can put in a barn door … along a curved wall! But I’ll save those for a future post when I figure them out.

What’s your bathroom renovation story?

Share YOUR ideas in the comments!!

xoxo

This post is sponsored by Homewerks Worldwide LLC; the opinions, content and bathroom renovation stories are all mine. See my disclosures.

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