When I was a little girl, one of my favorite TV shows was the 60’s classic, I Dream of Jeannie. While I enjoyed the humorous plot and puzzled at the maladjusted love story between Jeannie the genie and her human “master,” Tony the astronaut, I mostly loved the show for its costumes and interior design. It only recently occurred to me what a huge impression the show must have had on my tastes. From collecting old, illustrated editions of Arabian Nights to having a distinct taste for embroidered silks in rich jewel tones, comfy floor pillows, and mid-century mod furniture and paintings, it all lines up with the looks that fascinated me as a kid.

Even though I was pretty sure I’d be moving out of my apartment this year, I’m getting ready to renew my lease, after all. My landlord only raised the rent by $10, and I haven’t been able to find anything available in my price range (something between “free” and “flat broke”) in a safe neighborhood. So I’ve decided that if I have to stay in my studio apartment for another year, I might as well make the best of it. What if, instead of thinking of it as a shoebox – tiny, cramped, inconvenient – I think of it as a magic bottle – still tiny, but full of possibility and romance, a place where my dreams can come true?

The first thing I’m going to do is redo my bathroom. It’s the tiniest room, and the easiest to make look totally different with just a few touches. I bought a fun/funny vintage shower curtain a few months ago that’s covered in a cartoon jungle theme. It lifts my spirits, and I intend to keep it for future use, but it’s time to make some adult decor choices. I found this shower curtain on Poshmark that fits the overall look of my house pretty well. It’s originally from World Market, but I got mine brand new and unused, for $11 – awesome deal.

Next up is new towels and a bathmat, a little piece of art, a medicine cabinet, a corner storage rack for the bathtub, a basket for under the sink to store towels, new bathtub handles, and a plunger.

I’m thinking strongly of buying Turkish bath towels, since they’ll take up much less storage space, and be so much easier to wash by hand than traditional terrycloth towels are. The last time I had to wash the towels, I had blisters on my fingers the next day. I’m not sure where I’ll get the bathmat, but the last one was $5 from H&M.

As for the art, I might end up making a collage, or framing a cool postcard. The piece that I currently have hanging in the bathroom is just that – a pretty vignette from a postcard I had sitting around.

The idea of a medicine cabinet just popped into my head yesterday, while walking around the local reclaimed building supply store. I have so little storage space in the room, and almost no counter space, but every inch is taken up by bottles and tubes and brushes. Maybe if I can find a small enough medicine cabinet to hang on the wall, I’ll get just a little more space. I’ll do some digging and see if that’s a good solution. This is reminding me that I also need to see if there’s a way to fix the cabinet drawer, which makes this terrible screeching sound every time you pull the drawer out.

As for the toilet, the flap needs to be replaced, and I really would love to have a decent plunger. I’ve been using the cheap, pointless plunger that came with the apartment when I moved in three years ago, but it’s time to move on. Which reminds me – I would LOVE to have a new cat-deterrent toilet paper dispenser, and a toilet paper holder that I can stack rolls in for later.

Oh well, that’s a lot of dreaming and planning for one little room. I’d like to have this done by the end of July, so I’ll update you guys once the bathroom is pulled together. I’ll even take some before and after pics, so you can see how it turned out.