Writers often get writers block. For me, it's never a block due to a lack of ideas, it's due to a decline in the will to write. When life becomes a series of day-in-day-out, get up and go to work, watch every penny, is this all my life is?, then my creativity takes a beating. This happened to me recently and it wasn't until I steered my creativity to other areas that the will to write returned.
I call this my Renovate to Rejuvenate process where I focus my creativity to other areas. I wanted to repaint the bathroom walls and ceiling, but I didn't know what colours. The wall tiles are a pale olive green. The floor tiles are burgundy. Years ago I added more colour such as the lilac walls and coloured tiles on the vanity to give it a coastal look. It's taken me years to realize that I don't do the coastal look. The second I told my mind to come up with a more mature design, I was bombarded with damask patterns and shades of orange and grey.
THE BEFORE PHOTOS
 |
| The marks on the wall are from a candle holder |
THE COLOUR SCHEME
At first I went on the hunt for burnt orange towels. I could picture the colour in my mind. I also wanted to use a Tuscany coloured paint I'd purchased a few years earlier for another part of the house. This colour was not used but I kept it anyway. I'm glad I did. Because I painted a picture frame and the colour scheme started coming together.
 |
| I found burnt orange towels and charcoal grey floor mats. This decided the colour for the feature wall. |
THE ARTWORK
For me, decorations play a major part in the final look. I then went to the local art supplies shop where they have hundreds of styles of scrapbooking paper. In my mind I pictured varying shades of damask print. I purchased a different style for each frame. I had six frames in total.
 |
| The picture frames were painted according to which wall they sat |
THE END RESULT
 |
| Yes, I should probably get a fancy laundry hamper now. |
 |
| I've seen a gorgeous damask print shower curtain I might purchase, or a dark-grey one might look good too. |
 |
| I've since removed the double-sided tape from the cabinet, and I will look for new handles. |
So what do you think? I'm in love with my bathroom now. There's just a couple of things to do, such as repaint the white beams and the window trim, install a new window blind (I'm thinking black), and I'm considering purchasing a damask print show curtain. It's not a total renovation, we can't afford that right now, but it's a thousand times better walking into this room now.
COMPLETION TIME
This project took 4 days for me to complete.
The walls are painted in Dulux shade Whisper White.
The feature wall is painted in British Paints shade Rhino Black.
COST
The new towels and bathmat cost me $70. I bought 2 sets of towels and handtowels.
I already had the white wall paint.
The damask paper cost me $7.60.
The frames cost me $7 total.
I already had the burnt orange paint colour.
The dark grey paint for the feature wall cost me $37.50. This paint will also be used in the adjoining toilet.
The rest of the décor I already had.
So why was it important for me to let my creative juice swim in another lake?
1. It switched off the nagging voice that told me I should be writing.
2. It opened up the mind to colours and patterns and décor rather than words.
What happened during the renovation? Those 1000 words I kept telling myself each day to write, I started writing them again while the paint was drying. And I'm rejuvenated to continue renovating and writing.
