Entry #2043, January 25, 2012

Today we continue Stagetecture’s new feature. ‘Olioboard Inspiration’. Last week you enjoyed Alison Hayes’ – ‘Storage for a Diva’ Olioboard and this week I bring you Sam Halloway the creater of the Facebook Olioboard Fan Room. Find out what inspired her to star the group and see details here for: How to be featured on Stagetecture’s Olioboard Inspiration‘ series.

The Prince Sleeps Here – by Sam Holloway via Pinterest

How Sam Halloway started the Olioboard Fan Room:

Some months ago I stumbled across Olioboard by sheer luck. I could see all the wonderful boards and rooms that were being designed and wanted to try it for myself. So I clicked, go create, and thats as far as I got as I didnt have a clue where to start. I searched for help and advice but was only able to find small bits of information dotted all over the place and I had no friends that used olioboard at the time to ask either. Obviously I eventually started designing boards and although still learning something new each day I founded this room so as to bring like minded olioboard designers together to help and advise other users, share ideas and thoughts and most of all have one place with all the information needed to get started. As more and more people joined I started to set up design challenges just for fun to inspire people and maybe to help a few step outside the box and also a support system where members could freely post the links to their official olioboard contests so that other members could easily vote for them if they chose to do so. But most of all, what has made the room it is today, are the fun, friendly members who have made it a great place to hang out, to chat, and to make new friends. So I would like to thank you all for being part of this fun and friendly venture, thank you so much:-)

Olioboard Inspiration #2

‘Making Bath Time Fun For Kids‘ – Sam Holloway

As a parent I know how hard it can be at times to get your children into the bathroom let alone into the actual bath itself.

The only way to overcome this is to make the bathroom a fun place to be, there is no need to go over the top, as anything done to excess in decor, won’t work. a few bright accessories here and there with an added personal touch just for them usually does the trick, maybe a few favourite bath toys for added measure, but too many and it will just defeat the subject as they will be more engrossed with their plaything than finishing the bath.

Bold colors and playful designs

Children like bold colours, so choose shades of orange, blue, yellow, purple, red, and green.

Also remember that decorating a kid’s bathroom is not a forever kind of thing, so concentrate on decor you can change easily, like shower curtains, towels and the wall colours.

I wanted to create a unisex bathroom so as to try and stay away from the pink/blue division for boys and girls and many families have a mix of sons and daughters, and decided on the owls as a universal theme

Simple ways to create this look

Make your bathroom a fun and lively space that will appeal to little ones by using colourful wall decals to jazz up plain walls. The one I have used here was from Rosenberry Rooms.

Provide plenty of handy storage that children can reach, too. Baskets on open shelves are brilliant for clearing away toiletries in a dash, and if you allocate a basket per member of the family then the tidying up will be even easier. Here I opted for square, lidded canvas storage with the bright owl detail, from owlbaby and some beautiful bright owl hooks from wanelo, remember though to hang them at a level which is within your Childs reach, these are great for towels and bathrobes.

Treat your bathroom like any other room and hang family photos on the wall so it feels friendly and welcoming. A great idea is to get some fun pictures of your kids in their bubble baths having fun with the foam. Any collection of brightly coloured frames of different sizes and even colours that are within your colour scheme are great, but remember most frames have glass fronts so you want to make sure that they can’t easily be reached or knocked from the wall

Funky motifs and patterns such as this fun and cheerful owl curtain from wanelo.com with some coordinating hooks that I found available from Wal-Mart for 12 hooks, will get kids into the shower quicker. A tip for if you have an over bath shower is to have two curtains on the pole, not only as this reduces the amount of water that escapes from them showering but also as when pulled to one side they will cover enough of the bath where any unsightly toys are stored

I also found a great set of accessories including a tooth brush holder and soap pump from bedbathhome.com, they have a full range which also includes soap dish, tumbler, tissue box cover and a waste paper basket.

One last thing is that you can find children’s toiletries such as soap and shampoo now that come in some great bright packaging as these add that final little touch to what is your now inviting, fun bathroom with resulting clean kids

About Sam Holloway

For more Olioboard ideas on Stagetecture, click here.