DAY # 237 – PIMP MY SHOWER – Be Creative Mary

I finally finished my outdoor shower! I’ve only lived by the beach for ten years, but hey, it’s finally happened. I can now say I have an awesome outdoor shower!

Man, this project feels like it took forever!

Here are the before shots:

My husband and dad built it from cedar last summer and my cousin, sweet as pie, installed the plumbing. This made the shower functional…but it definitely needed something…. what’s the word… pizzazz?

Here are some of the items I found in my basement, shed & garage. Last year during Hurricane Sandy, we lost a large curly willow tree. As it was getting cut up for removal, I was snatching up as many curly branches as I could carry. I didn’t know what I’d do with the branches, but I couldn’t part with them. My husband rolled his eyes, seeing as how I have 3 large boxes of driftwood already in the basement! Next, I traced the flip-flop base onto the slate and then hand-painted flip-flops on the path to my shower. The pegs are something I scored from my local hardware store some time ago. I thought they’d be perfect for hanging towels. The strange facial mask was a gift from my brother-in-law a decade ago. He was stationed in Haiti with the Marines. It’s one of those gifts you just aren’t sure what to do with… a decade later, I finally found the perfect place! The red thing up above unfolds to be an octopus drying rack. It has tons of pins to dry our bathing suits. That was another unique gift from my in-laws. How lucky was I that it was red, the theme color I chose for my shower décor. Then there are the bird spindles. Thrift store find. The colors were never my style, but I thought the profiles were cool. Found those in my basement too. That leaves the old ugly bench I found on the side of the road and the piece of plywood my girlfriend gave me after hearing I needed wood for a sign. Using what I had, I spent $20 for this project. $20 bucks for 4 cans of red spray paint. It’s amazing how far you can get with the junk in one’s own dwelling!

So here are some of my favorite photos from today:

The first thing you notice when you walk in is the sign. I wanted the sign to look like it was institutional. Something you’d find at a school or public pool. As a kid there were always hand-painted signs with rules on them. I wanted something subtle as well. Only people who stop and read will realize how ridiculous my request is. My daughter got a good laugh out of “Cracks and Crevices”. We all need a little humor right?

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the branches. I only wish I would have kept more! I was going for the look of electric red coral. Rhode Island’s license plates are blue and white. That was my little nod to my locale.